On a crisp Bay Area autumn day, the upset-minded 2-7 Stanford Cardinal played a 6-3 No. 19 ranked Louisville team hoping to make their case for a dark horse bid for the ACC championship game. However, undisciplined Louisville play, true freshman Emmett Mosley V’s record day, and a last-second field goal by senior kicker Emmet Kenney on senior night resulted in Stanford’s first FBS home win in two years.
“Really proud of our seniors," said head coach Troy Taylor. "You know when the first time you do something happens, but usually you don’t know the last time you do something. For all these guys it was their last time playing in Stanford Stadium. We talked about breathing it in, enjoying it and then making it memorable — and we certainly did that.”
Emmett Mosley V emerged, notching 13 receptions for 168 yards and 3 touchdowns to break the single game program records for most receptions and touchdowns by a true freshman.
Facing long odds against an experienced Louisville team, the young Stanford team had 25 players out, including a pair of stars in junior cornerback Collin Wright and senior linebacker Tristan Sinclair. The Louisville two-deep on defense contains eighteen 5th/6th year players (out of 22), 13 of whom are transfers while ten out of eleven of Louisville's starting offense are seniors or older. 8 of them are transfers including 25 year old seventh-year QB Tyler Shough.
The inexperience of the youngest offensive line in the Power Four often showed. Starting true freshman left tackle Khalil House gave up three sacks as junior quarterback Ashton Daniels often saw his pocket collapse. Six Louisville defenders each got a sack in the game.
Stanford leapt out to a 10-0 lead over Louisville early in the first quarter. Junior defensive lineman Zach Rowell deflected a ball which senior Gaethan Bernadel intercepted at Louisville 21 for a short field. A few plays later, Emmet Kenney would score on a 41 yard field goal. After the defense held to give the offense the ball back, Daniels scrambled to find Emmett Mosley V for a touchdown.
The Cardinals would fail to make anything out of the next drive. Junior wide receiver Elic Ayomanor caught a pass from Daniels, only for senior Louisville defensive back Corey Thornton to snatch the ball away. This set Louisville up with a short field, from where they would score a touchdown and cut the lead to 10-7.
Daniels would drive down the field for a Stanford field goal to pad the lead at 13-7 but a pair of touchdowns from the visitors would end the half at Louisville 21-13.
Despite the score, the Stanford players remained determined. Even at halftime there was no doubt.
“We still wanted to fight. No matter what the score is, we could have been up ten, down ten,” Senior linebacker Gaethan Bernadel recalled. “It would have been the same message. Deliver. Keep playing ball.”
Late in the third quarter, freshman Louisville running back Duke Watson would find open daylight for a 68-yard rushing touchdown to extend the lead to Louisville 28-13. The two ACC foes would trade touchdowns to make the score 35-21 late in the fourth quarter. A furious Stanford rally saw two touchdowns scored within the last seven minutes of the game.
As he got drilled, junior Justin Lamson delivered a 25 yard touchdown strike to Emmett Mosley V on fourth down to tie the game with 45 seconds left to go. However, the visitors would turnover the ball on downs at the Stanford 45 with five seconds left in regulation.
Daniels found Mosley for one yard, only for a Louisville defender to commit an unsportsmanlike penalty to set up a last minute 57 yard field goal for kicker Emmett Kenney. However, a five yard offsides from the Louisville special teams unit would shorten the distance.
“I really felt comfortable in the moment,” said Kenney, who also kicked a winning field goal as time ran out against Syracuse on Sept. 20. “We practice these moments all the time. We do pressure kicks throughout the summer, we try to prepare ourselves for this type of situation.”
The senior kicker would make the last-second 52 yard field goal on senior night to give Stanford its first win over a Top 25 team and first field storming since beating No. 3 Oregon in 2021.
Louisville lost its top 25 ranking and faces Pittsburgh next week.
The Cardinal hope to capitalize on the momentum to upset rival California in the 127th Big Game as Troy Taylor continues to rebuild the program.
“You see it here. You see that we’re a couple years away from being a really good football team,” said senior linebacker Gaethan Bernadel.
--Sam made me make a signature.