In the words of Steely Dan, when Black Friday comes, I’m gonna dig myself a hole. On this year’s Black Friday, Stanford football dug themselves a hole against San Jose State, getting down 17-10 at halftime before briefly taking a lead and then giving it away in the end. 34-31 San Jose State was the final score. San Jose State junior quarterback Walker Eget led the way for the Spartans going 33-49 for 385 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions while senior wide receiver Nick Nash had eight receptions for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
Stanford redshirt sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor and true freshman wide receiver Emmett Mosley V were the top performers for the Cardinal, each having over 100 receiving yards. Ayomanor had 10 receptions for 109 yards while Mosley had seven receptions for 101 yards and one receiving touchdown. San Jose State finishes the regular season 7-5 overall with a 3-4 record in the Mountain West while Stanford finishes the season 3-9 with a 2-8 record in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford Football Postgame Press Conference: San Jose State
BOX SCORE: Stanford at San Jose State-Friday, November 29th
READ: Looking back on the legacy of Bill Walsh
“Really proud of our guys,” Stanford head coach Troy Taylor said after the game. “Our guys have competed all year. Getting the turnover and making some key plays on offense. Really proud of our guys and they’ve really battled all year. That’s one thing they can say is these guys gave everything they had. Our seniors, you know, guys when I first got here, there were a lot of people in transition, but we lost, guys that transferred, we lost 23 guys over two years. 13 starters our first year and six our second. These guys stayed and battled because they love their teammates and they love Stanford themselves. I appreciate everything they’ve given. I feel for them. I’m glad they got their last game in Cardinal Stadium was a win. I was hoping their last game. We were doing everything we could and we came up a little short as a coaching staff, we came up a little short as players. It’s painful.”
Stanford got the ball to start the game, but their opening drive ended in quarterback Ashton Daniels throwing his first of three interceptions for the game, giving San Jose State the ball on their own 29 yard line as Daniels threw it pretty deep. San Jose State safety Robert Rahimi was the one to pick it off for the Spartans. Stanford’s defense would hold firm as they forced a San Jose State punt, getting the ball back on their own 14 yard line with 12:50 to go in the 1st quarter.
Stanford’s next drive would chew up a lot of clock, ending in a 24 yard field goal by Emmet Kenney that was good. That gave Stanford a 3-0 lead with 5:49 to go in the 1st quarter. That field goal capped of a 12 play, 65 yard drive.
The next drive for San Jose State ended in a blocked punt, giving Stanford the ball back on their own 42 yard line with 4:04 to go in the 1st quarter. The quarter would end with Stanford still having possession as they were up 3-0 and looking to tack on more points as they had the ball on the San Jose State 27 yard line after a five yard reception by Elic Ayomanor.
Stanford would not score on the drive despite an impressive 24 yard run by freshman running back Cole Tabb to get the ball to the 3 yard line. On 4th and goal from the 1 yard line, freshman running back Micah Ford got backed up, making it a turnover on downs. San Jose State had the ball on their own 4 yard line with 12:05 to go in 2nd quarter, but would get another 15 yards, moving the ball to the 19 yard line after a personal foul against Emmett Mosley was called.
San Jose State would quickly score on their next drive as a 20 yard touchdown reception by Nick Nash capped off a seven play, 96 yard drive (if you include the penalty). Nash also had a 12 yard and 19 yard reception on the drive, torching the Cardinal defense. San Jose State was now up 7-3 with 9:07 to go in the 2nd quarter.
Stanford would get the ball on their own 25 yard line thanks to a touchback. However, Daniels would get picked off on the second play of the drive as San Jose State defensive back DJ Harvey got the interception. That gave San State the ball on the Stanford 24 yard line. San Jose State would march easily down the field as a two yard touchdown reception by Nick Nash gave the Spartans a 14-3 lead with 5:19 to go in the 2nd quarter.
Stanford would answer on the next drive as Daniels found Ayomanor for a pair of 11 yard receptions as well as tight end Sam Roush for a 14 yard reception. That helped set up a 12 yard touchdown reception by Mosley to cap off a 14 play, 75 yard drive. It was now a 14-10 lead for San Jose State with 42 seconds to go in the 2nd quarter.
Unfortunately for Stanford, their defense easily allowed San Jose State to get in field goal range before halftime as Kyler Halvorsen drained a 45 yard field goal to give the Spartans a 17-10 lead at halftime.
San Jose State would get the ball to start the second half and quickly scored as Walker Eget connected with wide receiver Justin Lockhart for a 19 yard touchdown pass, giving the Spartans a 24-10 lead with 12:45 to go in the 3rd quarter. That capped off a five play, 75 yard drive that was aided by a roughing the passer penalty called against Stanford.
Stanford would score on their next drive as a 37 yard reception by Mosely and a 14 yard reception by Ayomanor helped get them within five yards of the end zone. Short yardage quarterback Justin Lamson would find the end zone from one yard out, making it a 24-17 game with 9:17 to go in the 3rd quarter.
