49ers Hang On in Home Opener vs. Lions for First Win of the Year 30-27

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Photo credit: @49ers

By: Joe Lami

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It came down to the wire and with a little help from the officials, but the San Francisco 49ers have their first win of the 2018 season as they beat the Detroit Lions 30-27 in the home opener at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

After going into halftime with a 13-10 lead, San Francisco started the second half with a bang. D.J. Reed Jr. got the half started by bringing the kick back to the house, only to be penalized for grabbing a defender’s face mask along the way. Despite the penalty, the 49ers were set up with excellent field position at the Lions’ 25-yard line to start the third quarter.

“Everyone held their blocks. For me, it was easy, and anybody could have done what I did. My whole special teams unit did a good job blocking. [Special team’s] coach Hightower did a good job setting it up,” added Reed.

Jimmy Garoppolo capped off the drive with his second touchdown pass of the day, finding Garrett Celek underneath. The 30-year-old tight end carried three defenders with him across the goal line to make the score 20-10.

The 49ers extended their lead in the third with a 66-yard Matt Breida rushing score to cap a three-play, 97-yard drive. The longest rush for the 49ers since 2014 made the score 27-13, but they then allowed the Lions to get back in it.

Breida had his coming out party for the 49ers, lighting up the Lions’ defense, carrying the ball 11 times for 138 yards and the score.

Led by Matthew Stafford, the Lions crawled their way back into the game bringing the score within three with 3:33 remaining, putting all the pressure on the 49ers offense to move the ball.

When the pressure came San Francisco’s way, Garoppolo made a mistake with 2:24 left and threw a pick that the Lions returned down to seven-yard-line. However, a crucial defensive holding call saved the day for San Francisco giving an automatic first down. The 49ers ended up punting with 1:08 remaining, but the defense stepped up and shut the door, not letting Lions get past midfield to secure the win.

In the win, Garoppolo improved from last week, throwing 18-of-26 for 206 yards and two touchdowns. However, Garoppolo was sacked five times in the process, with most of them being coverage sacks. The wide receivers didn’t do their job in man coverage as they struggled to get open, which allowed the pass rush to get to Garoppolo.

More importantly, three of the five sacks came within the red zone, which continues to be a pain point in the 49ers’ offense. San Francisco is reportedly exploring the possibility of acquiring wide receiver, Josh Gordon to come in and help in the red zone after the Browns came out and said he would be available come Monday.

The 49ers once again leaned heavily on kicker, Robbie Gould, who was perfect in knocking down all three of his field goals from 45, 42, and 36-yards, respectively. In doing so, he set a new franchise record for consecutive field goals made, passing Phil Dawson with 29 straight.

San Francisco did escape Sunday with a win, but there was no reason for the game to be even close. The 49ers got comfortable with the lead and let the Lions back in the game. Let it be a lesson for a young team learning how to win and don’t let it happen again, or it will cost them against stronger opponents in the future.

“I feel like the energy kind of fell off a little bit, and we needed to build it back up that last defensive stand that we had. I feel like guys kind of woke up during that last drive on defense. We’ve got to keep the pedal down all four quarters,” said defensive lineman DeForest Buckner.

The 49ers will attempt to keep the pedal down all four quarters next week, as they travel to Kansas City to try and stop Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs next Sunday at 10:00 am PDT.

Giants lose to Rockies 3-2 in Sunday matinee finale

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: London Marq

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — It was a sunny and pristine mid-September afternoon at AT&T Park right by the Bay as the San Francisco Giants hosted the Colorado Rockies in the final matchup of a three-game series. Entering the game, the Giants sat 12 games back of the NL West-leading Dodgers, but have proved resilient against the Rockies, winning the first two games of the series to threaten the sweep. The Rockies sit in second place in the NL West and are competing with Wild Card Spot with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies came into game three of this series looking to steal one back on the road and stay in playoff contention.

Determined not let the Giants play spoiler for the third time in a row, the Rockies were constantly swinging the bats. Giants’ rookie pitcher Dereck Rodriguez made it through the first inning unscathed, but with one out in the second inning, Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez reaches first base on an error. That was followed by Ian Desmond getting a single and Iannetta being walked. With the bases loaded, the Rockies’ pitcher Antonio Senzatela came to the plate and helped his own cause with a liner into left field, allowing Gonzalez and Desmond to score. A few batters later, still with only one out in the inning LeMahieu hit a sac-fly to center and Iannetta tagged up and scored.  The Giants eventually escaped the jam–down 3-0.

