Last week, Stanford football was as high as could be – mile-high if you will – on the heels of a 29 point comeback victory in Boulder. They came down to earth on Saturday with a lopsided 42-7 defeat to UCLA.
As has often been the problem this season, getting off to another slow start against a strong team proved to be a death sentence. Stanford had their opportunities early to keep the game within reach, but untimely penalties and negative plays turned multiple trips past the midfield stripe into nothing on the scoreboard. Head coach Troy Taylor stressed that mistakes like these should not occur, regardless of the youth of the squad.
The offense was without Ben “Baby Carrots” Yurosek and Casey Filkins, but for the first time this season they started the same offensive line combination in consecutive weeks. The Cardinal had a long week of preparation after playing a Friday game, and their game plan was not necessarily poor. They simply failed to execute when needed.
The punting duo of Aidan Flintoft and Connor Weselman were excellent, dropping three punts inside the 10 yard line of the Bruins. However, the Cardinal allowed a pair of third down conversions in potential three-and-out scenarios to let UCLA escape their own goal line each time.
Stanford tallied 10 penalties for 113 yards, good for the most by the program since a 2015 victory over UCF. They also converted on just 1 third down in the entire game for the first time since 2018.
Still, there were reasons to be excited about the future. Freshman wideout Tiger Bachmeier found the end zone for the first time, and Elic Ayomanor delivered another strong performance despite a fumble and an offensive pass interference. Ashton Daniels looked more comfortable drawing the vast majority of snaps at the quarterback position. While the job has reportedly not been decided, Taylor suggested Ashton’s standout performance against Colorado contributed to him getting more run in this one.