Stanford heads into Saturday’s trip to Wake Forest with two problems that have been stubborn all season: winning away from home and getting itself going before breakfast.
The Cardinal will kick off at 9 a.m. Pacific, and that alone makes this a tricky test.
Stanford has already been flattened in its two previous 9 a.m. Pacific starts since joining the ACC, falling 59-28 at North Carolina State in 2024 and 34-10 at SMU in 2025.
Now it gets another shot at an early East Coast start while trying to snap a program-record 12-game road losing streak.
That skid has stretched more than 24 months, dating back to Stanford’s 26-24 win over Syracuse in its first-ever ACC game. It’s the third-longest active road losing streak in the FBS, trailing only Purdue’s 16 and Ball State’s 13.
First-year coach Tavita Pritchard is taking a different approach to the travel and timing this week after Stanford’s last East Coast trip, a 35-7 loss at Duke two weeks ago. That game kicked off at 1 p.m. Pacific, and the Cardinal handled preparation one way then and another way now.
“The philosophy (for Duke) was to stay on our body clock,” Pritchard said. “After some consulting with experts and our team of people here, we’ll approach this one a little bit differently with it being a noon (local) kickoff.
It’s a little bit of a balance of total sleep for the week and getting a little bit more on North Carolina time. The reality at the end of the day is these are college kids.”
Stanford still has more Eastern Time Zone travel ahead, too. The Oct. 10 game at third-ranked Notre Dame is set for 12:30 p.m. Pacific, while the start times for road games at Louisville on Oct. 31 and Virginia Tech on Nov. 14 have not been announced.
Fifth-year linebacker Jahsiah Galvan said the adjustment is mostly about the basics.
“There’s little things we can do,” Galvan said. “Specifically going to sleep a little bit earlier, maybe getting up a little bit earlier.
But for us, it’s just going to be playing ball as normal and making sure we’re up and ready to go. So we’re not going to think about it too much or stress about it too much.
It’s just on us to get up, get going, and understand what’s about to happen at 9 a.m.”
The contrast between Stanford’s home and road results has been stark. The Cardinal is 7-3 in its last 10 games at Stanford Stadium, and that includes last Saturday’s 34-27 win over Georgia Tech. Away from home, though, the offense has disappeared.
Over the last 10 home games, Stanford has averaged 26.6 points and 376 yards per game. In that same stretch on the road, those numbers drop to 14.9 points and 273 yards.
The Cardinal managed only 13 total points in its first two ACC games against Miami and Duke, but the second half against Georgia Tech offered a much-needed spark. Stanford scored 24 points after halftime in that win, and Michigan transfer Davis Warren was at the center of it.
Warren threw for 396 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover, and he has now opened the season with 143 consecutive pass attempts without an interception.
“Davis has been pretty consistent over the season in standing in there and working through his progression with his eyes and being pretty accurate with the football, taking care of the football for sure,” Pritchard said. “I thought we made some plays outside which were big, and then I thought we protected the passer really well. I think you saw that this past week that when we can protect Davis, we can have a good chance to attack people through the air.”
Stanford’s defense will need to help again, and that starts with creating more takeaways. The Cardinal has forced 12 turnovers on the road since 2023, compared with 33 at home.
It will also have to do that without starting cornerback Brandon Nicholson, who made a key interception against Georgia Tech but suffered a leg injury on the play. Nicholson is expected to miss an extended period, another setback for Stanford as it tries to solve its road issues in a tough early start.
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Stanford's Reset Feels Real But One Road Problem Still Looms
Stanfords first year under Tavita Pritchard has brought a noticeably different feel, one built on basic competence and a little more resilience. Davis Warren has given the offense steadier quarterback play, Matt Rose has become a reliable presence at linebacker, and Kris Richards defensive tweaks have helped the unit look more organized than it did a year ago. For a program trying to climb out of the flat spots that have defined too much of the recent past, those are meaningful signs.
The problem is that the progress has not fully traveled. Stanford still has to prove it can carry that reset away from home, where the margin for error shrinks and the defense has not always matched its better stretches. With the offense looking more functional and the defense showing flashes, the Cardinal now face the harder question of whether this version can hold up on the road, where consistency has been the missing piece. [Read more 🡒]
Stanford Faces An Early Test After Finally Showing Some Real Life
Wake Forest comes into Family Weekend looking more like a team with some momentum, carrying a 3-1 record after an upset win over Louisville. The Demon Deacons have gotten important production from quarterback Gio Lopez and wide receiver Carlos Hernandez, and that makes them a useful early measuring stick for a Stanford program that is still trying to define what its season can become under Tavita Pritchard, with Andrew Luck helping shape the big-picture direction.
Stanford at least found a little life last week, enough to make this trip feel like more than just another September game. The Cardinal still need to show that the breakthrough was not a one-off, and this matchup offers a cleaner read on whether their recent progress can travel against a team that has already proven it can spring an upset and handle pressure in a meaningful spot. [Read more 🡒]