On Saturday, Stanford football fell to Utah on the road by a final score of 42-7. Utah quarterback Cameron Rising went 20-33 for 219 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception while running back Tavion Thomas rushed for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns on 22 attempts. Stanford wide receiver Elijah Higgins was the top offensive player for the Cardinal with 7 receptions for 105 yards while linebacker Levani Damuni was the top defensive player for the Cardinal with 12 total tackles (4 solo). Utah improves to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 3-7 overall and 1-7 in the Pac-12.

“Defensively, obviously shorthanded,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said after the game. “Still came out and fought the whole first half. Fought the whole first half. Unfortunate and we knew there was a potential for a fake punt. We had talked about it; we lost our eyes there as we call it. Don’t lose your eyes, have your eyes be where they are supposed to be and they got that first down. It could have been interesting if we got that momentum back.

“That being said, even at 14-7 in that third quarter, we had multiple opportunities and we did not connect. Frustrating. Worked a lot. A lot of our best guys getting into position to where we have a chance to make big plays. And this is a pressure defense and they’re gonna come after you and you don’t make them pay they just keep coming after you and we had multiple opportunities in that second half to change field position. Especially when it was still 14-7, 21-7. Still there for us and we didn’t make those plays. We don’t make those plays against this team you don’t have a chance.”

Stanford won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Utah got the ball as a result while Stanford defended the north end zone. After the touchback from Joshua Karty, Utah got the ball at their own 25 yard line to start their opening drive.

After a 6 yard gain from Thomas, Stanford was able to keep Utah backed up, forcing a 4th and 5 on the first drive. Utah trotted out their punt unit and went for a fake punt, converting for a gain of 14 yards as their punter Jack Bouwmeester took off with the ball and ran for his life before getting tackled by Collin Wright.

To Stanford’s credit, they would force another Utah punt attempt after the Utes picked up one more first down. It was on a 4th and 7 from the Stanford 40 yard line. This time the Utes punted: 30 yards to the Stanford 10. Fair caught by Jason Thompson.

The first Stanford drive was a quick three and out as the Cardinal were not able to move the chains. Tanner McKee had a nine yard rush to the Stanford 19 to set up a 3rd and 1, but Stanford got backed up one yard, punting on 4th and 2. Ryan Sanborn punted it 34 yards to the Utah 48 yard line, where it was downed by Collin Wright.

The next Utah drive would be a three and out for the Utes after a 10 yard holding penalty backed them up. Stanford would start their next drive on their own 33 yard line with 6:45 to go in the 1st quarter. After a five yard gain from makeshift running back Mitch Leigber, Higgins had an eight yard reception to get the first down. After an incomplete pass and a five yard sack, Stanford had 3rd and 15 from their own 41 yard line. Stanford called for time to with 5:14 to go in the quarter, hoping to draw something up.

“I think Mitch has given us everything he’s got,” Shaw said of Leigber. “And I’ll put money on it, he’ll be better next week than he was this week. He’s gotten better every week. Hit a couple of nice runs today.”

Out of the timeout, McKee found Higgins for a 51 yard completion, getting the ball to the Utah 8 yard line. Leigber would then run the ball seven yards to the Utah 1 yard line. From there, McKee found the end zone for his second rushing touchdown of the season. 7-0 Stanford lead with 3:40 to go in the 1st quarter after the extra point from Karty.

After a touchback from Karty, Utah got the ball on their own 25 yard line. Stanford would force a 4th and 1 from the Utah 34 yard line, to which Cameron Rising found Devaughn Vele for a 7 yard completion to get the first down. On the next play, Thomas rushed for 11 yards to the Stanford 48 yard line after which Thomas rushed for another 6 yards to the Stanford 42 yard line. Thomas fumbled the ball as Damuni forced it out, but Utah recovered the ball on the Stanford 37 yard line. That ended the 1st quarter. 7-0 Stanford lead.

Stanford would force another fourth down, this time 4th and 7 on their own 34 yard line. Utah would once again convert, as Rising found Dalton Kincaid for a 12 yard completion to the Stanford 22 yard line. After a 13 yard rush by Jaylen Dixon, Rising connected with Vele for a 9 yard touchdown. After the extra point, it was a 7-7 game with 12:49 to go in the 2nd quarter.

