Preview: Stanford welcomes San Jose State to The Farm for Bill Walsh Legacy Game
On Saturday at 4:30 PM PT on ACC Network/ACCNX and KNBR 1050, Stanford football will welcome San Jose State to The Farm for the Bill Walsh Legacy Game. Stanford comes in at 1-3 overall while San Jose State comes in at 1-2.
Last time out: Last week, Stanford fell to Virginia on the road by a final score of 48-20. Stanford got down 21-7 at the end of the 1st quarter and was unable to make up enough ground to win.
RECAP: Stanford gets vanquished at Virginia
On Bill Walsh: The namesake of this rivalry game is the late Bill Walsh, who graduated from San Jose State in 1955 with a degree in physical education. Walsh later went on to win three Super Bowls as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s (1979-88), becoming one of the greatest head coaches in NFL history as the known architect of the West Coast offense going back to his days as the quarterbacks coach of the Cincinnati Bengals (1968-75).
Walsh had two stints as a head coach at Stanford from 1977-78 and 1992-94 while also serving as a defensive backs coach on The Farm from 1963-65. Walsh truly left his imprint on the entire Bay Area football scene as he was a wide receivers coach at Cal from 1960-62 and a running backs coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1966. Not many people can say they have connections to San Jose State, Stanford, Cal, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Oakland Raiders. Walsh not only is a legend of football in general, he’s a legend of Bay Area football, making it appropriate to have a game in the Bay Area that honors his lasting legacy.
On San Jose State: The Spartans are coming off a 31-28 win over Idaho last week at home. They lost a narrow 14-16 game to Central Michigan in their opener and got waxed at No. 6 Texas 7-38 on September 6th. The Spartans went 7-6 last season, defeating Stanford 34-31 at Spartan Stadium.
While their star receiver from last year Nick Nash is now in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, they still have a lot of key pieces back from last year’s team, most notably senior quarterback Walker Eget, who has gone 58-106 (54.7%) for three touchdowns, and three interceptions while totaling 714 yards. Eget is a good quarterback who has the tools to make teams pay with his arm.
The top wide receiver for the Spartans is sophomore Danny Scudero, who has 22 receptions for 379 yards and one touchdown. He leads the team in both receptions and receiving yards while also being just one of three players to have a receiving touchdown.
The Spartans a have nice running back duo in junior Jabari Bates and senior Floyd Chalk. Both players have rushed for two touchdowns so far this season. Bates with more rushing yards on fewer attempts: 175 yards and 21 attempts for an 8.3 yards per carry average. Chalk has rushed for 128 yards on 31 attempts for a 4.1 yards per carry average.
The top tackler for the Spartans is senior linebacker Jordan Pollard, who has 27 combined tackles (12 solo). Right behind him is senior safety Jalen Apali-Williams, who has 23 combined tackles (15 solo) while also having an interception, which was returned for 41 yards. That’s the lone interception the Spartans have this season. Leading the way in tackles for loss are senior linebacker Taniela Latu and senior defensive end Vili Taufatofua with three each. Taufatofua leads the way in sacks with 2.0.
To touch quickly on special teams, kicker Denis Lynch is 7-7 on his extra points, but is 1-5 on his field goals. He was 69.4% on his field goals during his two years at USC in 2022 and 2023, so he’s a much better kicker than his numbers at San Jose State would suggest.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Walker Eget. Stanford’s pass defense struggled against Virginia last week. They cannot expect to beat the Spartans if Eget has a big night. They must put a good deal of pressure on him and make sure nothing comes easy.
Secondly, Stanford needs to reestablish the run. When Micah Ford rushes for 100+ yards in a game, Stanford is tough to stop. That needs to be the goal once more for this game. Get the rock into Ford’s hands. If he rushes for 100+ yards, they should be in a really good spot.
Third, Stanford needs to win the turnover battle. If quarterback Ben Gulbranson takes care of the ball and doesn’t turn it over, that more than anything should make the difference. The turnover battle often does.
Finally, Stanford needs to keep the deep ball going. Gulbranson and wide receiver Bryce Farrell have developed a nice connection lately and CJ Williams got going as well last week. If Stanford finds success with the deep ball on top of the run game, they’ll be fine.
Prediction: Stanford is at home and eager to get some payback against the Spartans after a tough loss at the end of last season. Not only that, but the Spartans don’t have their top weapon from last year in Nick Nash. The Spartans definitely have some talented guys coming back from last year, but Nash was by far and away their top player. Stanford 33 San Jose State 24 is how I see this one playing out.
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