On Saturday, Stanford football defeated Cal Poly at home by a final score of 41-7. It was the first home win for the Cardinal since their 15-14 victory over Arizona State in 2022. Stanford junior quarterback Ashton Daniels went 19-23 for 221 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions for a 192 passer rating while true freshman quarterback Elijah Brown went 7-7 for 97 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions for a 263.5 passer rating. Stanford improves to 1-1 overall while Cal Poly falls to 0-2.
VIDEO: Stanford Football Postgame Press Conference | Cal Poly
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Cal Poly-Saturday, September 7th
“Excited for our guys,” Stanford head coach Troy Taylor said after the game. “Complete win here for us: Special teams I thought was phenomenal, offensively we finally got it going, and the defense I think was exceptional the entire game. Disruptive on first and second down. Great third-down defense. Our guys really controlled the game the entire evening.”
While Stanford ended up cruising to a resounding victory, they got off to a slow start in this game. Thankfully for Stanford, their defense and special teams came to the rescue until the offense found its footing.
After getting the ball first to start the game, Stanford’s opening drive ended with freshman running back Micah Ford fumbling and giving the ball to Cal Poly on the Stanford 38 yard line. After the Mustangs moved the chains a couple of times for a pair of first downs, the Cardinal were able to force the field goal unit to come onto the field. Cal Poly kicker Noah Serna’s 41 yard field goal would be blocked by Stanford defensive lineman Aristotle Taylor, giving Stanford the ball back on their own 36 yard line with 8:45 to go in the 1st quarter.
Both teams would then trade punts on their next drives. With 5:03 to go in the 1st quarter with the ball on their own 22 yard line, Stanford began their first scoring drive of the game. Stanford wide receiver Ismael Cisse had a nice 11 yard gain on the drive and shortly thereafter, Ashton Daniels found running back Sedrick Irvin Jr. for a 41 yard completion that was caught at the Cal Poly 13 yard line and advanced to the Cal Poly 6 yard line. On 3rd and goal from the Cal Poly 5 yard line, Daniels would connect with wide receiver Mudia Reuben on the final play of the 1st quarter for a touchdown to make it a 7-0 lead for Stanford after the extra point.
To Cal Poly’s credit, they were able to respond on the next drive with a touchdown of their own. Following a touchback to put the ball on their own 25 yard line, Cal Poly quarterback Bo Kelly found wide receiver Giancarlo Woods for a 17 yard reception. Later on in the drive, Kelly found wide receiver Michael Briscoe for a 20 yard reception to set up 1st and 10 from the Stanford 22 yard line. The next play would be a trick play as Kelly threw a lateral pass to Briscoe who then threw a 22 yard touchdown pass down the left sideline to tight end Jake Woods, making it a 7-7 game with 12:09 to go in the 2nd quarter.
“Just bad communication,” Stanford cornerback Collin Wright said of what went wrong on the touchdown by the Mustangs. “We have to be better; I have to be better, just as an entire defense we have to be better. Coach put us in a good position. We just have to stay focused, locked in, and eliminate those plays so it doesn't happen. Us as players, we'll take the blame for that. We got to be better, communicate better with each other.”
Stanford wide receiver Tiger Bachmeier had a solid kick return for 27 yards to the Stanford 32 yard line to get the next drive going for the Cardinal. Stanford had some nice gains on the drive as Ismael Cisse had a 23 yard reception while Micah Ford had a 17 yard reception. Unfortunately for Stanford, they were not able to score on the drive as Stanford was not able to find the end zone as they went for it on 4th and goal from the 4 yard line. That gave the ball back to Cal Poly with 3:46 to go in the 2nd quarter.
Stanford’s defense came up big on the next drive as they were able to force Cal Poly to punt from inside their own 30 yard line. Following a two yard return from Bachmeier, Stanford had the ball on their own 27 yard line with 1:32 to work with.
From there, Stanford was able to find the end zone before time expired. Micah Ford had back-to-back seven yard receptions, Ismael Cisse had a nine yard reception, wide receiver Elic Ayomanor had a 27 yard reception, and then tight end Sam Roush had a 21 yard reception to the Cal Poly two yard line with under 30 seconds to go in the half. Stanford was able to find the end zone on the next play as Justin Lamson rushed for a gain of two yards, making it a 14-7 lead for the Cardinal after the extra point.
“Yeah, it's extremely important,” Daniels said of getting Roush going. “Sam is a really, really big guy who has a fricking motor on him. He gets the ball in his hands and you know you're going to get five to ten possibly more sometimes yards after the catch. Yeah, he's really, really big target for us. You know, I love when we continue to incorporate him more and more in the offense, get the ball in his hands, and let him do his thing.”
Cal Poly would end up kneeing out the quarter to get it to halftime. 14-7 lead for Stanford. It was a slow start for the Cardinal, but at least they were ahead.
In the 3rd quarter, the Cardinal turned on the jets and left the Mustangs in the dust. Cal Poly got the ball to start the quarter but ended up punting on their first drive on a 4th and 4 from their own 45 yard line. Cal Poly punter Ryan Collins delivered a nice punt to the Stanford 10 yard line right into the hands of Tiger Bachmeier. Rather than take the fair catch, Bachmeier decided to return the ball and took it to the house for a 90 yard touchdown. It was now a 21-7 lead for Stanford with 11:52 to go in the 3rd quarter.