The score remained stagnant until the sixth when the Giants manufactured a run off two hits and a walk to bring Panik around to score and bring the score to 3-1 to end the sixth.

The Giants continued to push in the eighth inning when Panik would round the bases again to decrease the Rockies’ advantage to just one. The late game heroics gave the Giants a chance in the ninth, but the Rockies shut the door to show why they are in playoff contention. They got the win, 3-2.

The Giants, despite being well out of contention, prove that they can play competitive baseball. With rumors swirling, that manager Bruce Bochy may not be re-signed next season, series like this may go a long way to dispel such rumors.

The Giants will play three more series this season. Two of those series will be the Cardinals and Dodgers, both of whom are playoff contenders. The Giants will look to finish 2018 strong, play some spoilers, and get some quality wins before the offseason.

Three takeaways from SJSU at Oregon

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Photo credit: @SJSUSpartanFB

By: Ana Kieu

After thousands of folks predicted that the San Jose State Spartans would suffer a blowout from the No. 20 Oregon Ducks, SJSU proved those folks wrong. No, SJSU didn’t pull off an upset over Oregon (though, that would’ve been one of the biggest storylines in the college football world), but they lost by just 13 points, 35-22, at Autzen Stadium.

Here are three takeaways from SJSU at Oregon. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

3. Underdogs, maybe? 
The Spartans came into Autzen Stadium as 41.5-point underdogs. Not even the Spartan fans were confident in the Spartans coming close to the Ducks, but the Spartans managed to beat the spread, which was a step in the right direction.

The Spartans shook off a slow start after trailing the Ducks 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. SJSU scored six points in the second and third quarters and 10 in the fourth quarter. Oregon held on for a 35-22 win for a 3-0 record. Yes, SJSU’s record fell to 0-3, but the hapless Spartans put up a gutsy show against a talented Ducks team. The Spartans just need to refresh themselves during the bye week and build momentum for the SJSU Homecoming game vs. Hawaii on September 29th.

2. Solid Spartan defense
The solid Spartan defense looked good–if not, great–against the high-octane Duck offense. Also, the Spartans’ kicking game looked spectacular. Bryce Crawford went 3-for-3 on field goals. Two of Crawford’s field goals came in the second quarter–a 31-yarder and 28-yarder–and the latter came in the fourth quarter–a 25-yarder.

Also, the Spartans’ special teams caught the eyes of Spartan fans everywhere. Of course, there was the blocked field goal; but there was also Thai Cotrell’s amazing return game. Cotrell had two kick returns for 121 yards, However, one of Cotrell’s stood out and that was his 96-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter. Cotrell’s kickoff return was a career-long (and the longest kickoff return) by a Spartan player without scoring a touchdown in school history.

1. Struggling Spartan offense
The struggling Spartan offense needs a tune up in the bye week. So the bye week couldn’t have come at a better team for the Spartans, whose wide receivers were tormented by the Ducks’ substantial secondary.

Sure, Josh Oliver and Bailey Gaither were the bright spots when it came to Spartans’ wide receivers, but this past Saturday proved to be too much for the Spartan offense. The Ducks’ aggressive pass rush was another factor that stifled the Spartan offense.

Although the Spartans had offensive struggles, they still had a lot to be happy about their most recent road performance. There’s nowhere to look, but up.

Before I hit the publish button, I’d just like to wish Jeremy Kelly and Duane Tuitasi their respective belated birthdays. Have a great bye week, guys.

MLB The Show with Daniel Dullum: Pennant races tightened up; Cleveland clinched AL Central; Phillies used 21 players to beat Marlins; plus more

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Photo credit: @MLB

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Pennant race status as of Sunday.

2 Cleveland beat Detroit 15-0 to clinch AL Central.

3 September baseball: Phillies use 21 players in come-from-behind win over Marlins.

4 Giants, Mad Bum knock Rox out of first in NL West.

5 Report: Nashville drops A’s as Triple-A affiliate for 2019.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB The Show podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cal moves to 3-0, but wary of stiffer Pac-12 competition around the corner

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, Calif. — Linebacker Evan Weaver didn’t want to interrupt the celebratory mood surrounding Cal’s third straight win to open the season, but the defense mistakes were troublesome to him.