“Yeah, it’s pretty straight forward,” Shaw said of the fourth down conversions. “We got them to fourth down multiple times, they called some great plays, they got after us a little bit, couple of those plays were close, but they ended up getting them. It’s a big change in the game. When you can keep the ball for as long as they did in particular, I think they ate up the whole second quarter just about. When you can convert on fourth down, it diminishes the chances for the other team to score and that’s what they did.”

After a 16 yard kick return by Jason Thompson to the Stanford 20 yard line, it was a quick three and out for the Cardinal as Sanborn punted on a 4th and 2 from the Stanford 28 yard line. It would be fair caught by Vele at the Utah 31 yard line with 11:07 to go in the 2nd quarter.

To start the drive, Rising connected with Vele for a 15 yard completion to the Utah 46 yard line. On a 3rd and 5 from the Stanford 49 yard line, Thomas rushed 15 yards to the Stanford 34 yard line. On 3rd and 10 from the Stanford 34 yard line, Rising found Vele for a 28 completion as Kyu Blu Kelly got beat. This set up a 1st and goal from the Stanford 4 yard line. After a Utah timeout, Thomas found the end zone on a four yard touchdown run. 14-7 Utah lead with 6:37 to go in the 2nd quarter after the extra point was good.

Stanford would get the ball on their own 25 yard line after a touchback. The Stanford drive would be another three and out as McKee got sacked for a loss of seven yards. After a punt by Sanborn for 53 yards, Utah started their drive on their own 23 yard line.

On 1st and 10 from their own 34 yard line, following a first down conversion, Utah would get 15 more yards after Stanford safety Alaka’i Gilman was called for targeting. This ended Gilman’s night, though because it occurred in the first half, he will be available for the start of next week’s Big Game at Cal. As a result, Patrick Fields, who traveled but planned to sit out to rest, dressed up and entered the game in the second half.

“I wanna clarify one thing,” Shaw said in regard to Fields. “Just so everybody’s on the same page. Patrick Field was cleared to play medically. We all made the decision, Patrick leading that saying hey, you know what, if you give me another week I’ll be even better for the last two games. So we were ready to save him. But then after Alaka’i went out and we were short at safety again, he came back and said I’m cleared to play. I’ll go play.

“So, obviously he wasn’t a hundred percent, but he was healthy enough to go out there and play. He finished the game healthy, too. Thankfully. So he’ll be ready to suit up next week. But I want to clarify he was not dressed to play at first half but came out in the second half and played for us. He felt the team needed him out there and proud of him for doing that.”

Utah would march the ball down the field even further and set up a 1st and 10 from the Stanford 15 yard line before Jonathan McGill got an interception for Stanford in the end zone, resulting in a touchback. Stanford would start their drive on their own 20 yard line as a result with only 36 seconds to work with.

Rather than kneeing it out, Stanford decided to throw, but it didn’t work out as McKee threw an incomplete pass, a short four yard completion to Benjamin Yurosek, and then another incomplete pass which ended the half. 14-7 Utah lead at halftime.

Coming out of halftime, Stanford would start with the ball and got a first down after a pass interference call against Utah on a pass intended for Brycen Tremayne. McKee then found freshman tight end C.J. Hawkins for a 20 yard completion to get to the Utah 40 yard line. After a promising start to the drive, Stanford would end up punting as the drive basically stalled from there. McKee tried to find John Humphreys deep that would have been caught at the Utah 23, but instead it was incomplete. As a result, Stanford punted to the Utah 15 yard line where it was fair caught by Vele with 12:40 to go in the 3rd quarter.

Thomas went right to work for Utah on the opening play of the drive as he rushed for 16 yards to the Utah 31 yard line. On a 3rd and 13 from the Utah 28 yard line, Rising scrambled for 26 yards to the Stanford 46 yard line. Rising then found Money Parks for an 11 yard completion. Utah would then set up a 1st and 10 from the Stanford 14 yard line before Rising found Thomas Yassmin for a 14 yard touchdown. 21-7 Utah lead with 8:49 to go in the 3rd quarter after the extra point.

After another Stanford three and out, Utah got the ball on their own 44 yard line with 7:53 to go in the 3rd. Thomas would open up the drive with an 18 yard rush to the Stanford 38 yard line. The drive would end with a 19 yard touchdown pass from Rising to Micah Bernard on a 3rd and 7. After the extra point, it was now a 28-7 Utah lead with 5:14 to go in the 3rd quarter.

