Stanford used a 27-point second half and their first punt return touchdown since 2016 to run away from Cal Poly and end a ten-game home losing streak by a final score of 41-7.
After last year’s home loss to Sacramento State, the Cardinal knew not to take an FCS foe lightly.
“Obviously everybody knows what happened last year when we played an FCS school, so definitely none of us take any opponent for granted,” said junior cornerback Collin Wright. “We game plan the same, do all the daily operations the same.”
And in case that message wasn’t clear, all the Cardinal had to do was look at the scoreboard and see things knotted up at 7 with 1:32 to go in the first half. At that point, no one on the Stanford sideline was overlooking Cal Poly.
The Cardinal sputtered out of the gate, fumbling the ball on the game’s opening drive to set up Cal Poly in plus territory. But the defense and special teams stepped up, as senior defensive lineman Aristotle Taylor got his big mit up to block Noah Serna’s field goal attempt. Ashton Daniels subsequently found Mudia Reuben for six to close the first period, but the Mustangs quickly responded to score on a double-pass trick play between wideouts Michael Briscoe and Jake Woods.
“Cal Poly came out and did some really good things,” said Head Coach Troy Taylor. “The trick play was pretty impressive.”
And so with just 1:32 on the clock, the Cardinal needed to find something - anything - to cling to going into halftime. That’s when they went to work.
Two short passes to freshman back Micah Ford and a connection to Ismael Cisse quickly moved the ball to midfield. Daniels then found Elic Ayomanor down the right sideline to bite off 27 more yards as the clock ticked toward 30 seconds. On the very next play, Daniels hit Sam Roush as he was making a beeline toward the right pylon. The big tight end was tackled at the 2. To cap it off, Justin Lamson entered at quarterback and punched it in to give the Cardinal a 14-7 lead at the break and a sigh of relief.
“It's pretty heartwarming when you have a two-minute drive and you go down and get a touchdown,” said Daniels. “Being able to go in with a little bit of momentum into halftime was really, really big for us.”
The momentum continued to crescendo into the third quarter. Cal Poly’s opening drive quickly stalled, forcing a punt. Tiger Bachmeier received the ball on his own ten yard line, where he made the first man miss, ran through a cloud of defenders who got little more than a hand on him, before bouncing it out to the right sideline and outrunning everyone to the end zone.
Tiger had never returned a punt during his Stanford career before today. For Stanford, it was their first punt return touchdown since Christian McCaffrey in the 2016 Rose Bowl. The 90 yard return sent the stadium into a frenzy, pushing the advantage to 21-7 and giving the Cardinal all kinds of momentum.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in [Tiger],” said Troy Taylor. “I thought he was going to fair catch the ball and luckily he didn’t.”
Stanford would get another quick stop, setting up a 32 yard field goal by senior kicker Emmet Kenney. On the subsequent Cal Poly drive, Collin Wright effectively put them away with his second career interception.
“Coach April knew they would come with that concept, so he put me in a great position,” Wright said. “All I had to do is catch the ball.”
This time Stanford would find the end zone, as Ashton Daniels connected with Roush for the tight end’s first career score on fourth-and-four. The Cardinal took a 31-7 lead into the fourth quarter, where they subbed more freely.
Highly-touted freshman quarterback Elijah Brown played the entire final period for Stanford and looked sharp. He finished the game 7-7 for 97 yards and a touchdown pass to Ismail Cisse on his first drive in a Cardinal uniform.
“Elijah looked great out there tonight,” Daniels said. “We were so fired up for him on the sidelines, making big time throws and reads.”
“Exceptional anticipation, exceptional accuracy, composure - he’s going to be a good one,” added Coach Taylor.
A late 43-yard field goal from Kenney made the final score 41-7 in favor of Stanford, their biggest margin of victory since a 49-7 win over No. 23 Oregon in 2017.
Ashton Daniels finished 19-23 for 221 yards and 2 scores. All three Stanford quarterbacks (Daniels, Lamson, Brown) recorded a touchdown in this game. The Cardinal have not had three different quarterbacks score in the same season, let alone same game, since 1998.
Ismail Cisse 8 receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown, while running back Sedrick Irvin caught a pair of long passes totaling 92 yards. Freshman back Chris Davis Jr. received the bulk of the carries late and led the team in rushing with 6 totes for 53 yards, including a 32 yard scamper in the fourth quarter.
“The next step now is to learn from this and have a great bye week and get ready for Syracuse,” Taylor said.
Extra Point: Stanford’s last home victory came in the Josh Karty game, when the legendary kicker scored all 15 of Stanford’s points in a 15-14 victory over Arizona State in 2022
Extra Extra Point: Cal Poly was coached by Paul Wulff, who went 0-4 against Stanford as Head Coach of Washington State, including a 58-0 loss in 2008