“It’s gonna get harder,” Weaver admitted. “We have a tough Pac-12 schedule, and it’s going to get harder to win these games.”

Beating Big Sky opponent Idaho State 45-23 was satisfying no doubt, but conference football is a different animal, and it was apparent that the Bears could be in for a rude awakening when Oregon visits Berkeley in two weeks.

“We scored a touchdown, and then the ball comes back and then we are out of bounds,” coach Justin Wilcox said. “We can’t have that. If it’s 10 out of 11 guys doing it right and one not. They’re trying, doesn’t mean they aren’t trying. No one on our team overlooked the opponent today, we just have to play better. It’s technique, it’s focus, and it’s training. We have to be better across the board, starting with me.”

At the top of the list of irritants, were the two fourth quarter touchdowns scored by ISU after the Bears went up 45-9 with 8:04 remaining. Both Bengals’ drives took less than three minutes and provided too little resistance for the tastes on the California sidelines. To the internal critics, it mattered little that the Bears substituted liberally in the final minutes.

“We made a lot of mistakes today, myself included. Really did not have a great game. It’s a team sport, and when you get individual stats, sure it’s cool, but if we were to play better as a unit, they wouldn’t have 23 points. That’s why I’m mad.”

No one was mad at quarterback Chase Garbers or safety Ashtyn Davis for that matter. Garbers delivered an efficient performance with 20 of 25 passing, three touchdowns, two of those to Jordan Duncan in the first half in which Cal built a 28-3 lead. Garbers was sacked just once, and got the vast majority of snaps over Brandon McIlwain, who sat likely due to ISU’s defense crowding the line of scrimmage. Nine different Bears caught passes preventing ISU from keying on anyone in the absence of leading receiver Kanawai Noa, who was a late scratch.

Davis came up with a momentum changing chase down tackle of ISU’s Mitch Guellar after a 63-yard gain that appeared headed for the endzone. Davis’ tackle at the 8-yard line allowed Cal to limit Idaho St. to a field goal in the first half.

But Davis was just getting started, adding a 89-yard kickoff return after the ISU field goal, and an interception after that.

The Bears have a bye this week before starting Pac-12 play at home against Oregon, the first of nine contests in as many weeks. The Bears are likely to benefit from not having any week night contests mandated by the Pac-12 television contracts.

A’s can’t survive a night of bullpenning and home runs; Rays win 7-5

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Tampa Bay Jake Bauers
Jake Bauers hit the game-winning 3-run home run for the Rays Photo: @RaysBaseball

By Charlie O. Mallonee

If the Tampa Bay Rays were in the National League, they would be in the fight for a spot in the Wild Card game. They are not a walkover team anymore. The Rays have an 81-66 record this season. Unfortunately for the Rays and their fans, they play in the American League East where the Boston Red Sox have clinched the division with a 102-47 record to date, and the Yankees are in second place with a 91-57 record.

The Rays brought their “A game” on Saturday night as they handed the A’s their second loss on this six-game road trip 7-5. The game featured 21 hits, 4 home runs, 14 runners left on base, 15 strikeouts and 12 pitching changes over 3 hours and 19 minutes.

The loss was very costly for the A’s in their chase for the AL West crown and the home field advantage in AL Wild Card Game. The Astros beat the D-Backs 10-4 on Saturday and increased their lead over the A’s to 3.5 games. The A’s elimination number is now 11.

The A’s (90-59) had the opportunity to move within a half-game of the Yanks for the top Wild Card slot because the Bombers lost to the Blue Jays 8-7 on Saturday. Because Oakland lost, they remain 1.5 games behind New York in the second Wild Card spot.

More Bullpening
It was another bullpenning game for the A’s. Liam Hendriks was “the opener” on the mound for Oakland. He pitched one inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Dean Kiekhefer took over in the second inning and things did not go well for him. He gave up two runs (both earned) on three hits. The big blow came when Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer with one on and no outs. Ryan Dull had to come in to close out the inning.

Chris Bassitt was the “featured pitcher” of the game. He worked 3.0 innings giving up one run (earned) off two hits. He struck out three Rays and walked two.

Yusmeiro Petit was the next man up. Petit gave up a run (earned) off one hit.

