On Saturday, Stanford football had a 27-24 loss to Wake Forest at home. Below are five takeaways that I have from the game.
RECAP: Stanford unable to complete comeback against Wake Forest
#1. Stanford has to stop digging themselves into holes: For the second straight week, Stanford got down early in the game. After trailing 21-0 after the 1st quarter against SMU, Stanford found themselves down 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter against Wake Forest. In the final three quarters, Stanford outscored Wake Forest 24-13, so they played well for most of the game, but that doesn’t matter if you spot your opponent 14 points. Stanford has to get off to better starts and head coach Troy Taylor admitted postgame that was something they had talked about during the week.
#2. The defense came to play despite a shaky start: A major reason for Stanford’s slow starts has been their defense giving up big plays, so that needs to stop. At the same time, it was the defense that kept Stanford in this game. Outside linebacker Teva Tafiti had a strip sack fumble recovery for a touchdown, cornerback Brandon Nicholson had an interception, and the defense as a whole had a huge goal line stand. The defense showed a lot of fight in this game and for the most part was the reason Stanford still had a chance to win this game. They just need to figure out how to not get torched at the beginning of games and not needing a quarter to get their feet under them.
#3. Special teams matters: I said going into the game that special teams would be a key and it sure was. Emmet Kenney missed a 46 yard field goal in the 1st quarter that Stanford wished they would have had back and a poor coverage on a punt gave Wake Forest key field position that led to a score. This game was a painful reminder that you have to win in all three phases and that if you don’t take care of business on special teams, that can come back to haunt you.
#4. Freshmen are freshmen: Stanford is playing a lot of freshmen and while that speaks well for the future of the program that a lot of guys are getting experience, this game was a reminder of the youth that Stanford has. Quarterback Elijah Brown didn’t have a great day and was benched for Ashton Daniels, in eight combined attempts running backs Micah Ford and Chris Davis Jr. rushed for just 62 yards, and wide receiver Emmet Mosley V was ok with four receptions for 40 yards, but he’s still got a lot of growing to do.
Of course, Brandon Nicholson is a freshmen and he had one of the key plays of the game with his interception, so it’s not like the freshmen aren’t doing good things out there. They are. It’s just that you need to be able to get more out of your veteran guys and if you’re going to be relying on a lot of freshmen to play, there’s going to be growing pains that come with that.
#5. Fight wasn’t an issue: While this was a very disappointing game since it was a very winnable game for Stanford, they didn’t lose due to a lack of fight or belief. The players still believe in themselves and they seem to believe in the coaching and game plan. That’s big. The touchdown by tight end Sam Roush showed a lot of heart as did Tafiti’s touchdown and Nicholson’s interception. Heck, wide receiver Elic Ayomanor showed heart all day long as he has all season.
One has to wonder if at some point they’ll lose the fight and belief if they don’t get another win soon, but so long as they maintain belief going into each game and bring the fight, especially with the remaining games they have left, Stanford could find a way to win a couple more games before the season is over.
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