Stanford QB Ben Gulbranson is finding his groove
Earlier this season, I wrote a piece saying Stanford needed to be ready to go to the bullpen at quarterback given how poorly sixth-year veteran Ben Gulbranson was playing. With a 4-star redshirt freshman waiting in the wings in Elijah Brown, it only made sense (at least to me) to consider making a change at quarterback. Rather than taking advice from a sportswriter or listening to the groaning Cardinal fans, Stanford’s coaching staff instead trusted their own intuition and have stuck with Gulbranson.
That decision has paid off: Gulbranson led them to a 30-20 win over Boston College on September 13th going 13-22 for 186 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions for a 145.1 passer rating. In their 20-48 loss to Virginia, Gulbranson was the one who was keeping them in the game, going 20-29 for 286 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions for a 174.6 passer rating. In their 30-29 victory over San Jose State this weekend, Gulbranson went 29-43 for 444 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions for a 169.5 passer rating.
With each week, Gulbranson is throwing the ball more and looking more confident in the process. He’s gone from looking like a liability to being the main reason the offense is flowing as well as it is. He’s making good reads, not forcing things, knows when to take a sack, and when given protection, he’s able to throw with accuracy. His deep balls in particular have been outstanding.
“Every game he’s gotten better and better,” Stanford interim head coach Frank Reich said of Gulbranson. “Even in the end of the BYU game, it was a tough game for us as a team and as an offense. Ben started to gain some confidence I think in the fourth quarter of that game, and then every game it’s been more and more.
“You know, some of that is — first of all, it’s credit to him. Nothing flusters him. He’s got great poise and works really hard. So he deserves a lot of credit. And some is just the natural progression. He only got here in June. It’s not like we had a whole spring ball with him. We changed the offense and did a whole bunch of stuff, so some of it is just a natural progression of learning the offense and getting better every week. The whole team.
“Ben was a highlight of that and really happy for how well he played, and the plays that the receivers made for him. The way the offensive line blocked; I think just the one sack. CJ has another 100-yard game. Caden High has another big game; really happy for Caden. We know he has some juice and can make big plays. He has 100-yard game. And then we had the big plays to the backs as well. It was fun night.”
Touching more on Saturday’s performance against the Spartans, Gulbranson was on fire. His 444 passing yards was the third most yards thrown by a quarterback in Stanford history. He delivered a perfect ball to Caden High on a 4th and 10 for a 30+ yard completion to keep the game-winning drive alive and all night long was hitting his receivers. The difference between what he was at the beginning of the season and what he is now has been night and day.
“Yeah, I think we are just trusting the process,” Gulbranson said. “I don’t think the process has changed. We just got better as the games go on, which is exciting for us, just to keep riding that momentum. We’re doing a good job of diagnosing what we’re doing right, wrong, and building on that each week.”
With a bye week now coming up, Gulbranson and the offense get a chance to further correct and improve things, knowing that they are 2-0 at home on the season. It’ll be fun to see how the rest of the season goes for Gulbranson and how much more electric this Cardinal offense becomes.
Note: Cardinal Sports Report has you covered for all the latest news on Stanford as they begin the Andrew Luck era.
Join Cardinal Sports Report today for $1 for the first week and enjoy a complimentary year of The Athletic – included with your membership.
Don’t miss out on this great offer!
Sign up here: https://www.on3.com/sites/cardinal-sports-report/join/
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406
Email: [email protected]
Join the conversation on CardinalSportsReport.com