The brightest spot of the night for the A’s may have been the performance of reliever Fernando Rodney in the seventh inning of the game. Rodney has really struggled recently but not in this game. Rodney gave up no runs while he struck out one and walked one.

Jeurys Familia would have rather stayed in the hotel. Familia was brought in to pitch the eighth inning. He only gave up one hit, but it was a go-ahead three-run homer by Jake Bauers that ultimately proved to be the game-winning hit. Familia (8-6) was tagged with the loss.

A’s with the bat

  • Matt Chapman went 3-for-5 and hit his 23rd home run of the season in the ninth inning off Sergio Romo.
  • The other Matt (Olson) had a 2-for-3 night at the plate and he hit his 27th homer of the year in this game.
  • Marcus Semien had a 2-for-4 night including a run scored. He was also involved in an incident with the home plate umpire that eventually caused A’s manager Bob Melvin to get ejected.

Rays’ notes

Tampa Bay Kelvin Kiermeier
The Rays Kevin Kiermaier hit a key triple in the game Photo: @RaysBaseball
  • The Rays went bullpening as well on Saturday. Ryne Stanek was the opener and then Yonny Chirinos was “the featured pitcher.” He lasted 5.1 innings.
  • Andrew Kittredge (2-2) was the eventual winner of the game.
  • Bauers not only hit a home run, he recorded four RBIs in the game.
  • Brandon Lowe had two RBIs, two runs scored in addition to his home run.
  • Kevin Kiermaier hit a triple and posted two RBIs

Up next

The A’s will send RHP Mike Fiers (12-6, 3.29 ERA) to the mound to face the Rays’ RHP Diego Castillo (3-2, 3.31 ERA) in the Sunday finale at 10:10 AM PDT.

Earthquakes get blown out by Sporting Kansas City 5-1

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: London Marq

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was a Western Conference matchup at Avaya Stadium on Saturday night as the red-hot Sporting Kansas City took on the bottom-feeder San Jose Earthquakes. It was less of a showdown and more of a beat down as the Quakes, whose record indicates their season, failed to show up on their home field.

With an opportunity to take control and grab the No. 1 spot on in the conference, Sporting Kansas City was motivated to put in a full 90 minutes. The rout was on early. Sporting KC showing why they are the standard in the West notched their first of five goals in the in the 18th minute. The goal came off the back heel of Gutierrez after well placed cross into the box from Gerso. Five minutes later, Sporting KC’s Gerso notched the second goal of the match off of an assist from Gutierrez.

Sporting KC showed the kind of chemistry that has been lacking at Avaya Stadium for the entirety of this season. Kansas City would notch one more goal before the first half and two more in the second half.

Long after the flame of hope had been extinguished for San Jose, Hoesen would score the only goal for the Quakes in the 80th minute. Much too little, far too late. This match was pretty much the Quakes being used as a stepping tool for Sporting KC to take the No. 1 spot away from Dallas FC. Once again, it was back to the drawing board.

Sporting KC blew out the Quakes 5-1.

The Quakes wrap up their homestand with a Wednesday night match versus Atlanta United at 8:00 pm PDT.

Giants knock the Rockies out of first place with second straight shutout 3-0

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — If you ever thought that the San Francisco Giants would help out the Los Angeles Dodgers, you would be not dreaming.

Austin Slater hit a ground ball for on out in the bottom of the second to score Brandon Crawford from third base, as the Giants defeated the Rockies 3-0 before 38,204 at AT&T Park on Saturday.

This was the second win in a row for the Giants, after they dropped a season-high 11 straight to begin the month of September, and this is the first time that they won back-to-back games since winning four in a row from August 25-28.

Coupled with the Dodgers’ 17-4 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, the longtime rival of the Giants is now in first place in the National League West and the Rockies fall into the second Wild Card Spot.

Madison Bumgarner went six innings, allowing no runs on five hits, walking one and striking out two and won for the sixth time this season.

Dating back to his start against the Houston Astros, Bumgarner has thrown 20 consecutive scoreless innings.

“Finish strong and competitive,” said Bumgarner.

Bumgarner was forced to leave the start tonight, despite throwing just 64 pitches, as he suffered tension in his right side.

“Little tightness in his side,” said manager Bruce Bochy.

Hunter Pence added a second run in that bottom of the second inning, as he singled to center field to score Nick Hundley.

As would have it, Bumgarner scored the final run of the game for the Giants, as he scored on a wild pitch thrown by German Marquez with Hundley at the plate in the bottom of the third inning.

