Recap: Stanford gets vanquished at Virginia
On Saturday, Stanford football fell to Virginia on the road by a final score of 48-20. Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris led the way for the Cavaliers, going 23-31 for 380 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions for a 219.7 passing efficiency rating while wide receiver Trell Harris had four receptions for 145 yards and three touchdowns. Stanford quarterback Ben Gulbranson went 20-39 for 286 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions for a 174.6 passing efficiency rating while wide receiver Bryce Farrell had four receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown. Virginia improves to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Virginia-Saturday, September 20th
VIDEO: Stanford Football Postgame Press Conference: Virginia
Virginia came out guns blazing, scoring 21 points in the 1st quarter as Morris and Harris connected on all three touchdowns: A three yard touchdown pass to cap off a seven play, 65 yard drive; a 75 yard touchdown pass on the first play of the drive; and a 27 yard touchdown pass to cap off a seven play, 72 yard drive. Stanford did find the end zone once in the quarter as a 60 yard reception by Farrell set up a five yard touchdown pass from Gulbranson to tight end Benji Blackburn. While Stanford’s offense got off to an ok start, their defense came out flat footed as the secondary got burned far too often by Morris and Harris. Down 21-7 at the end of the 1st quarter, Stanford was in a massive hole.
“Yeah, give credit to Virginia and Coach Elliott and his staff,” Stanford head coach Frank Reich said of Virginia’s strong start. “We knew they had a dynamic offense coming in. They put up a zillion yards in the last few games, a lot of points, running the football at a high level, hadn’t given up a sack. Quarterback is dynamic. We knew that he could make plays with his feet and in the pass game and he certainly showed that tonight. I thought their quarterback really played an impressive game. He made plays, he extended plays, made some big time throws. So, give credit to Virginia. Wasn’t our best outing defensively. I know we’re better than that. There were plays there to be made defensively I think we would normally make, but we got out-executed.”
In the 2nd quarter, both teams scored seven points. On the opening drive of the quarter, a 13 yard rushing touchdown by Morris capped off a 12 play, 88 yard drive to make it a 28-7 lead for the Cavaliers with 9:05 to go in the 2nd quarter. Stanford would punt on their next drive, giving the ball back to Virginia. Virginia would have a golden opportunity to tack on more points on the next drive, but missed a 25 yard field goal, giving Stanford a chance to narrow the gap.
Stanford would take advantage, as a 29 yard reception by CJ Williams and a 12 yard reception by Caden High helped set up a three yard rushing touchdown by Micah Ford to cap off an eight play, 80 yard drive with 55 seconds to go in the half. 28-14 Virginia would be the score at halftime.
In the second half, Virginia came out crisp as Morris connected with Sage Ennis for a 13 yard touchdown on the opening drive, capping off a seven play, 68 yard drive. That made it a 35-14 lead for the Cavaliers. Stanford would punt on their next drive after which Virginia marched the ball down the field to make a 28 yard field goal as Will Bettridge redeemed himself. It was now a 38-14 lead for the Cavaliers.
Stanford quickly responded on the next drive as Gulbranson connected with Farrell for a 68 yard touchdown. Stanford then went for two and didn’t convert as Ford got stacked up on shallow pass to the outside. Down 38-20 with 4:24 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford had some life, but they needed the stars to align going forward.
The stars didn’t align for Stanford at all the rest of the way as Virginia outscored Stanford 10-0 in the 4th quarter. Bettridge made a 28 yard field goal to make it 41-20 with 12:27 to go and then a four yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Daniel Kaelin to Eli Wood made it 48-20 with 4:26 to go. That concluded an eight play, 36 yard drive. In the end, 48-20 would be the final score as neither team scored from there on.
For Stanford, this was a disappointing, but not surprising result. Virginia on paper is the stronger team. When you combine that with Stanford coming out flat footed on defense, it’s no surprise Stanford got dominated like they did. You can’t expect to win on the road and give up 21 points in the 1st quarter.
As for Virginia, they came out and did what they were supposed to do. While that may not seem like much to celebrate, it’s always a good day when you come out and take care of business. As we saw with Cal’s embarrassing 34-0 loss at San Diego State, no win can be taken for granted. You gotta come out and take your opponent seriously. Virginia took Stanford seriously and as a result, they got the win. Hats off to them for that.
Up next for Stanford is a home game against San Jose State on Saturday, September 27th. Kickoff is set for 4:30 PM PT. As I just mentioned, you gotta take every opponent seriously. Stanford better come out with better energy and be sharp from the opening kick and give the Spartans the respect they deserve.
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