Preview: Stanford welcomes Florida State to The Farm for homecoming
On Saturday at 7:30 PM PT on ESPN, Stanford football will welcome Florida State to The Farm for homecoming. Stanford comes in at 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the ACC while Florida State comes in at 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the ACC. Stanford will be wearing their retro “Block S” uniforms and helmets.
Last time out: On Saturday, October 11th, Stanford fell to SMU 34-10 on the road in Dallas. Penalties really did the Cardinal in.
RECAP: Stanford penalizes themselves at SMU
READ: By the numbers: Breaking down Stanford’s loss at SMU
Weekly press conference: This week, interim head coach Frank Reich along with running back Cole Tabb and defensive lineman Braden Marceau-Olayinka spoke to the media for the weekly press conferences. I didn’t get write ups done on those this week, but if you missed either interview, the links are below.
VIDEO: Stanford Football Weekly Press Conference | Frank Reich-Florida State
VIDEO: Stanford Football Weekly Press Conference | Cole Tabb & Braden Marceau-Olayinka-Florida State
Injury report: I didn’t do an individual injury report article this week, but the ACC did have their weekly injury reports per usual. You can check that out below. Scroll to the very bottom to find Stanford/Florida State. To touch quickly on what is on there, running back Tuna Altahir, offensive lineman Simione Pale, offensive lineman Nick Fattig, offensive lineman Zak Yamauchi, and wide receiver JonAnthony Hall remain out. There’s other guys listed as out, but those are the main names to be aware of. And then cornerback Collin Wright is listed as probable, so he should be good to go.
READ: Student Athlete Availability Reports-Football
On Florida State: The Seminoles have been ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation this season, starting out the year 3-0. Since that 3-0 start, they have lost three straight games and are still looking for their first ACC win at 0-3 in the league. For whatever reason, they’ve really hit a wall in league play, going 1-7 in the ACC last season. That said, their lone ACC win last year was against Cal, so they’ve had success against the Bay Area teams so far.
The last time Florida State played a game on the West Coast was back in 1977 against San Diego State. They also played at San Diego State in 1973. So it’s been a while since the Seminoles came out this way.
The Seminoles are led by senior quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who has gone 86-138 for 1365 yards, nine touchdowns, and five interceptions. He has a 159.7 passer rating on the season. Junior wide receiver Duce Robinson is the top receiver on this Seminoles team with 25 receptions for 443 yards and three touchdowns. Second is redshirt freshman wide receiver Micahi Danzy, who has 16 receptions for 330 yards and two touchdowns. The other guy with double digit receptions is junior Randy Pittman Jr. who has 11 receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns.
Robinson is listed as a questionable on the injury report as of now, so that’s something to monitor. Typically, guys who are questionable end up playing, but that is different than a probable designation, so we’ll just have to see.
On the ground, junior running back Gavin Sawchuk has rushed for 352 yards and six touchdowns on 67 attempts (5.3 yards per attempt) while also having seven receptions for 101 yards and one touchdown. Thomas Castellanos is the number two rusher on the team with 286 rushing yards on 65 attempts (4.4 yards per attempt) with four touchdowns. And then, while he is yet to find the end zone, freshman Ousmane Kromah has rushed for 252 yards on 41 attempts for a 6.1 yards per attempt average.
On defense, junior defensive back Earl Little leads the way in total tackles with 40 (17 solo) while also having two interceptions, one tackle for loss, one pass deflection, and one forced fumble. His interceptions were returned for a combined 48 yards. Defensive backs Jeremiah Wilson and Edwin Joseph also have two interceptions, so the Seminoles have guys who can ballhawk. Junior linebacker Justin Cryer leads the team in tackles for loss with 4.0 to go along with 26 total tackles (11 solo) and 1.0 sack. Leading the way in sacks is junior defensive back Ashlynd Barker, who has 2.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 18 total tackles (11 solo). The Seminoles are able to put pressure on the quarterback from the secondary in addition to the front seven, which makes them a tough defense to face.
To touch quickly on special teams, redshirt freshman kicker Jake Weinberg has gone 6-7 on his field goals and is a perfect 31-31 on his extra points. His season long is 45 yards. He’s been a reliable leg for the Seminoles thus far.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is play the cleaner game. Penalties did them in against SMU last week. Penalties matter. They can kill drives and they can save drives. A lot of games come down to penalties. If Stanford plays the cleaner game, especially with how well they moved the ball, the opportunity to win will be there.
Secondly, Stanford needs to get tight end Sam Roush going. Roush has 18 receptions for 219 yards and two touchdowns on the season. They are 2-0 in games when he finds the end zone and 0-4 in games when he doesn’t. That says it all about how important he is to this Cardinal offense.
Third, they need to get more tackles for loss. Stanford inside linebacker Matt Rose, outside linebacker Teva Tafiti, and defensive lineman Clay Patterson each have four tackles for loss on the season. Stanford has done a great job of getting tackles for loss this season. That trend needs to continue tonight.
Finally, they need to give quarterback Ben Gulbranson time to throw. If they can find a way to give him ample protection, he should be able to make the plays needed to win. If he’s under duress all night, due to him not being as mobile of a quarterback, it’s going to be hard for Stanford to win.
Prediction: Given Florida State’s recent ACC struggles and this being a late night game, I’m going to say Florida State survives 31-27. Stanford has played well at home this year and should put up a good fight. Florida State on paper is also the best team Stanford has faced at home all season, which is why I have to pick the Seminoles to still come out on top.
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