Cardinal Crushed Again, But Bowl Hopes Aren't Dead Yet
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Stanford football has been outscored 115-10 the past two weeks, following a 57-3 loss to Wake Forest and Saturday's 58-7 defeat at Notre Dame. Both teams are now ranked, with Notre Dame at No. 2 in the country and Wake Forest now ranked No. 21 in the latest polls. In addition to Stanford's 45-6 loss to No. 3 Miami, the Cardinal have had no answers for the top teams in college football.
Saturday's game began with the Cardinal receiving the opening kickoff and running it out to the 20-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Boubacar Traore sacked quarterback Davis Warren from behind, Warren fumbled the ball, and Jaiden Ausberry recovered for the Fightin' Irish on the Stanford 18.
Four plays later, Notre Dame was in the end zone with less than two minutes ticked off the clock in the first quarter. It was apparent very early that this would be another long afternoon for the Cardinal, and for Stanford fans.
"That was a disappointing effort," Stanford head coach Tavita Pritchard said following Saturday's loss to Notre Dame. "I take full responsibility for that. We were not ready to play. We didn't play well enough. That's a good football team we played, and we have to find a way to stop helping the other team."
Pritchard elaborated on this by saying there were too many instances where there were lapses or penalties, missed assignments, or mental errors. The first task ahead for Pritchard and the Cardinal coaches will be assessing themselves and ensuring that they're setting up their players for success.
The bright side moving forward for Stanford is that the toughest games on the schedule are behind them. The next two games are winnable for the Cardinal, with Elon coming to The Farm on Saturday, October 17, followed by a late-night matchup against NC State (3-3) on Friday, October 23.
They also have games against Cal (3-3) and Virginia Tech (4-2) on the road later in the year, giving Stanford a total of four games in which they should be able to hang close and potentially even come out with a win — if they play like they have against Hawai'i and Georgia Tech and not Duke, Miami, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame.
That glimmer of hope of a potential bowl game could be enough to keep the roster focused moving forward. A game against Elon, in which Stanford should be able to regain some confidence up next, comes at the perfect time to get this program back on track.
"We have to find a way to play better football," Pritchard said.
At 2-4, Stanford won't have any games to waste. The four games above represent the path of least resistance for the team to ultimately still have a very successful season. The other two games on the schedule are against a tough Louisville team on the road and No. 24 SMU at home.
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