After six consecutive losses, a reeling Stanford football team is looking for answers. They are instead finding questions, specifically on how to patchwork a defense that has lost many key players to injuries.
Stanford has endured high scores from opponents before, with Saturday’s game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack (5-4, 2-3 ACC) being the fourth game in which they gave up forty or more points. Nevertheless, the 59-28 loss is their worst defensive performance to date, and has opened up questions about how to fix it.
“We weren’t able to slow them down,” said head coach Troy Taylor after the game. “We did not get a stop until the fourth quarter.”
Stanford’s defense yielded 527 yards and eight touchdowns to the Wolfpack offense. Additionally, NC State made multiple long kickoff returns, including one for 91 yards. Coach Taylor primarily attributed the defense’s issues to an unsuccessful pass rush.
“There was no pressure on the quarterback, he had a lot of time to throw the ball,” Taylor said. “This level of quarterback, if you don’t pressure him he’s not going to make a lot of mistakes.”
The Wolfpack’s freshman quarterback CJ Bailey proved Taylor’s comments by throwing for 234 yards and three touchdowns, racking up a 237.8 quarterback rating.
“If you’re them, you come away thinking you played about as good as you can offensively,” Taylor said.
“We got to do something to be able to pressure the quarterback and stop the run,” he added. “These are fundamental things that you need to do to be a good team.”
Junior linebacker David Bailey has been the only player on Stanford who’s proved he can rush the passer, tallying two more sacks in Saturday’s game. One of those sacks forced a fumble, although the Wolfpack recovered and scored a touchdown that drive.
Despite the lackluster defense, Stanford’s offense displayed some proficiency throughout the game. Junior quarterback Ashton Daniels ran for two touchdowns and 129 yards, freshman running back Cole Tabb ran for 72 yards, and sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor earned 108 yards; Stanford’s offense posted a total of 398 yards.
“I thought in the first half we got some good things done offensively,” Taylor said. He complimented Daniels, and junior quarterback Justin Lamson, who stepped in for Daniels after he was injured. “I thought Ashton played pretty well, he ran the ball and threw the ball well. Then Justin [Lamson] came in and he also was very tough and courageous in running the ball.”
Taylor also expressed optimism about Tabb in his first start after recovering from an early injury.
“I thought he rose to the occasion,” Taylor said. “I thought he was really good, he was a tough tackle, really physical.”
However, with a series of losses, the Cardinal and Taylor are running out of time to salvage the 2024 season.
“The message is to continue to compete,” the coach said. “There’s no magic player that’s going to save us, we have got to fight.”