Marquez also went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out four, as he saw his record fall to 12-10 on the season.

Both teams were warned by Raymond DeJesus in the bottom of the third inning, after Marquez hit Evan Longoria, which came after Bumgarner hit D.J. LeMahieu in the top of the third inning. Marquez hit Slater on top of the helmet in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The top five hitters in their lineup all got hits, but they could not muster a run against the Giants for the second consecutive game. Those five hitters went a combined 5-for-17 against Bumgarner, Tony Watson, Mark Melancon and Will Smith.

The bullpen trio of Watson, Melancon and Smith went three innings, allowing two hits, not walking a batter and struck out five. Smith notched his 12th save of the season.

By being shut out on back-to-back evenings, the last time that the Rockies scored a run was in the bottom of the seventh inning of their 10-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field, a span of 19 innings. In that inning against the Diamondbacks, the Rockies scored five runs to put the game away.

NOTES: This was the 15th shutout of the season for the Giants, and it was the fourth time this season that have they have thrown back-to-back shutouts. They also did it on March and 30 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, June 1 and 2 versus the Philadelphia Phillies and on August 27 and 28 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rockies have lost 11 out of their last 14 at AT&T Park.

This is the first time all season that the Rockies have been shutout in back-to-back games.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rockies wrap up their series with a finale Sunday afternoon at 1:05 pm PDT.

Giants rookie Dereck Rodriguez closes out the homestand on Sunday, as he takes the mound in search of his seventh win of the season, while Antonio Senzatela looks for his fifth win of the season for the Rockies.

SJSU shows improvement, despite 35-22 loss to Oregon

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Photo credit: @lawrencefansjsu

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose State Spartans had a tough customer in the No. 20 Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Autzen Stadium is one of the best stadiums in the country. Both Ducks and Spartans fans flocked to Eugene, Ore. to watch their favorite teams go head-to-head with each other. Though, the latter lacked in quantity in the Pacific Northwest. Still, this FBS and Pac-12 matchup was a sight to see.

Turnovers have been an issue for the Spartans, who suffered from another mishap Saturday. Josh Love’s pass was intercepted by Jevon Holland early in the first quarter. Then, the Ducks took a 7-0 lead at the 11:18 mark after four plays over 23 yards in a 1:36 span. Cyrus Habibi-Likio scored a 3-yard rushing touchdown. Zach Emerson’s PAT kick was good.

The Spartans have struggled with moving the ball and the deficiencies showed when the Ducks took a 14-0 lead with 7:10 left in the first quarter. Jacob Breeman scored a 66-yard passing touchdown off a pass from Justin Herbert. Emerson’s PAT kick was good.

The Ducks led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Spartans finally got on the board at the 10:56 mark of the second quarter. Bryce Crawford kicked in a 31-yard field goal to reduce the SJSU deficit to 14-3.

The Spartans worked some more magic into the scoreboard. Crawford kicked in a 28-yard field goal to cut the SJSU deficit to 14-6 with 2:58 left in the second quarter.

The Ducks, however, extended its lead to 21-6 just 30 seconds later. Johnny Johnson III scored a 39-yard passing touchdown off a pass from Herbert. Emerson’s PAT kick was good.

The Spartans shocked most of the 54,000 fans in attendance as Tre Webb tipped the ball to Dakari Monroe with only seven seconds left in the second quarter. This was Monroe’s second interception of the season.

The Spartans trailed the Ducks 21-6 at halftime. But SJSU’s offense has started to wake up and that was a good thing.

Josh Oliver made a flawless catch off a pass from Josh Love for a 7-yard passing touchdown with five minutes left in the third quarter. The Ducks challenged the Spartans’ play, but the call on the field stood. The Spartans then went for the two-point conversion, but it was overturned as Bailey Gaither was unable to slide his foot. The score stood at 28-12 in favor of the Ducks.

The Spartans trailed the Ducks 28-12 at the end of the third quarter.

The Ducks expanded its lead to 35-12 at the 14:49 mark of the fourth quarter. Johnson III scored his second touchdown of the game–a 22-yard passing touchdown off a pass from Herbert–and Emerson’s PAT kick was good.

Crawford kicked his third field goal of the game–a 25-yard field goal–just 1:07 later to bring the Spartans within 20. The Ducks held on to a 35-15 lead.

