On Friday, Stanford football fell to TCU at home by a final score of 34-27. TCU sophomore quarterback Josh Hoover led the way for the Horned Frogs going 28-42 for 353 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. TCU senior wide receiver Jack Bech was the top receiving target for Hoover with six receptions for 139 yards and one touchdown. Stanford redshirt sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor finished the game with seven receptions for 102 yards while Stanford junior quarterback Justin Lamson had one touchdown pass and one rushing touchdown, both from a yard or two out. TCU improves to 1-0 on the season while Stanford falls to 0-1.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. TCU-Friday, August 30th
VIDEO: Stanford Football Postgame Press Conference | TCU
“Yeah, we had the lead late in the fourth quarter, so our guys battled,” Stanford head coach Troy Taylor said after the game. “They're a good team, resilient. We were able to take the lead with six minutes left and we got to get a stop and then we got to go back and score again.
“So just didn't finish it. I thought we did a good job being resilient. Obviously struggled offensively in the second after early on and were able to stay in this. Defense made some good stops. Just wasn't enough plays to come out with the win.”
This was a tight game all the way until the final couple of minutes. While TCU was able to pull away in the end, Stanford had plenty of opportunities to win this game, failing to capitalize on seven penalties that TCU committed for a total of 100 yards.
Stanford got the ball to start the game and found the end zone as quarterback Ashton Daniels found wide receiver Jackson Harris for a three yard touchdown to cap off the opening drive, giving the Cardinal a 7-0 lead with 7:57 to go in the 1st quarter. Stanford was aided by a pass interference call and a 15 yard face mask against TCU to keep the drive alive. Stanford was lucky to score on this drive as Daniels fumbled the ball on a 31 yard scramble that fortuitously was recovered by wide receiver Ismael Cisse at the 9 yard line. From there, Stanford was able to find the end zone with Daniels connecting with Harris.
TCU scored a touchdown on their opening drive as well as Josh Hoover connected with wide receiver Savion Williams for a five yard touchdown to make it a 7-7 game with 1:16 to go in the 1st quarter. Hoover had a 17 yard completion to Williams and an 18 yard completion to Bech on that drive.
At the end of the 1st quarter, it was a 7-7 game as Stanford had a 4th and 1 coming up from their 34 yard line. The Cardinal would convert the 4th down as Lamson rushed for two yards. Stanford however would end up punting on that drive as Aidan Flintoft had a pretty 50 yard punt that forced TCU to start at their own 12 yard line with 13:08 to go in the 2nd quarter.
TCU’s drive wouldn’t last long as it ended with Stanford outside linebacker David Bailey forcing a fumble that was recovered by safety Jay Green. This gave Stanford the ball on the TCU 20 yard line with 12:26 to go in the 2nd quarter.
“He's brought a lot of energy, experience obviously coming from UDUB,” Stanford linebacker Gaethan Bernadel said of Green. “Leader on and off the field. Very, very, quiet guy but leads by example. He is very vocal on the field and brings the energy that we need every single play, so we're glad to have him in the secondary.”
Stanford would end up finding the end zone again on that drive as a 13 yard gain by running back Sedrick Irvin Jr. got the ball to the TCU 8 yard line. The drive would end with Justin Lamson finding Ismael Cisse for a two yard touchdown pass. It was now a 14-7 lead for Stanford with 9:24 to go in the 2nd quarter.
The rest of the half, both teams would trade field goals. Kyle Lemmermann made a 22 yard field goal for TCU to make it 14-10 after which Emmet Kenney made a 35 yard field goal to make it 17-10. With a seven point lead at halftime, Stanford was looking solid. They had gotten a bit lucky with that first scoring drive, but they took advantage of the gifts that TCU was giving them and they were playing with some confidence. The one drive that Stanford really regretted was Ashton Daniels’ interception as defensive lineman Tymon Mitchell caught a floating pass that had bounced off a linebacker. The pass was intended for Sam Roush, but it was poorly thrown. That interception led to the drive that resulted in Lemmermann’s field goal.
The 3rd quarter is where this game got away from Stanford as TCU outscored them 10-0. TCU scored a field goal on the opening drive of the 3rd quarter as Lemmermann drained a 42 yard field goal to make it 17-13 with 9:16 to go in the quarter. On 3rd and 3 from the TCU 37 yard line, Josh Hoover was able to connect with JP Richardson for a 17 yard pick up only for it to be backed up 15 yards thanks to an unnecessary roughness call that went against TCU. The Horned Frogs were continuing to have a difficult time playing disciplined football as a personal foul likely cost them a touchdown.