“Yeah, Bryce (Farrell) was down for this game. Just didn't feel ready to play physically, and so Tiger stepped in,” Taylor said of having Bachmeier handle return duties. “Got a lot of confidence in him. I thought he was going to fair catch the ball and luckily he didn't. Made somebody miss and picked up an unbelievable amount of great blocks, and then he showed off his speed a little bit.”
That seemed to change everything for Stanford as they now had momentum on their side. Stanford would force another punt on the next drive as Bachmeier’s next return would be a bit more modest as it was a 10 yard gain. That drive would end in a 32 yard field goal by Emmet Kenney, making it a 24-7 lead for Stanford.
On the second play of the next drive, Cal Poly would turn the ball over as Collin Wright picked it off at the Cal Poly 34 yard line, returning it 13 yards to the 21 yard line. Stanford would score on the next drive as freshman running back Chris Davis Jr. got things going with a nice 10 yard run to the 11 yard line. Stanford would shortly thereafter find the end zone as Sam Roush caught a five yard touchdown pass from Daniels, making it a 31-7 lead for Stanford with 2:02 to go in the 3rd quarter.
“Yeah, I think the message was we got to continue to play well on defense like we have the first two quarters and get it going on offense,” Taylor said of what he told the team at halftime. “And then our whole message for the entire game was to be physical and execute for four quarters, from the beginning. Cal Poly came out and did some really good things. The trick play was pretty impressive.
“It was really about, like any game, sustained focus and passion for the game and realizing and believing in yourself that eventually the tide or the game is going to move in your favor. Now, you certainly have more belief after you've done it a few times, but hopefully we'll build on this and do it a number of times this year and gain our confidence and realize at some point the game will turn in our favor.”
“Really just a great call from Coach April,” Wright said of his interception. “Coming into the week last week it was all film study. Coach April knew they would come with that concept, so he put me in a great position. All I had to do is catch the ball.
“Something I can be better at is ball security. Don't want give them a chance to get the ball back. Overall, I think it was a great play. Got our defense off the field and gave our offense a chance to score.”
Cal Poly’s next drive would extend into the 4th quarter and end in a punt as it was fair caught by Bachmeier at the Stanford 15 yard line with 14:14 to go. At this point, Ashton Daniels’ day was done as true freshman quarterback Elijah Brown came in for relief. Brown’s first drive went as well as Stanford could hope as it was a seven play, 85 yard drive for a touchdown as Brown went 5-5 for 80 of those yards including a 12 yard touchdown pass to Cisse. The longest pass of the drive was a 51 yard completion to Irvin Jr. 38-7 Stanford led with 10:02 to go.
In the end, Stanford would win by a final score of 41-7 as Kenney had one more field goal to end the game as he drained a 43 yarder to end the final Cardinal drive of the game. Stanford would then get one final stop as the game ended on an incomplete pass from Cal Poly.
For Stanford, this game overall went about as well as they could have hoped. Ideally, they would have gotten the shutout and not gotten off to a slow start, but after seeing the way some teams have struggled against FCS teams the last couple of weeks, Stanford should just feel good to win comfortably in the end.
What really turned this game for Stanford was Tiger Bachmeier’s punt return for a touchdown. That swung the momentum heavily in their favor. Once that happened, Stanford knew they were in the driver’s seat and things just snowballed in their favor from then on out.
“Coming out (of halftime), again, the defense got a stop early on. Gave up one first down and was able to get the ball and make an exceptional return,” Taylor said. “So quickly turned from a 7-7 game to 21-7 game and had some momentum and rhythm. Then our guys were in attack mode and they did a great job.”
The quarterback play in this game was overall a positive for Stanford. Ashton Daniels had a solid performance under center, Justin Lamson did his thing as a running option, and then Elijah Brown looked great. Granted Brown was going against Cal Poly’s B-team at that point, but still. His best throw of the night was probably a toe tapper to Mudia Reuben that was actually ruled incomplete. Just the poise and maturity that Brown showed in the pocket is really exciting. He definitely passed the eye test.
“Really good. It what we've seen since he's been here this spring,” Taylor said of Brown’s performance with a bit of a smile. “Exceptional anticipation, exceptional accuracy, composure. There is reason why the guy was whatever, 44-2. He's a very composed, really talented player. He's going to be a good one.”
Even though Cal Poly is an FCS program and that Stanford should have won this game by a large margin, it still feels good for Stanford to get in the win column. Especially at home given they didn’t win a game on The Farm last year. This program is still very much in rebuild mode and as you go about rebuilding a program, every win is important in terms of building confidence and bringing back good feelings. Both for the players and the fanbase.
“Yeah, obviously it feels great,” Ashton Daniels said of the win. “You know, we have our little tradition of C-House after every win. It's a little more comforting when you finally get to do that at home once again. We haven't won here since I want to say my freshman year when we beat Arizona State. Just a little bit more special when you get to do that C-House chant in your own locker room.
“Great for the guys, great for the community. You know, everyone that wants to see us be great, I think that we pleased them tonight. Yeah, I think the guys overall are just extremely happy for this win.”
Following this win, Stanford will get a bye week. Their next game will be Friday, September 20th at Syracuse. That will kick off at 4:30 PM PT on ESPN.
“Like you said to begin with, all the wins are difficult and tough,” Taylor said. “All teams got good players and good coaches and they prepare and give it all. So any time you win -- the goal is to win every time we go out there-- just really proud and happy for our guys. You know, the next step now is having a great -- learn from this and having a great bye week and get ready for Syracuse and moving on.”
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