Stanford’s offense never quite found its footing until the final minutes of its matchup with the University of North Carolina (UNC) Saturday — and by then, it was too late. The Cardinal went nearly 56 minutes of game play without a touchdown in a 20-15 loss at Kenan Stadium that saw redshirt freshman quarterback Elijah Brown sacked nine times.
The box score offers a deceptive outlook of the game. Though the Cardinal couldn’t give Brown a clean pocket or sustain drives, Stanford (3-7, 2-5 ACC) outgained UNC (4-5, 2-3 ACC) by more than 60 yards, with Brown throwing for 284 yards.
Stanford’s only first-half points came on a 38-yard field goal by fifth-year kicker Emmet Kenney as time expired before the break, knotting the score 3-3. By the time the Cardinal finally crossed the goal line — a 1-yard plunge by redshirt freshman running back Cole Tabb early in the fourth quarter and a 24-yard strike from Brown to senior wide receiver CJ Williams in the final minute — North Carolina had already built a three-score cushion. Stanford failed on two 2-point tries and an onside kick, closing without a final answer.
Interim head coach Frank Reich defended the aggressive math behind the first 2-point attempt after Tabb’s score cut the deficit to 20-9.
“When you’re down 17 and you know you need three scores, you go for two,” Reich said. “If you hit the first one, you kick the next and a late field goal wins it instead of tying it. If you miss the first, you still have a chance to get back on track on the second try.”
The offense never did get fully on track. North Carolina’s rush hemmed in Stanford’s ground game and kept Brown in predictable passing downs. Sophomore running back Micah Ford, who had been out the past few weeks due to injury, provided a spark with 68 rushing yards and 35 receiving. Junior wide receiver Caden High was steady with 10 catches for 102 yards. However, each promising gain seemed to be followed by a sack, a pattern that defined the night.
Reich acknowledged the protection issues while praising Brown’s resolve.
“We struggled to protect early,” Reich said. “I’m proud of how Elijah fought back. He didn’t flinch, and in the second half, we got it going a little bit and he started to get hot.”
UNC did just enough offensively after halftime. Quarterback Gio Lopez found Davion Gause for a 20-yard touchdown to open the third quarter, Rece Verhoff added a 48-yard field goal and Lopez later hit Jordan Shipp on a 55-yard scoring shot to make it 20-3 with 12 minutes left.
With under two minutes remaining, Brown’s late connection to Williams pulled Stanford within one score, but the ensuing 2-point trick play — a “Philly Special” look with a receiver throwing back to the quarterback — was snuffed out, and UNC recovered the onside kick.
“It was a version of the Philly Special,” Reich said. “We put it in for obvious reasons, thinking we might have a chance on it, but we just didn’t quite execute it well enough to convert.”
Stanford enters its second bye week of the season searching for fixes up front before the 128th Big Game. The Cardinal hosts Cal on Saturday, Nov. 22. The time of kick-off has yet to be announced.
“We got to get ready. We gotta go win this game,” Reich said about Big Game. “There are no pity parties. We got to be mentally tough and line back up and learn from this game and get better and fight to the end.”