The next Stanford would drive would be another three and out as McKee getting sacked for a loss of five yards killed the drive. Sanborn’s punt would be for 52 yards to the Utah 28 yard line with 3:39 to go in the 3rd.

On 1st and 10 from the Stanford 45 yard line, Rising connected with Bernard for a 29 yard completion, getting to the Stanford 16 yard line. On the next play, Rising connected with Logan Kendall for a 16 yard touchdown reception. Following the extra point, it was a 35-7 Utah lead with 1:37 to go in the quarter.

At the end of the 3rd quarter, it was still a 35-7 Utah lead after McKee completed a pass to Higgins for 7 yards to the Stanford 42 yard line, setting up a 3rd and 9 to start the 4th quarter. On 3rd and 9, McKee connected with Higgins for a 23 yard completion, setting up 1st and 10 from the Utah 35 yard line. However, the Stanford drive stalled from there as McKee got sacked on the next play for a five yard loss. Sanborn ended up punting on a 4th and 15 for 28 yards to the Utah 12 yard line. 13:25 to go in the 4th quarter.

Utah would gain five yards on the opening snap after an offsides call against Stanford. Thomas then had a 20 yard rush to the Utah 37 yard line before being brought down by Levani Damuni and Scotty Edwards. Utah would advance it to the Stanford 36 yard line before Thomas ripped off a 36 yard touchdown run to make it a 42-7 lead with 8:32 to go after the extra point.

The next Stanford drive would last over seven minutes as the Cardinal found a way to keep moving the chains. An unnecessary roughness penalty gave them 15 yards and was really key in keeping the drive alive. Eventually, the drive would end on a 4th and 11 from the Utah 44 yard line as Leigber got a 10 yard gain, one yard short of the first down. This gave Utah the ball back on their own 34 yard line with 1:08 to go.

From there, Utah ran a couple plays to burn out the clock, making it a 42-7 final score. Utah ended up with a comfortable victory after Stanford made it a lot more competitive than expected in the first half. Stanford battled hard, but the offense’s inability to sustain longer drives wore down the Stanford defense by the middle of the 3rd quarter. The combination of not getting a lot of rest in between possessions along with the altitude just wore the Stanford defense down. That and the fact that Utah’s offense by nature wears down defenses. All three of those factors really made the difference.

“With the guys that were injured, other guys came out there and fought,” Shaw said. “So proud of them. Hurtin’ for them. Hurtin’ for them. We had a great week of preparation, thought we had a really good plan, I think our minds were right, Sean Barton former player came in and gave an outstanding talk appealing to these guys’ pride and their desire to fight. Love Sean, forever. Great young man.”

If there is one positive storyline from this game for Stanford it would be Utah native Levani Damuni balling out in front of friends and family. He was motivated to have a strong performance and while the team result wasn’t what he wanted; he personally can hold his head high about the way he played.

“There’s no question about it,” Shaw said when asked about Damuni’s impact. “Levani, including this year, has led us in tackles three years in a row. He’s got a great feel for the game, he’s physical, he’s tough, he’s smart, and plays with great leverage. It doesn’t surprise me. We missed him big time obviously last week as we missed the other three guys in the middle of our defense. So we lost but having him back was a huge help. But nice to have a few more of those guys back, but you know, Levani is a special football player. It’s great to see him out there making those plays.”

At this point, all that Stanford can do is put this game in the rear view mirror, learn whatever lessons they can from it, and get ready to play Cal on the road next week in Berkeley for Big Game. Cal is coming off a 38-10 drubbing at Oregon State, so they’re not exactly coming in with much momentum or confidence as they are currently on a six game losing streak. In truth, Big Game is going to be purely about pride. The Axe will be on the line and no matter how bad a season is going, winning The Axe always has a lot of meaning for both teams.

Kickoff time for Big Game will be Saturday, November 20th at 2:30 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and KNBR 1050 AM.

Note: After the game, Shaw was asked about the status of senior safety Jonathan McGill who went out and did not return. Shaw said about his status:

“Not sure yet. But he did come out and did not return. I don’t know how bad it was. You know, hopefully it’s a short-term thing. We’ll see.”

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