Stanford walked into Friday night and took control from the jump, leaning on a fast-starting offense and just enough defensive resistance to beat NC State 31-28 in a game that never really felt as tight as the final score suggested.
The Cardinal (4-4, 2-3 ACC) opened with 234 yards of offense in the first quarter alone, and Davis Warren threw two touchdown passes before the night was even old. Stanford’s early burst built a cushion that held up through a late Wolfpack push, giving the program back-to-back wins for the first time since 2024.
That matters beyond one result. Stanford is now sitting at .500 through eight games for the first time since 2019, and bowl eligibility is suddenly within reach for a team that hasn’t played in the postseason since 2018.
NC State (3-4, 1-3 ACC) came in favored by a touchdown and was given a 75% chance to win by the Football Power Index, but the Wolfpack spent much of the night chasing the game. Their last victory was a 31-28 squeaker over Louisville on Oct. 3, and Friday’s loss was their second straight ACC defeat after the loss to No. 15 Wake Forest.
Stanford’s opening drive set the tone right away. Senior wideout Caden High accounted for 63 receiving yards on that first march, and the Cardinal quickly turned it into a touchdown. After a defensive stop, Stanford went right back to work and closed the first quarter with a 14-0 lead.
Those first two drives showed how many different ways Stanford could stress NC State’s defense. Five different players caught passes on those possessions, and the passing game had room to breathe because of the work up front. Warren pointed to the line afterward, saying they gave receivers “time to go get open” and helped create the explosion through the air.
The Wolfpack finally cracked the scoreboard with a 58-yard touchdown from sophomore receiver Deandre Desinor. Then, after Stanford came up empty on a fourth-down try, junior quarterback CJ Bailey kept it himself to set up a goal-line touchdown dive, wiping out the early Stanford advantage.
But Stanford answered before halftime with a drive that showed real composure. Starting deep in its own territory with 1:49 left in the second quarter, Warren led a seven-play, 90-yard march that ended with a 26-yard back-shoulder touchdown to High.
Head coach Tavita Pritchard said the Cardinal aimed to “punch first” and “sustain through the ebbs and flows of [the] game.” He also said the offense still has room to grow into “balanced football and a balanced offense.” That balance showed up early, when Stanford mixed the run and pass effectively, stayed ahead of schedule, and avoided a 3rd-and-long or a punt on its first two scoring drives.
Defensively, Stanford did its part too, holding NC State to just eight first downs in the first half.
The Wolfpack were better in the second half, but Stanford kept making the next big play. Pritchard said, “we knew we needed to keep scoring because [NC State] wasn’t a team that was going to go away.” The Cardinal followed that approach with a 43-yard run by junior running back Micah Ford and a 4th-and-goal touchdown from Brown in the third quarter.
NC State answered with a nine-minute touchdown drive, but Stanford responded again. Sixth-year senior kicker Emmet Kenney drilled a 31-yard field goal to push the lead back to two possessions, and that was enough to shut the door.
The Wolfpack’s final push came late, with an 89-yard drive that ate clock and took 14 plays before ending in the end zone with just under five minutes left. Stanford’s defense then recovered the onside kick, and the Cardinal ran out the final 82 seconds in victory formation.
Stanford now turns to Louisville next Saturday at 12:15 p.m. PDT in another all-Cardinal matchup, this time against a top-five conference opponent. The road has been a problem for Stanford for more than two years, and Pritchard knows that has to change if the postseason chase is going to last.
“I think it’s really about our continued growth as a program to be at our best and perform at our best no matter where we are, and we’re going to keep working towards that,” he said.
In Other News...
Stanford Faces A Defining Road Test As Surprise Start Builds Pressure
Stanford heads to Louisville on Saturday for a noon Pacific kickoff on ACC Network, carrying a 4-4 record into the final week of October. It is the first time since 2019 the Cardinal have been at .500 or better through eight games, a modest but meaningful marker for a program still trying to build traction in a new conference and a demanding schedule.
Micah Ford has given the ground game a lift over the last two weeks, while quarterback Davis Warren has quietly climbed to fifth in the ACC in passing yards, giving Stanford a more balanced look than it has had at points earlier in the season. The next question is whether that progress can travel, because the Cardinal have not solved the road problem that has shadowed them for a long time, and Louisville offers another chance to see whether this team can turn a solid start into something sturdier. [Read more 🡒]