TCU’s touchdown drive of the 3rd quarter would begin with 4:44 to go on the Stanford 42 yard line. Josh Hoover had a one yard touchdown run to finish off the drive, while the big play of the drive was 43 yard pass from Hoover to Bech right after an illegal block below the waste by TCU that cost them 15 yards. Right as it looked like TCU was giving Stanford another gift, Stanford handed them a gift of their own with poor coverage. As a result, with 2:27 to go in the 3rd quarter, TCU would lead 20-17 after Hoover’s one yard touchdown run.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, TCU had the ball on their own 45 yard line on 2nd and 10. Stanford would force a punt on that drive, giving them a chance to retake the lead. However, Stanford would have a turnover on downs on the next drive as Ashton Daniels failed to pick up a first down as he was scrambling to the sideline.
Stanford would eventually re-take the lead. With 11:43 to go in the 4th quarter, Stanford had the ball on their own 21 yard line after TCU missed a field goal. Stanford would march down the field with a series of modest gains combined with a 29 yard reception by Elic Ayomanor. The drive ended with Justin Lamson punching it in the end zone from one yard out on a quarterback sneak. 24-20 Stanford led with 7:00 to go.
After the kick return, TCU had the ball on their own 26 yard line with 6:52 to go. Stanford’s defense fell apart on this drive as Jack Bech had a 13 yard reception after which JP Richardson had a 34 yard reception. The drive would end with Hoover finding Bech for a four yard touchdown to make it a 27-20 lead for TCU with 3:16 to go in the 4th quarter.
Stanford would fail to move the chains as they went for it on 4th and 16 from their own 19 yard line and didn’t convert as Daniels threw an incomplete pass. This gave TCU the ball back on the Stanford 19 yard line with 2:14 to go. TCU would make the most of this short yardage situation as they were able to quickly find the end zone thanks to running back Cam Cook rushing for 19 yards on three plays. Cook scored on a 7 yard touchdown run, making it a 34-24 lead for TCU with 1:51 to go.
From there, TCU would go on to win 34-27 as Emmet Kenney made a 45 yard field goal for Stanford with 41 seconds to go. Stanford would not recover the onside kick, ending the game.
For Stanford, this is a disappointing loss given that they had a 17-10 lead at halftime. They were in a good position at the break, but really fell apart in the second half. Especially the 3rd quarter. A combination of key defensive breakdowns and the offense falling asleep in critical moments allowed TCU to get back in the game and overcome self-inflicted penalties. Had Stanford not had such poor 3rd quarter, they very well might have escaped with a win.
“Yeah, you know, sometimes that just happens,” Daniels said of their sluggish 3rd quarter. “Defenses come out in different stuff than they did in the first half, and we have to adjust to that pretty quickly.
“They had a great scheme for the second half and we couldn't move the ball as efficiently as we wanted to. And, yeah, I mean, props to them.”
If there is any silver lining to this game for Stanford, it would be the fact that they were able to retake the lead in the 4th quarter and force TCU to score again to beat them. This wasn’t a case where TCU blew them off the field or anything like that. Stanford had their chances, but in the end they looked like a team coming off a 3-9 season and not used to winning.
“Resiliency,” Taylor said of what the positives were for the Cardinal. “We got more turnovers that were big. That was great to see. Our defense created some turnovers. Really made a big difference.
“And our guys keep competing and those are the positives for sure. Had a chance to win. Kenney kicked the ball really well. Just disappointing part is not being able to finish and make some plays down the stretch on both sides of the ball.”
“Yeah, I think just the way that we moved the ball when we really wanted to,” Daniels said of what positives he saw. “You know, those big touchdown drives were huge. They were great to see. That first touchdown to Jackson, that was awesome.
“We kind of beat ourselves up on that first drive. Wasn't our best drive and still went up and put seven points up on the board. That goes to show our potential.
“Justin's touchdown pass to Ismael was amazing and then his run, driving the ball down the field and finishing with a powerful run right up the middle is great to see as a quarterback. So, yeah, I think we had a lot of the positives tonight.”
As for TCU, they should be happy with this game. Any win on the road is a good win and Stanford came into this game motivated and hungry to show that they are a better team than last year. While Stanford did look to be better on defense, in the end it was clear that Stanford still has a lot of growing pains to go through if they are to get back to being a relevant program. TCU in contrast has the more experienced and veteran squad. That ended up making the difference.
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Cal Poly on Saturday, September 7th at 4:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
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