On Saturday, Stanford football defeated Colgate 41-10 in their season opener on The Farm. Stanford junior quarterback Tanner McKee went 22-27 for 308 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception for a 194.3 passer rating while 5th year wide receiver Michael Wilson had 5 receptions for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Junior running back E.J. Smith was the top rusher for the Cardinal with a career-high 118 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 11 attempts while also adding 37 receiving yards on 5 receptions. Tacking on 13 kick return yards, Smith had a total of 168 all-purpose yards. Also a career-high.
“So played hard tonight,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said after the game. “I know it's tough for Colgate traveling all this way. They fought like crazy. Especially in that first half. They were opportunistic, took advantage of some of our miscues, kept the game close. Had a chance to really tie it or take the lead a couple times. So a lot of credit to them for coming out all this way and fighting hard. We were talking about a lot this off-season, training camp in particular, really talking about our standards. First and foremost, of course, we want to win, but we're chasing our standards.
“I thought in some ways we were close to our standards tonight in certain areas -- being physical, running the ball. Some areas I thought we weren't. Special teams-wise, it was well below our standard. I thought defensively we played in stretches extremely well, and some stretches we gave up a little bit too much. But we got stingy in the red zone, which is huge. If we can keep people out of the end zone, we'll have a good opportunity to win football games.”
Smith got 100 of his 168 yards in the first two plays of the game. He got things started with a 13 yard kick return before rushing to the left for an 87 yard touchdown run, tied for the 5th longest touchdown run in school history (Nathaniel Peat). After Joshua Karty’s extra point was good, Stanford had a 7-0 lead with 14:42 to go in the 1st quarter.
“You know in that play, I was just supposed to follow my pullers,” Smith said of the run. “The linebackers ended up over pursuing, so I took it back side, had that long run. My O-linemen blocked really well. I just executed off of those blocks.
“Honestly, it's a blessing. Any opportunity that you get to score a touchdown is a blessing. That's pretty much all that I can say. We were preparing for this team all week, and it just happened. So that's all I really have to say about that.”
In Colgate’s first drive, they started on the 25 yard line after a touchback from Karty. After a few short gains, quarterback Michael Brescia connected with wide receiver Jake Ryan for a 21 yard reception, helping them get into field goal range. On 4th and 3 from the Stanford 15 yard line, Spencer Biscoe’s 33 yard field goal attempt was wide left, keeping it a 7-0 game.
Stanford was unable to take advantage as Wilson dropped what should have been a first down completion from McKee on 3rd and 5 from the 39 yard line. Ryan Sanborn would punt for Stanford as a result, giving Colgate the ball on their own 26 yard line.
Colgate would punt at the end of their next drive, but got the ball back as Stanford safety Mitch Leigber muffed the return, resulting in Colgate recovering on the Stanford 28 yard line. The Raiders wouldn’t be able to move the ball much beyond that. After a five yard gain from Brescia, Brescia would get sacked by Ricky Miezan and Aeneas DiCosmo for a loss of four yards, setting up a 45 yard kick from the 27 yard line. Biscoe would once again kick it wide left. Colgate had two golden opportunities to put up points and they were unable to convert.
“I feel like we just held our ground,” Stanford safety Kendall Williamson said of forcing those field goal attempts. “Like we didn't let like the change of pace in the game, the momentum shift control us. Our coaches did a really good job of game planning and making sure that they set us up for the players to be in the best possible position to defend their offense when they were in good position, and we just held them. I feel like we just stood our ground and didn't allow a momentum change to alter like how we played defense. Regardless we had to go out there and stop them.”
In their next possession, Stanford got 17 quick yards as McKee connected with wide receivers Brycen Tremayne and John Humphreys following a one yard loss from Smith. Smith would then get a seven yard reception to get Stanford to the 50 yard line. In the next possession, Smith would fumble, giving Colgate the ball back on their own 44 yard line.
Colgate’s next drive would result in another punt following the end of the 1st quarter. Shelby Pruett’s 40 yard punt would get muffed by Casey Filkins and recovered by Asauni Allen in the end zone to even up the game 7-7 following the extra point.