San Jose State would then answer on the next drive as a 36 yard reception by wide receiver Sebastian Macaluso helped set up a 24 yard field goal by Halvorsen, making it a 27-17 lead for the Spartans with 5:00 to go in the 3rd quarter.
Stanford’s next drive ended in a punt, giving San Jose State the ball back on their own 7 yard line with 1:46 to go. The Spartans’ drive would carry over into the 4th quarter as they had a 2nd and 9 from their own 19 to start the 4th quarter.
Stanford quickly got back in the game as the defense was able to force a fumble and score on a 3rd and 9 from the San Jose State 19 yard line. Stanford outside linebacker David Bailey got a strip sack to force a fumble that was recovered by a Spartans offensive lineman near the end zone. Stanford linebacker Gaethan Bernadel then forced a second fumble that was recovered by linebacker Jahsiah Galvan in the end zone. It was reviewed and upheld. It was now a 27-24 game with 14:46 to go in the game.
San Jose State would once again march the ball down the field and get the ball to the Stanford 14 yard line as it looked like the Spartans would tack on more points. Fortunately for Stanford, cornerback Collin Wright came up with a huge interception at the Stanford 1 yard line and return it 46 yards to the Stanford 47 yard line with 10:14 to go.
Stanford would then find the end zone on the next drive as Ashton Daniels had a one yard rushing touchdown to cap off a five play, 53 yard drive. A targeting penalty against San Jose State helped keep the Cardinal drive going as Elic Ayomanor got hit as a defenseless receiver. Stanford would take the lead 31-27 with 7:39 to go, which is the same score I predicted.
San Jose State would march the ball down the field and ultimately have a decision to make on 4th and 6 from the Stanford 15 yard line with 3:45 to go. Stanford would force a turnover on downs as San Jose State took a shot to the end zone and wasn’t able to convert.
With the ball on their own 15 yard line and 3:40 to go, Stanford was in the driver’s seat to win this game. On 3rd and 2 from the Stanford 23 yard line, Daniels would throw his most costly interception of the afternoon as he threw the ball into traffic, trying to connect with Ayomanor. Instead, he was picked off by Spartans defensive back Isiah Revis. This gave San Jose State the ball back on the Stanford 37 yard line with 2:39 to go.
From there, San Jose State would easily find the end zone as Walker Eget found Treyshun Hurry for an 18 yard touchdown pass to give the Spartans a 34-31 lead following the extra point with only 1:55 to go. Stanford’s next drive would end in a turnover on downs and from there, San Jose State was able to kneel it out for the three point victory.
To quickly address San Jose State, this was a nice win for them. They outplayed Stanford for most of the game and in the end capitalized on a costly interception by Daniels. Nick Nash was fantastic as he set a San Jose State single-season touchdown reception record with 16. Nash leads the nation in touchdown receptions (16), receiving yards (1382), and reception (104), giving him the wide receiver triple crown. He certainly appears to have a bright future in the NFL.
On top of that, by finishing the season 7-5, San Jose State should get a bit of a bump for bowl season and gets a win on Senior Day. They had bowl eligibility clinched coming in, but by winning this game, they should get a better bowl than had they lost. And then of course, you always want to win your last home game for your seniors.
As for Stanford, this loss stings. They had a chance to have an improved season by picking up a fourth win and instead, they have now finished 3-9 four straight seasons, making this one of the worst stretches in the history of the program. The way it ended added even more salt to the wound as they should have had the game in the bag. Instead, Daniels made a very bad decision to throw a pass that he should have thrown out of bounds. Heck, taking the sack would have been better. Daniels made the worst possible decision and it unfortunately cost the team the game.
“Love him, care about him and you know, he played his heart out,” Taylor said of Daniels. “Trying to make a play there. Obviously it is not what we wanted and he wanted. He’ll regret that one, but we had other opportunities. Obviously, it was a big play. I feel for him because I know he’s hurting.”
What greatly softens things for Stanford after this loss is the news of Cardinal legend Andrew Luck being hired as the new general manager of the football program. The news came the next day on College Game Day. That news has certainly given the program a boost in morale and hope for the future. It’ll be fun to see what Luck brings to the program in his new role and whether or not he’ll be able to get the program back on track.
Up next for Stanford is signing day on Wednesday, December 4th. The Cardinal will look to bring in a talented 2025 class headlined by 4-star quarterback Bear Bachmeier and 4-star defensive lineman Kole Briehler.
“The message will be in a couple days, we get back to and recruiting, it doesn’t stop,” Taylor said of the message heading into next season. “Really trying to make an impact and bringing in some older guys, some transfers. To make an impact on this team to kind of help the younger guys. We have a good nucleus of young players, and unfortunately we’re just playing a lot of young guys and we need to get some veteran guys as well.”
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