It was a much-needed day of catharsis for the Stanford Cardinal (3-4, 1-3 ACC) as they snapped their losing streak with a decisive 34-7 victory over the Elon Phoenix (4-4, 2-2 CAA) on Saturday afternoon. The homecoming weekend victory reestablishes a home winning streak for the Cardinal, who are now 3-1 at Stanford Stadium this season and 7-3 at home going back to last season. 

While the 83-degree heat and sun beating down on the eastern side of the stands might have initially subdued the student section, the fans who did show up got to see what this team believes they are truly capable of. 

“I think for the first time in a minute, we started to put together some really good football,” said junior linebacker Sam Mattingly after a second consecutive week leading the team with five tackles. Mattingly, alongside senior safety Jay Green, were instrumental in holding the Phoenix offense to only 52 passing yards and scoreless through three quarters. 

Coming into the game, the Phoenix decided to shake up their offense and start junior quarterback T.J. Crews IV for the first time since a Sept. 12 loss at Rhode Island (4-3, 1-2 CAA). This was to little avail: Stanford’s defense forced a quick three-and-out on the opening drive as Crews’ first two passing attempts were disrupted.

Incompletions and miscues would be a theme for both teams as they settled in. Stanford would go 64 yards down the field before sixth-year kicker Emmet Kenney missed a 35-yard field goal attempt. Elon responded by attempting to lean on freshman running back Kamerin McDowell-Moore, who alone accounted for 971 of Elon’s 2,573 total offensive yards going into the game. The Phoenix would make it 44 yards in 10 plays before their own kicker, junior Luke Barnes, came up short on his 54-yard field goal attempt.

It was not until the Cardinal’s second drive that they found their stride. Junior running back Micah Ford broke tackles on a critical third-and-nine early in the drive, before sixth-year quarterback Davis Warren uncorked a 32-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver JonAnthony Hall to set up first-and-goal at the Elon seven-yard line. On the first play of the second quarter, Ford would punch it in for the touchdown. 

There were still some offensive issues. In between two five-play Elon drives that were stopped by a combination of defense and errant throws by Crews, the Cardinal would sputter after losing two yards on second down and failing to convert a third-and-six.

In contrast, on the next Stanford offensive drive, Warren would work the mid-range passing game with poise down into the red zone. Head coach Tavita Pritchard noted that Warren excels at “staying the course.”

“When some of those plays do start to go our way, he’s ready for those moments; he’s not pressing,” Pritchard said, also highlighting Warren’s ability to avoid turnovers. Whatever offensive rhythm they found was certainly effective, as the drive culminated in another Ford rushing touchdown. 

Ford also caught two of the five passes on that second Stanford touchdown drive. It truly emphasized how the first half was a tale of two running backs: Ford and McDowell-Moore were both the rushing and receiving leaders for their respective teams at halftime. The only first-half scoring — Stanford’s pair of touchdowns — was on Micah Ford rushes. By the end of the game, McDowell-Moore alone accounted for just over 70 percent of Elon’s total offensive yards. 

Being up 14-0 was certainly a welcomed position for the Cardinal after the last several weeks, but the third quarter was when both the offense and defense stepped up their game.

“Execute and effort, that’s what [Pritchard] really harped on in the halftime speech,” said Ford in the postgame press conference. The halftime message clearly got through as the Cardinal held the Phoenix to only 36 yards of offense on four Elon third-quarter drives.

The Stanford offense once again found its footing by the third drive of the second half, when a good punt return by sophomore punt returner Liam Thorpe set the Cardinal up at midfield. Three Ford rushes later, Warren would throw a beautiful 27-yard back-shoulder ball to senior running back Sedrick Irvin for the third touchdown of the day.

A similarly well-feathered 18-yard pass to junior tight end Benji Blackburn on the next drive set up another red zone trip for the Cardinal. Two plays later, Ford tacked on another touchdown when he fumbled a direct snap but still managed to beat the Elon defender to the pylon. 

With the defense continuing to hold strong, Ford would then join only seven other Stanford running backs in the history books when he made an 81-yard house call for his fourth rushing touchdown of the day. The most recent Stanford player to record four rushing touchdowns in one game was Christian McCaffrey back in 2015.

“We practiced that all week and to just see the hard work coming to fruition… it just means a lot,” Ford said after the game. Prior to Saturday, the running game had eluded the Cardinal. Ford’s 179-yard rushing performance accounts for over one third of the team’s total rushing yards all season and doubles his personal total on the year. He would finish the game with 231 all-purpose yards alongside his aforementioned touchdowns.

This stellar performance comes just one week after Ford appeared to leave the game against Notre Dame with an injury. He was observed practicing on Wednesday, and when asked postgame about any recovery process noted that it “was just kind of a spasm… our strength guys and training staff did a good job getting me back full,” Ford said.

Elon would finally score in garbage time after McDowell-Moore broke off long runs of 53 and 18 yards on the same drive, but Stanford was still able to move the ball downfield even as the freshman backup quarterback Michael Mitchell led a drive. What initially seemed like yet another Stanford touchdown by Irvin was overturned after replay determined that the ball was barely fumbled before touching the pylon. 

While spirits were high after the game, both players and coaches expressed the need to continue improving and use the game as momentum going into a short week against ACC conference opponent North Carolina State (3-3, 1-2 ACC).

Pritchard praised the much-improved performance of the offensive line in both run blocking and pass protection but emphasized that “there’s plenty to clean up.” Similarly, Mattingly said he was certainly happy to get a win but “was a little upset it wasn’t a shutout…. [defensive coordinator Kris Richard] has just preached ruthless and relentless over and over and over again… I think we’re just going to build off of that.”

At the end of the day, the Cardinal now have a performance to be proud of and a model to follow as they hope to continue their success at home. Next week’s game against NC State is set for 7:30pm on Friday.