Davis Warren wasted no time putting Stanford on the front foot Friday night, and the Cardinal rode that early surge to a 31-28 win over North Carolina State in Stanford, Calif.
Warren finished with 303 passing yards and four touchdowns, with his first two scoring throws coming on Stanford’s opening two possessions. That quick start helped the Cardinal jump out in front and hold on late for a victory that pushed them to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“They made it easy on me,” Warren said. “Those guys are open and I was able to hit them, but it wasn’t anything special on my part. Just doing what I was told and what I was coached.”
Micah Ford added a big night on the ground with 150 rushing yards, while Nico Brown caught two touchdown passes. Caden High was another key piece in the passing game, finishing with nine receptions for 103 yards and a score. Stanford got the result in front of a small crowd of 13,949 and now has won four of five at home.
“People want to call it the library or talk about how many people show up or anything like that. It doesn’t matter,” Warren said.
“What matters is defending our home turf. As a team, they have to pay the price of admission to come in here to Stanford Stadium and play us.
We’ve done a pretty good job of defending our home turf and we take a lot of pride in that.”
That home form stands in sharp contrast to Stanford’s struggles away from campus. The Cardinal are 0-3 on the road and have been outscored by 44.3 points per game in those contests. They head into three straight road games and need to win at least one to keep their hopes alive for a first bowl trip since 2018.
“If I could explain it, I think it would be a lot better than it is,” coach Tavita Pritchard said of the home-road discrepancy. “All I can say is we have to stay in the mindset of being at our best every single day, regardless of circumstance.”
North Carolina State had its chances, but the Wolfpack came up short despite 256 passing yards and two touchdowns from CJ Bailey and two short scoring runs from Will Wilson. The Wolfpack dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC.
The turning point in the third quarter came when NC State had a touchdown wiped away by an offensive pass interference call against Victor Snow on the opening drive of the half. The drive later ended with a punt, and Stanford immediately answered with a 90-yard march.
That possession featured a 43-yard completion from Warren to Ford and included a 15-yard personal foul on King Mack. Warren finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Brown on fourth-and-4, stretching Stanford’s lead to 28-14.
“It starts with me,” coach Dave Doeren said. “The guys didn’t play well enough which means I didn’t have them ready.”
NC State kept fighting. Wilson scored his second touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to trim the gap to seven, and Stanford countered with a field goal to push it back to a two-score margin.
Bailey’s second touchdown pass came with 1:23 left, but Stanford recovered the onside kick to close it out.
The game began with Stanford in full control. Warren connected with Brown and Sedrick Irvin for touchdowns on the first two drives, giving the Cardinal a 14-0 lead before NC State settled in. The Wolfpack answered with a 58-yard touchdown pass from Bailey to Deandre Desinor and a 2-yard run from Wilson to tie the game.
Stanford then pieced together another 90-yard drive just before halftime, and Warren’s 26-yard touchdown pass to High with 25 seconds left in the second quarter sent the Cardinal into the break up 21-14.
The Cardinal’s offense had one of its best opening stretches in years, piling up 234 yards in the first quarter, its most in an opening quarter since 2017. That was a sharp departure from a recent stretch in which Stanford had been held to seven points or fewer in four of its last five games against FBS opponents.
NC State was playing its second game on the West Coast in the last 66 seasons, after winning at California in 2024. The Wolfpack tried to adjust by practicing late at night at home before the trip, but it did not pay off.
NC State hosts California on Oct. 31, while Stanford visits Louisville on Oct. 31.
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