Stanford would get the ball back on the 25 yard line following a touchback. Determined to not have another lousy drive, Stanford would find the end zone. After a six yard gain from Filkins, McKee connected with Tremayne for a 30 yard reception to get to the Colgate 39 yard line. After a modest three yard run from Filkins, McKee connected with Tremayne for a 10 yard completion after which he found Michael Wilson for a 26 yard touchdown reception. 14-7 Stanford lead.
After another Karty touchback, Colgate got the ball on the 25 yard line and wasn’t able to do a whole lot as Pruett was forced to punt again on 4th and 14 from their own 21 yard line. Pruett had a nice 51 yard punt, which was fair caught by Bryce Farrell on the Stanford 28 yard line. On the previous third down to set up the 4th and 14, Zach Buckey did a nice job of applying pressure on Brescia, resulting in a pass that was nearly picked off by Levani Damuni. It was the best defensive sequence Stanford had had so far.
Stanford’s drive began with 10:51 to go in the 2nd quarter as they were looking to expand their lead even further. McKee got things going by completing a four-yard pass to Smith after which Humphreys picked up a 15 yard reception to get the first down on the Stanford 32 yard line. On the next play, McKee connected with Wilson for a 25 yard reception after which Smith rushed for six more yards. Thanks to a 16 yard reception from Wilson, Stanford was now at the 5 yard line. From there, Filkins and Smith would take it the rest of the way. Filkins had a four yard rush followed by a one yard touchdown run from Smith. It was now a 21-7 Stanford lead.
After a four and out from Colgate on the next drive, Stanford went back to work again. Thanks to a 10 yard reception from Humphreys and a 30 yard reception from Filkins, Stanford got the ball to the Colgate 10 yard line for a 1st and goal. Unfortunately, due to a 15 yard facemask on Smith, it became 1st and goal from the Colgate 25 yard line.
Stanford responded nicely as Wilson got a two yard reception followed by a 10 yard reception from Elijah Higgins to get the ball to the 13 yard line. From there, McKee connected with Wilson for a 13 yard touchdown with 1:16 to go in the half. After the extra point was good, Stanford led 28-7, a lead they would take into halftime.
The 3rd quarter was pretty quiet as Colgate outscored Stanford 3-0. With 9:43 to go in the quarter, Stanford had the ball on their own 25 yard line after which McKee connected with Smith for a six yard gain. After McKee was unable to connect with tight end Benjamin Yurosek, he was picked off by defensive back Jackson Price, giving Colgate the ball on their own 46 yard line. This happened right after Kendall Williamson got an interception for Stanford, so there was a little back and forth going on.
With 8:55 to go in the 3rd quarter, Colgate now had the ball, looking to make Stanford pay. Thanks to a 19 yard rush from running back Max Hurleman and a 12 yard rush from wide receiver Treyvhon Sanders, Colgate got the ball inside the 10 yard line, setting up an easy chip shot for Biscoe which he would make. It was now a 28-10 game with 5:17 to go in the 3rd. Nobody else would score the rest of the quarter, making it a 28-10 lead heading into the 4th quarter.
However, Stanford would start the 4th quarter with about as good of field position as they could ask for as McKee connected with Humphreys for a 53 yard completion to give them the ball on the Colgate 2 yard line.
Starting the 4th quarter on the 2 yard line, Stanford was able to punch it in thanks to two one yard rushes from Filkins. It was now a 35-10 lead with 14:15 to go. After things looking a little scary earlier on, Stanford was now in a really comfortable position. Ari Patu came in to replace McKee at quarterback and played the rest of the game. Stanford would add six more points as Patu connected with freshman wide receiver Mudia Reuben on a 7 yard touchdown pass with 3:15 to go. The drive began on the Colgate 48 yard line as a 13 yard completion from Patu to Reuben got things going. Emmet Kenney came in to attempt the extra point and missed, keeping it a 41-10 score that would end up being the final score.
“Early in the season I wasn't worried about running up the score,” Shaw said. “Worried about getting guys opportunities and get them ready to play. Ari Patu is our backup quarterback. He's got to get out there and make some throws, and he did that to Mudia on the sideline and Mudia in the end zone.
