Stanford comes out of its final bye week with a trip to Blacksburg on Saturday night, set for a road matchup against Virginia Tech on ACC Network at 4:30 p.m. PT.
The Cardinal is still trying to snap a brutal road skid. Stanford has dropped 15 straight away from home, the longest streak in program history and the longest active road losing streak in FBS.
Its last road victory came in its first ACC game, a 26-24 win at Syracuse on Sept. 20, 2024.
There’s a sharp split in Stanford’s results this season. In its four wins, the Cardinal has averaged 34 points per game and 485.5 yards of offense. In its four losses, those numbers fall to 9.4 points and 257.2 yards.
A win on Saturday would also keep Stanford’s bowl hopes alive in a major way. The Cardinal can become bowl eligible for the first time since 2018 by winning two of its final three games.
Davis Warren has been one of the ACC’s most efficient passers, even with the volume piling up. He leads the conference and ranks fifth in the country with 308 pass attempts, and he’s thrown only three interceptions.
Across the FBS, just 13 quarterbacks have at least 200 attempts and three or fewer picks. Warren is also fifth in the ACC with 2,203 passing yards and one of seven Power 4 quarterbacks with at least 2,000 passing yards and three or fewer interceptions.
Stanford has also stretched the field through the air in a way it hasn’t in years. The Cardinal has 10 passing plays of at least 40 yards, one shy of the ACC lead, and that total is already the most Stanford has had in a season since at least 2020 with three games still left to play.
Micah Ford has been a rare dual-threat force out of the backfield. He’s one of four Power Four running backs with at least 750 rushing yards and 200 receiving yards this season.
The last Stanford running back to hit both marks was Christian McCaffrey in 2016. From Weeks 7 through 9, Ford was the only FBS running back with at least 400 rushing yards and 150 receiving yards.
The Cardinal has also found a rhythm in the passing game near the goal line. A Stanford running back has caught a touchdown pass in three straight games, which the program last did during the final three games of the 2015 season, including the 2016 Rose Bowl Game.
And Stanford has not been shy on fourth down. Against Louisville, it went 4-for-8 on fourth-down tries, setting program records for both attempts and conversions.
On the season, the Cardinal is tied for seventh in FBS with 26 fourth-down attempts, good for third in the ACC. Stanford is tied for 25th nationally with 12 conversions and is the only team in the country with three touchdowns on fourth-down attempts.
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Stanford's Early Momentum Faces A Better Test Against Rice
Stanford has opened the season with a pair of wins over Eastern Washington and Oakland, and the early signs have been encouraging for a group still trying to settle into its identity. Julius Price and Nick Townsend have already given the Cardinal useful production, while coach Kyle Smith came away from the Oakland game pleased with the way his team competed and the clarity it showed in its roles.
Rice should provide a more revealing check on that progress. The Owls are 1-1 after beating Dallas Christian College and dropping a tight game to East Texas A&M, and Jacob Dar has been their most dependable presence on both the scoring and rebounding fronts. For Stanford, this is the kind of matchup that can show whether the first two results were just a solid start or the beginning of something more stable. [Read more 🡒]
Stanfords 2-0 Start Comes With One Clear Challenge
Stanfords early-season momentum kept building with an 81-63 win over Oakland University, a result that pushed the Cardinal to 2-0 and offered another look at how quickly this roster is taking shape. The transfer additions have already started to matter, with Nick Townsend and Christian Bliss giving Stanford a lift in scoring and on the glass as the team continues to sort out its identity under Kyle Smith.
Even with the comfortable margin, Smiths attention after the game stayed on the habits that will matter once the schedule stiffens. He praised the effort and the way the group is developing, but the next step is cleaner execution, especially when it comes to limiting turnovers and avoiding unnecessary fouls. [Read more 🡒]