On Friday, Stanford football had their first game of the season as they fell to TCU at home by a final score of 34-27. Below are five takeaways I have from the game.
RECAP: Stanford sputters in second half against TCU
#1. Stanford’s defense has improved: When watching the game, one thing that stood out to me is that Stanford’s defense does appear to have improved. Giving up 34 points might not be a great indicator of that, but Stanford forced two fumbles and recovered both while also simply being tougher to score on. There were more instances where they backed TCU up and forced them to make a good play if they were to score on them. TCU rushed for a 104 yards, which isn’t a bad rushing night, but it’s not like they ran all over Stanford. While the defense still has work to do, they did look to be better and more sound. I feel like this was a game where the offense was more of the issue whereas in recent years past it was the other way around.
#2. Quarterback is still a question mark: Upon watching this game, it’s fair to question whether or not junior Ashton Daniels is the right man to be the starting quarterback. He went 17-35 for 163 yards, one touchdown, and one interception for a passer rating of 91.4. He also rushed for 89 yards, which was by far and away the best thing he did all night.
It wasn’t an awful performance, but Daniels doesn’t appear to have improved much from last season. He’s a good runner, plays with a lot of heart, and his teammates all respect him in the huddle. Those are all positives. But on the flipside, his decision making isn’t great. He holds onto the ball too long and sometimes makes ill-advised throws. The interception he threw was pretty boneheaded.
The challenge for Stanford is the only other option that they can really go to outside of Daniels is true freshman Elijah Brown. I think junior Justin Lamson is well suited where he is as a goal line/short yardage option. But I doubt he’d be much if at all better as the full time starter. So, I guess the question is will head coach Troy Taylor at some point decide it’s best to go with the true freshman Elijah Brown and see what he can do? Unless Daniels quickly shows he’s capable of a lot more than what he showed against TCU, Taylor may not have much of a choice.
#3. Elic Ayomanor is the real deal: Despite not having a great quarterback, Stanford redshirt sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor had seven receptions for 102 yards. Just imagine what he could be doing if he had a better quarterback. The fact that he put up over a hundred receiving yards with sketchy quarterback play just shows how good Ayomanor really is.
#4. Emmet Kenney can kick: There were a lot of questions coming into the game about whether or not Stanford senior Emmet Kenney can deliver the goods at kicker now that Josh Karty is in the NFL. Kenney went 2-2 on his field goals from 35 and 45 yards out while making all three of his extra points. Field goal-wise, Stanford didn’t miss a beat with Kenney out there and he looks like a guy who should be reliable throughout the season.
#5. The offensive line is still a work in progress: Stanford’s offensive line is still a work in progress. Granted there some injuries up front that didn’t help, but even so. While I wasn’t at all wowed by Ashton Daniels’ performance under center, it’s not like he had great protection out there, either. TCU totaled 10 tackles for loss including four sacks. Stanford’s offensive line simply needs to get better and that’s only going to come as they just continue to grow and improve each week.
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