Because the Stanford offense came to visit to the sideline on a fourth-and-9 on Friday, with 37 seconds remaining, it appeared the Cardinal had been about to let one other sport slip away. The JMA Wi-fi Dome was rocking, and sophomore quarterback Ashton Daniels was combating accuracy points all evening.
However pre-snap, Daniels glanced to the left and noticed the redshirt sophomore receiver Elic Ayomanor in one-on-one protection. From there, the signal-caller from Georgia knew the place to go together with the ball.
“We simply tried to isolate Elic,” mentioned Stanford head coach Troy Taylor after the sport. “We talked about if it’s a zone, we now have an idea to the three-receiver aspect of the sector. If it’s man [coverage] with Elic, we bought to win. He’s bought to win.”
The six-foot-two receiver from Alberta, Canada definitely gained his matchup, catching a 27-yard back-shoulder fade to maintain the Cardinal’s hopes alive, and put the crew in discipline objective place.
After working a pair performs the place they tried to heart the ball, senior Emmet Kenney kicked a 39-yard discipline objective straight by way of the uprights to offer Stanford a 26-24 win over Syracuse — its first convention win as a member of the ACC.
However it isn’t simply Ayomanor, Daniels or Kenney that ought to be given credit score for Stanford’s victory.
The Cardinal gave up simply 26 speeding yards to Syracuse whereas additionally forcing Orange quarterback Kyle McCord into throwing two picks.
The line of defense tandem of senior Anthony Franklin and junior Zach Rowell managed the road of scrimmage, shortly plugging up gaps within the offensive line all through the sport. Furthermore, for the primary time in Taylor’s time on the Farm, Stanford demonstrated the flexibility to generate a cross rush.
Junior outdoors linebacker David Bailey displayed why he was such a extremely touted prospect out of highschool, tallying two sacks and producing pressures all sport towards the Syracuse offensive line. In whole, Stanford’s protection generated seven tackles for loss in Friday’s sport — and even bought a landing with Mitch Leigber’s pick-six within the third quarter.
“They wished to stress they usually wished to remove their RPOs (run-past choices) to a extremely good RPO crew,” Taylor mentioned. “[McCord] appears to be like like a man that’s performed a variety of soccer, and so at instances, we had been in a position to hurry him just a little bit. The opposite a part of it’s I felt we stopped the run sport. Form of made them one-dimensional.”
However Stanford bumped into hassle late within the fourth quarter. Up 23-17 with practically 5 minutes remaining, Taylor elected to just accept a holding penalty after Syracuse did not convert on a third-and-8 close to midfield. Nonetheless, the Orange transformed the following third-and-18 to maintain its drive alive, ultimately reaching the tip zone to take the primary lead of the sport.
Regardless of the offense sputtering, notably within the second half, Taylor instilled perception in his gamers that they’d stroll out of upstate New York victorious.
“I mentioned, ‘Hey we’re going to drive down, we’re gonna spot the ball in the midst of the sector, and we’re going to kick a discipline objective and get out of right here.’” Taylor mentioned. “All of them yelled, and clearly had been in a position to do this.”
After performances that fell wanting power-conference stage, together with shedding to Sacramento State on Sept. 16, Friday’s early-season victory towards Syracuse is a sign that Stanford’s rebuild is heading in the right direction.
Different Notes
- Fifth-year defensive deal with Tobin Phillips didn’t journey with the crew to Syracuse. Phillips was injured within the first quarter of Stanford’s sport towards Cal Poly on Sept. 7.
- Junior receiver Mudia Reuben limped off the sector on the finish of the primary quarter. He didn’t return to the sport and his standing stays unknown.
- Freshman quarterback Elijah Brown was not in uniform through the sport, and appears to be out with an harm.
- Regardless of being a game-time choice, graduate defensive lineman Clay Patterson did see motion towards the Orange.
- Stanford’s beginning offensive line remained the identical as week two, with the exception that fifth-year Levi Rogers began at heart.