Spartan fans breathed a sigh of relief as the Spartans scored its first touchdown of the game to pull within 13. Malik Roberson scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown for his first of the season. Crawford’s PAT kick was good. The Ducks held on to a 35-22 lead with 4:03 left in the fourth quarter.

There weren’t any brownie points in college football, but the Spartans put on a much-better show at Autzen Stadium, despite the 35-22 loss to No. 20 Oregon.

Notes
Spartans’ starters
Offense: Montel Aaron, Justin Holmes, JaQuan Blackwell, Malik Roberson, Jackson Snyder, Trevor Robbins, Jake Colman, Deano Motes, Troy Kowalski, Bailey Gaither and Josh Oliver.

Defense: Jesse Osuna, John Toussaint, Tre Webb, Sailosi Latu, Boogie Roberts, Bryson Bridges, Dakari Monroe, Jonathan Lenard Jr., Tysyn Parker and Ethan Aguayo.

Up Next 
The Spartans have a much-needed bye week and then return to CEFCU Stadium to host the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday, September 29 at 4:00 pm PDT.

Stanford survives slow start to down UC Davis 30-10

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Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD, Calif. – It’s a good thing that the scoreboard doesn’t have pictures or game film.

The quality of play left a lot to be desired from both teams. Saturday morning’s game at Stanford Stadium featured shanked punts, botched fake punts, scratch-your-head interceptions, late hits that were not called, and just overall bad football.

However, the Stanford Cardinal pushed through all of that to get their third straight win to start the season and keep its No. 9 national ranking intact with a (30-3) win over UC Davis. What was much more deceiving than the score was the official attendance on Saturday, which was announced as 31,772. Looking into the stands, which were more than half empty, a four-digit number would have been much more accurate.

Getting past all of that, one thing is abundantly clear going forward: Stanford will have to play a lot better if they are going to beat a much-improved Oregon team, which will be waiting for the Cardinal upon their arrival in Eugene next Saturday.

Quarterback K.J Costello overcame a horrific start to lead the Cardinal to victory. He completed 17 of his 30 throws for 214 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

He was visibly off target in the early going, as he also threw two interceptions, both coming in the first quarter. Although he completed his first pass of the game for a first down, that momentum quickly fizzled, and the Cardinal’s opening drive resulted in a punt.

Stanford’s second possession ended up abruptly when Costello’s pass over the middle was intercepted, giving UC Davis the ball on Stanford’s 12-yard line. The Aggies converted that into a field goal to give them an early 3-0 lead.

Stanford averted disaster on its third drive when Costello appeared to have thrown an inadvertent backward pass and was ruled a live ball, which linebacker Nas Anesi scooped up and jaunted into the end zone untouched to give the Aggies a shocking 9-0 lead.

That play was reviewed, and it was then determined that the ball was thrown forward, therefore an incomplete pass, and the touchdown was taken off the board.

That good fortune vanished into the wind on the very next play, however, as Costello sailed another pass over the middle and had it picked off by sophomore defensive back Isaiah Thomas (not to be confused with the point guard for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets).

The defense held up remarkably well during that stretch, and the offense eventually got itself together in the second quarter. That’s when the Cardinal drove deep into UC Davis territory and took the lead, as J.J Arcega-Whiteside posted up cornerback Vincent White in the end zone, giving Costello a relatively easy 9-yard touchdown pass.

Late in the quarter, Stanford got into the red zone and Arcega-Whiteside got position in the end zone again, this time on cornerback Jordan Perryman. Costello found him once more, and the 8-yard score capped off a seven-play, 62-yard drive and gave the Cardinal a 17-3 lead, which stood at halftime.

A botched fake punt gave the Cardinal the ball on the Aggies’ 19-yard line for its first possession of the second half. After a three-and-out, Stanford settled for a field goal, increasing its lead to 20-3.

Following a Stanford touchdown, UC Davis had another crack at a score, pushing into the red zone. However, that hope was dashed when freshman Thomas Booker picked off a tipped pass.

That was, until UC Davis converted a Hail Mary pass for a touchdown, which was rather meaningless – college fantasy football does not exist, folks – but it changed the overall score nonetheless.

The No. 9 Cardinal head to Autzen Stadium next Saturday, September 22 to take on the No. 20 Oregon Ducks at 5:00 pm PDT on ABC.