Stanford’s takeaways spark Big Game surprise

STANFORD – A team that was picked to finish last in the ACC under an interim coach put up its biggest Big Game win since 2014.

The Stanford defense scored more points than it allowed, and Micah Ford ran for 150 yards as the Cardinal defeated Cal 31-10 Saturday at Stanford Stadium, breaking a four-game losing streak in the series and marking its first win over the Golden Bears at home since 2017.

“I’ll remember a lot of things about this year, but these last two weeks and this game tonight will certainly stick with me for a long time,” interim coach Frank Reich said. “Just seeing and feeling what it means to the players the coaches, really everybody connected with Stanford football, former football players, alumni, like just proud of this team, proud of getting the Stanford Axe back where it belongs. Look forward to this team making a habit of keeping it here.”

The Cardinal (4-7, 3-5 ACC) only had 71 yards of offense in the first half but led 14-10 thanks to two scoop-and-scores in the second quarter. Omar Staples forced a fumble by Cal’s top receiver, Jacob De Jesus, that was recovered by Jay Green and returned 49 yards. Then Jahsiah Galvan forced a fumble by Cal’s top running back, Kendrick Raphael, that was returned 17 yards by Darrius Davis.

“We were struggling on offense so it’s one thing for the defense to keep you in the game while you’re struggling,” Reich said. “It’s another thing for them to score two touchdowns for you and go in with a lead and you feel like you haven’t even made a first down.”

The Cardinal recorded a season-high five sacks and held Cal without a first down for the entire third quarter. The Golden Bears (6-5, 3-4) finished with 296 yards, their fewest in a Big Game since 2012.

“We saw a lot of trick plays in the first 15 plays, a lot of misdirection, a lot of things we just hadn’t seen on film,” Galvan said.” Once they kind of got through that bag of tricks, I would say it was just playing Football 101. We went out there and executed at a high level.”

Linebacker Matt Rose led the defensive effort, becoming the fifth player in the FBS this year with 14 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

A third Cal fumble, this time on a low snap, gave Stanford the ball at the Cal 20, and Ford scored on a 4-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 24-10.

It was the second 150-yard game this season for Ford, who had 29 carries. It also coincided with the return of top lineman Simione Pale, who had been out since the second game of the season with an injury. Pale played the entire second half as Ford gained 114 of his yards after halftime.

“(General manager Andrew Luck)’s vision does include really dominant play up front,” Reich said. “He understands how important that is to winning football games and how important that has been in Stanford’s winning tradition. That when we been at our best, that’s what we do.”

The Golden Bears overcame an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit in the last Big Game at Stanford. But the Stanford offense finally made a big play in the fourth quarter to end any chance of a comeback this time. Elijah Brown, making his second start since replacing Ben Gulbranson, hit fellow Mater Dei alum CJ Williams for a 34-yard touchdown to make it 31-10 with 10 minutes to play to seal the 128th Big Game.

None of the Stanford players had ever beaten Cal before.

“True euphoria,” Galvan said. “This game, with so much history and so much tradition, to go out and get a dub and bring The Axe back to Stanford, it means the world to everyone that’s a part of the program and who has been a part of the program.”

The turnovers helped Stanford overcome an awful special-teams performance. Emmet Kenney had a 23-yard field goal blocked and missed a 35-yard field goal after a delay-of-game penalty. Cal’s first-half touchdown came after the defense stopped the Bears on third-and-1 to force a punt, only for the punt return team to get a five-yard penalty when two players were on the field with the same number.

Stanford closes its season next Saturday at home against No. 9 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish, who beat Syracuse 70-7 on Saturday, will likely look to run up the score again if they can to impress the College Football Playoff selection committee.

But the Cardinal will be at home, where it is 4-1 this season.

“It’s going to be a great test for us,” Reich said. “We want to finish strong. We are not going to get too caught up in their tradition and who they are. We’ll watch the tape. We talk about faceless opponent. They’re just the next team in one regard. We got a lot of respect for them. They obviously are having a great year.”