Stanford gets a chance to reset at home this weekend, and the timing could hardly be better.
After back-to-back road beatdowns, the Cardinal return to Stanford Stadium for the first of two straight home games, opening a stretch that begins with Elon on reunion homecoming weekend. Stanford is 2-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC, but the last two results have been especially rough: Wake Forest and No. 2 Notre Dame combined to outscore the Cardinal 115-10.
Elon arrives with a 4-3 record and a 2-2 mark in the CAA, though the Phoenix will be doing so as 35.5-point underdogs against a Stanford team trying to steady itself in the second half of the season. Their offense leans heavily on true freshman running back Kamerin McDowell-Moore, who has put up 137 carries at 6.7 yards per attempt.
For Stanford, the matchup offers a real opportunity on defense, even after the unit was gashed for 598 yards last week and is allowing 481.5 yards per game. The Cardinal’s clearest edge has been against the run, and that will matter against Elon’s ground-heavy threat.
Senior linebacker Matt Rose, junior linebacker Sam Mattingly, and senior safety Jay Green have been the backbone of the defense, combining for 111 tackles. Mattingly turned in a career-best outing last week with 11 tackles, including one for loss, plus a pass breakup that nearly became an interception.
Asked what has to change defensively, defensive line coach James Mosley kept the message simple: “It’s not just what you do one time; it’s what you do consistently.”
Mosley said he keeps stressing the details in meetings and on the field, starting with the individual work each player puts in. “Whether that’s extra film [or] that’s extra time during individual drills, … that’s how I help them prepare.” He believes the Cardinal can clean up the connection between the front seven and the secondary, which would help a defense that has produced six takeaways so far - three interceptions and three fumble recoveries - along with only four sacks.
On the other side, quarterback Davis Warren said Stanford has handled the two tough losses “in stride.”
“It’s been productive … We talk about competition in practice and being the type of group where we come out here and [give] our all,” Warren said, adding that the routine stays the same no matter what happened the week before. “Whether it was a win or a loss, always being able to look in the mirror and say, ‘hey, what did I do well? What are some things I can do better?”
Warren also pointed to the challenge Elon can create schematically, noting that the Phoenix “[does] a lot of different things defensively … they present some different looks coverage-wise in the back end and do some different stuff on third down.”
Keeping Warren upright will be a major piece of the puzzle. Stanford’s pass protection was strong against Georgia Tech, and that helped Warren post a career-high 396 passing yards.
One of the most important connections in the offense has been Warren’s chemistry with junior tight end Benji Blackburn. Warren didn’t hide how much confidence he has in him.
“I trust that guy 1000%,” Warren said. “I know he’s going to go get open, go make plays for me … He’s just a special player and someone I can rely on.”
Blackburn scored Stanford’s only touchdown last week against Notre Dame and has become one of Warren’s go-to targets. He leads the team with 23 catches for 186 yards and one touchdown.
With homecoming crowd support behind them, Stanford is looking to turn the page and protect its home field. Warren said the team understands what that backing means.
“It means a lot for us to have the students out there supporting us, and we don’t take it lightly that we get to represent Stanford every single Saturday.”
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Stanford Gets An Early Test Of Kyle Smiths Rebuilt Roster
Stanfords offseason makeover gets its first real public look on Oct. 17, when Kyle Smith takes his rebuilt roster to Santa Clara for an exhibition that should offer an early read on how the Cardinal might look after last seasons 20-win campaign. Smith enters his third year with Stanford coming off a .500 mark in ACC play and a trip to the College Basketball Crown, and the roster has been reshaped with a mix of holdovers and transfers as the program tries to keep building momentum.
The transition comes with a different kind of loss, too, after Ebuka Okorie became the programs third straight NBA draft entrant when the Detroit Pistons took him 17th overall. Even with that departure, Stanford has enough new pieces and returning experience to make this tune-up worth watching closely, especially for a team that showed enough last season to suggest it can stay relevant in the league if the new blend comes together quickly. [Read more 🡒]