Recap: Stanford penalizes themselves at SMU
On Saturday, Stanford football fell to SMU on the road by a final score of 34-10. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings led the way for the Mustangs going 22-30 for 247 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions while running back Chris Johnson Jr. rushed for 96 yards and one touchdown on five carries while also adding two receptions for 42 yards and one touchdown.
Stanford quarterback Ben Gulbranson went 22-40 for 278 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while wide receiver CJ Williams had seven receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown. SMU improves to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford Postgame Press Conference: SMU
BOX SCORE: Stanford at SMU-Saturday, October 11th
“You know, first of all, I give credit to SMU for the win,” Stanford head coach Frank Reich said after the game. “They played a more disciplined game. You know, we did too many things to hurt ourselves. I thought Ben did a nice job out there today. I put him in a bad position on that last interception. I really take responsibility for that. That was a bad call on my part. It was just a play that I thought, you know, something I had a conviction on that I thought was going to look good and work down there and it didn’t. And not only did it not look good, but they had the thing wired.
“So, I put Ben in a bad position and he was just trying to make a play. So that’s on me. I do think that Ben still did a lot, he did a lot of good things out there today. I thought we moved the ball well. We just had too many penalties.”
SMU got the ball to start the game. Stanford forced a three and out on the first drive and after muffing the punt return, was able to get another three and out, forcing a second SMU punt. Stanford wasn’t able to capitalize on that second SMU punt as Gulbranson got sacked twice for a combined 15 yards. SMU got the ball back on their own 25 yard line with 7:55 to go in the 1st quarter after a 45 yard punt by Aidan Flintoft.
SMU would then chew up a lot of clock with a 13 play, 75 yard drive that ended with a 19 yard touchdown pass from Jennings to running back Derrick McFall. That made it a 7-0 lead for SMU with 2:39 to go in the 1st quarter.
Stanford would punt on their next drive as Gulbranson failed to connect with wide receiver Bryce Farrell on a deep ball. SMU’s next drive would carry over to the 2nd quarter as they would score three points on the drive thanks to a 32 yard field goal by Sam Keltner. That made it a 10-0 lead for the Mustangs with 12:32 to go in the quarter.
The next drive was a strange one for the Cardinal. Emmet Kenney made a 52 yard field goal with a flag being called against SMU. Stanford elected to not take the points and keep the drive going, hoping to get a touchdown. Thanks to stellar running from running back Micah Ford, Stanford would set up a 3rd and goal from the 1 yard line.
Gulbranson would try to connect with tight end Benji Blackburn in the end zone, but Blackburn couldn’t quite secure the catch. On 4thand 1, Ford was stacked up for a loss of one yard. That resulted in a turnover on downs as the Cardinal chewed up almost 10 minutes of clock without getting any points to show for it.
SMU would quickly score as Johnson Jr. had an 87 yard touchdown run, making it a 17-0 lead for the Mustangs with 44 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. Stanford then responded with a touchdown of their own as Gulbranson found tight end Sam Roush for a 12 yard reception, Williams for an 18 yard reception, Farrell for a 31 yard reception, and Williams for a 14 yard touchdown. That made it a 17-7 game with five seconds left in the half. SMU would take that lead into halftime as they took a knee on their next drive.
In the 3rd quarter, Stanford got the ball to start the half but a 10 yard holding penalty and Gulbranson getting sacked for a combined 20 yards did the drive in. SMU then quickly pounced on Stanford as Jennings found Johnson Jr. for a 42 yard touchdown reception on the next drive, capping off a five play, 82 yard drive. That made it a 24-7 lead for SMU with 8:22 to go in the 3rd quarter.
Stanford would not go scoreless in the 3rd quarter as Kenney made a 34 yard field goal with 34 seconds left in the quarter. That made it a 24-10 game. With one quarter to go and down by 14 points, Stanford was still alive, but they needed to play a clean 4th quarter if they wanted to pull off the comeback.
Stanford would force a punt to get the ball back on their own 5 yard line with 12:52 to go in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately for Stanford, they were unable to capitalize as six penalties stalled and ultimately killed the drive as a 15 yard hands to the face penalty took a touchdown off the board. To add salt to the wound, the drive ended with Gulbranson throwing a pick six as Justin Medlock took it to the house on a 96 yard return. That made it a 31-10 lead for SMU as opposed to a 24-17 lead with 6:05 to go. That 14-point swing sealed the deal. For good measure, SMU would add three more points as Keltner nailed a 48 yard field goal with 1:32 to go. That made it 34-10, which ended up being the final score.
“I mean, we come down that last drive, I mean it’s 24-10. We’re driving down. There’s six minutes to go and we throw a touchdown pass to, you know, we got a penalty on it,” Reich recalled. “Now we’re first and goal on the five. And you know, we score there, we’re going for two. I mean, there’s six minutes to go. That game is, it’s a six, seven, or eight point game at that point and we’re very much in it.
“So, I’m proud of how the guys fought despite all those penalties. We still gave ourselves a chance. We got six minutes to go and we’re still very much in that game with a good chance to win it. Almost like I felt we won two weeks ago to kinda come back late and then like I said, we just had that, bad break there on the pick six.”
To touch quickly on SMU, they should feel good about how this game went. They improve to 2-0 in the ACC and took advantage of Stanford’s mistakes. They had some explosive scores and made the most of their opportunities.
As for Stanford, they simply shot themselves in the foot with too many penalties. That 4th quarter drive in particular with six penalties was just brutal. And then when you combine that with a nearly 10-minute drive in the first half that didn’t lead to any points, you have a very inefficient game. You can’t control the clock like they did and not score off those opportunities. A good offense is only a good defense if it leads to points.
On the bright side for Stanford, they should feel like if they had played cleaner football, they would have been right there. If they can play cleaner going forward, they should feel like they can pick up some more wins this season.
“Listen, I’m mad,” Reich admitted. “I mean, you know, we’re all mad. The whole team is mad because we came on the road against we know what is a very good football team and we felt like we were going to come down here and win this game and earn the win and listen, I give them credit. They beat us by whatever 24 points. So, that is what it is. But, I thought in spite of the mistakes that we made, in spite of the way the game started, we played ourselves back into it to where we got a chance late in the fourth quarter to make it really really interesting.
“And so, you got two things you’re feeling. You’re mad as heck at you know, at the way it happened and how many mistakes we made and mad at the mistakes I feel I made. But then you’re also proud of the guys. They fought hard and I know we’re a good team. But we just can’t make that many mistakes.”
The best news of the day by far for Stanford was cornerback Aaron Morris returning to the sidelines after being taking to the hospital on a stretcher early on in the game. The fact that he was able to fly home with the team and rejoin them on the sidelines was a huge relief after what looked like a really scary injury.
“Yeah, good news on Aaron,” Reich said. “And I believe he’s discharged and we’re thankful that he’s okay.”
Up next for Stanford is their homecoming game against Florida State on Saturday, October 18th. Kickoff is set for 7:30 PM PT on ESPN.
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