Stanford’s Taylor keeping Sacramento State guessing if it’ll be Daniels or Lamson at QB on Saturday
For the second time in three games, Stanford won’t announce its starting quarterback before kickoff.
Sophomore Ashton Daniels made his first start in the season opener – a decision first-year Cardinal head coach Troy Taylor kept under wraps leading up to the game. Daniels threw two touchdown passes and ran for 42 yards as Stanford won 37-24 at Hawaii, which appeared to solidify his role as the starter. But Daniels threw an interception on the opening drive against USC and was 2 of 7 passing for 19 yards before leaving the blowout loss early in the second quarter with an apparent arm injury.
Syracuse transfer Justin Lamson played the rest of the way against the Trojans, leading both Stanford scoring drives in the 56-10 drubbing. He ran 16 times (the most by a Stanford quarterback in 27 years) for 36 yards and completed 8 of 18 passes for 121 yards. Lamson also fumbled once.
Taylor said that Daniels was cleared to play on Saturday against Sacramento State, but he wouldn’t say if Daniels had regained his starting spot.
“You know, they both showed a lot of promise,” Taylor said on Tuesday. “So, yeah, I’m not ready to commit to one or the other. I think I feel a lot of confidence with both of them. I felt that way coming out of camp, and that Justin did a good job coming in as well. Both will be ready to go and both could play. We’ll see.”
Not overlooking the Hornets
Based on conference affiliation, Sacramento State is the easiest opponent Stanford (1-1) will play this season.
But the Hornets, ranked sixth in the FCS coaches poll, aren’t a typical FCS program, and they are uniquely familiar with the Cardinal’s offensive playbook heading into Stanford’s home opener on Saturday.
Taylor, Stanford’s head coach and offensive coordinator, spent the previous four seasons at Sacramento State, leading the team to a 31-8 record, including a 41-10 win over FBS-level Colorado State last season.
“This is a team that expects to come in here and win,” Taylor said. “Last year we went to Colorado State with that expectation to win that game. They have that mentality that they expect to win every game. This is going to be an incredible challenge for us. I know these kids, I recruited a majority of them. It’s gonna be a very challenging and tough game for us.”
Stanford is coming off a 46-point loss at No. 5 USC in which it gave up 49 points in the first half, the most ever allowed in a first half in program history. So Saturday will be Taylor’s first opportunity to see how resilient his new team is.
“I have a lot of confidence in our guys in terms of our resolve and our character,” Taylor said. “They’re competitive. I know they will move on from this last game. We have to because (Sacramento State is) a really well-coached, really talented team. I believe we will come out, I know our preparation is going to be beyond reproach, our guys will practice well. They will get our best shot.”
One reason for optimism is that Stanford’s defense won’t be facing a quarterback the cailber of USC’s Caleb Williams, the reigning Heisman Trohy winner who accounted for four touchdowns and two incompletions before sitting out the second half.
“If he’s not the first pick in the draft, I’ll be shocked,” Taylor said.
Still, the defense will be facing another high-powered attack. Sacramento State ranked fourth in the FCS in scoring offense (42.9 points a game) and total offense (499.8 yards a game) under Taylor last season. It opened this season with a 38-24 win over Nicholls State and a 34-6 win over Texas A&M-Commerce.
“Obviously last week we didn’t get the job done,” said sophomore cornerback Collin Wright, who had 10 tackles against the Trojans. “So a lot of people are going to say we aren’t ready and there’s a lot of things we need to change. But this week is a good opportunity in general (to see) how we’re doing to respond to adversity, because a lot of people have already counted us out after one game.”