“Very excited about Mudia Reuben right now. He's had a very good training camp. A lot of things he can do for us. We're going to continue to sprinkle him in throughout the season. He's big. He's fast. He's got great hands. We have a great receiving corps, but we've got a spot for Mudia as well.”
While the title of this recap is clearly having some fun with the fact that Colgate shares the same name as a favorite brand of toothpaste, it is true that Stanford used this game against Colgate to shake off some rust and work out some issues that they have.
The biggest issues came on special teams as Stanford had two muffed punt returns. Stanford was simply sloppy in that department and they have to do better going forward. Also, Stanford had two more turnovers as well (Smith fumble; McKee interception), making it four turnovers on the night. That’s not acceptable and they know it.
“So those are a lot of the ways we wanted to play, but we can't turn the ball over,” Shaw said. “We can't give them short fields. We certainly can't give them touchdowns in special teams, which we did tonight. We're going to continue to emphasize ball security, taking care of the ball, and we've got a couple of nice drills for the guys that we haven't done in a while to remind them how important that thing is…So it wasn't anxiety or nerves or anything. Just poor execution, decision-making. Reading the ball in the stadium is a little bit different than reading on the practice field. We had a couple of bad jumps off the ball, which kind of makes you more uncertain.
“Casey's play, he makes the poison call to get everybody away from the ball, and if it gets a friendly bounce, you can still take it. That was not a friendly bounce. He should have gotten out of the way. Tried to field it and didn't get it. I think we learned some lessons there. I think we have to nail down our technique and our decision-making, but I have a lot of confidence those guys will bounce back and play better next week.”
The other big issue was the run defense, giving up 159 rushing yards. Ideally, you’d see Colgate have fewer than 100 yards. That’s an area that was a major weakness last year and still looks to be an issue right now. That said, Stanford does feel like they got some pieces to work with there and that given where things were last year, they got off to a solid start in this department.
“I thought very well,” Shaw said of how he felt the run defense went. “It's tough when they involve the quarterback so many times. As a runner, you have to account for the guy he's faking to but account for the quarterback also. In particular, a big physical kid that's rushed for a lot of yards in his career. Last couple games last year was like 150, 175 yards rushing. Big, physical kid, and you saw him drag a couple of guys for some extra yardage.
“So I thought it was good that we missed a couple of tackles. Not that many, but we missed a couple. I was going to stress that. I thought we ran to the ball. I thought guys came up and were physical. I thought it was a good start. Not perfect yet, but a good start for us.”
On the bright side, Stanford had some big plays, most notably E.J. Smith’s 87 yard touchdown, and they ended up winning with ease in the end. Nobody got hurt and while the defense did give up a lot of rushing yards, they gave up no touchdowns. They bended, but they didn’t break. Redzone defense has been a focus for Stanford in training camp and they should feel good about how they performed defensively when presented with a short field.
“But at the same time, there's some positives from tonight too, a lot of real good positives,” Shaw said. “Guys went out there and played fast. Didn't have a lot of errors on the defensive side. A couple of missed tackles, a couple of mistakes that will happen in Game 1.
“For a veteran crew, a lot of old guys out there, I thought they played well together, played smart. It was great communication. We can only get better from here.”
As for McKee, aside from his interception, he had a terrific night. He played like a legit franchise quarterback and should be able to keep Stanford competitive all season long provided he gets the help that he needs.
Finally, this win did count towards Stanford’s bowl eligibility. One win against an FCS school can count towards the six wins needed provided they meet a certain criteria and Colgate meets that criteria. While it’s going to get a lot tougher from here, Stanford is now just five wins away from being bowl eligible.
“It feels great, especially to come out 1-0,” Smith said of getting a game under their belts. “That was our goal. So just being able to go out and play the game that we love, it's a great feeling to have. Nine months ago we were just getting prepared for the off-season. Now we're already in the season. So we're just all excited and ready to go.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against USC on Saturday, September 10th. That game will kick off at 4:30 PM PT on ABC and KNBR 1050 radio.
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