The Stanford Cardinal line up against the San Jose State University Spartans on Sat Sep 27, 2025 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto. Stanford has a bye this week and play the SMU Mustangs on Sat Oct 11, 2025 in Dallas. (photo by Stanford Cardinal)
Stanford Cardinal podcast Daniel Dullum:
#1 What key plays or decisions swung the momentum in Stanford’s favor in the final minutes? That 4th‑and‑10 conversion by Stanford, or critical missed field goals by San José State? The Cardinal won this one 30-29.
#2 How did the quarterbacks perform under pressure, and which one made the biggest impact down the stretch? Spartans quarterback Walker Eget threw for 473 yards and 3 TDs, while Stanford quarterback Ben Gulbranson engineered a last‑minute drive.
#3 How did special teams especially field goal attempts and kicking influence the outcome of the game? San José State had multiple missed field goals that could have changed the final result.
#4 What does this result say about San José State’s ability to close out tight games against Power‑5 opponents? They’ve historically struggled in such matchups, and this one slipped away in the final minute.
#5 How does this game affect the trajectory or confidence of each team going forward in the season? For Stanford, a comeback win against a local rival; for SJSU a tough loss.
Stanford head coach Troy Taylor disputes a call during the first half against the USC Trojans on Sat Sep 9, 2023 in Los Angeles, the Cardinal went onto loose to the Sacramento State Hornets on Sat Sep 16, 2023 at Stanford and host the Arizona Wildcats on Sat Sep 23, 2023 at Stanford Stadium (AP News photo)
On the Pac 12 podcast with Jerry Feitelberg:
#1 The Stanford Cardinal (1-2) continued their struggles as they were beaten by the Sacramento State Hornets (3-0) 30-23. Former Hornets head coach and current Stanford head coach Troy Taylor was beaten by his former team the Hornets for the Cardinal second loss in week 3.
#2 The Hornets had a key second quarter scoring two touchdowns against the Cardinal and coming away with a 20-14 lead at the half.
#3 Hornets quarterback Kaiden Barnett refused to loose as he threw for 279 yards, going 21-33 for one touchdown and two interceptions. Barnett once again leads the Hornets to another win and Sacramento State goes up 3-0.
#4 The Cardinals on the other hand continues to struggle executing the red zone they have seen the worst of times this season getting whipped by the USC Trojans in week 2 56-10 and losing by a touchdown last Saturday to the Hornets.
#5 It’s week 4 for Stanford as they try and regroup, try and get a game plan to prepare for the Arizona Wildcats who dominated in their two wins this season beating Miss State 31-24 on Sat Sep 9th and UTEP on Sat 16th, 31-10. Do you see the Cardinal with their hands full this Sat with the Wildcats at Stanford Stadium?
Stanford Cardinal running back Austin Jones (20) carries for the first score of the game against the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles on Sat Dec 20, 2020 (AP News photo)
By Jerry Feitelberg
What a way to finish the season. The Cardinal won a thrilling double-overtime game over the UCLA Bruins t the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The game had loads of offense and the Stanford defense came through to win the game as the Bruins were attempting a two-point conversion that would send the Cardinal down to defeat.
The Stanford Cardinal, playing their fourth game in a row on the road, beat the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl Saturday night 48-47.
The Cardinal finished the season with a record of 4-2. The Bruins fell to 3-4. The Cardinal, eligible to play in a postseason bowl game, announced that they would not accept an invitation. UCLA also declined an invitation for a bowl game.
Stanford dominated the first half. Cardinal quarterback Davis Mills had everything working for him. The Cardinal scored three times to finish the first half with a 20-3 lead. The only blemish was Jet Toner’s missed extra point on the Cardinal’s second score.
The miss turned out to be a significant factor in the game. The Cardinal’s first score was a 72 -yard drive on 12 plays. The key play was a 34-yard pass from Mills to Brycen Tremayne to put the ball on the Bruin nine-yard line. The Cardinal took the ball down to the one-yard line. Austin Jones scored on a one-yard plunge into the end zone. UCLA had a touchdown called back due to a holding penalty. They had to settle for a field goal. Stanford led 7-3.
The Cardinal scored their second touchdown on a six-play 75-yard drive. The key plays were Napoleon Peat’s 19-yard scamper and Mills’ 44-yard throw to Tremayne to take the Cardinal down to the Bruins’ two-yard line.
With the Cardinal in the Wildcat formation, Isiah Sanders took it to the house for the score. Toner missed the extra point. Stanford leads 13-3. UCLA’s quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson was injured while leading the Bruins to Stanford’s 21-yard line. Chase Griffin replaced him.
The Bruin drive stalled at the eleven-yard line.UCLA’s field goal attempt failed. Stanford then went on an 80-yard drive. Mills completed five passes to get the Cardinal down to the Bruin one-yard line.
Jones ran it in for the score. Stanford dominated the first half and left the field, leading 20-3. Mills was 13-for-16, passing good for 201 yards. Jones had 11 carries for 44 yards and two touchdowns. Tremayne had four receptions for 88 yards. Fehoko had five catches for 76 yards.
The Bruins found their mojo in the second half. The Cardinal defense held the Bruin offense in check the first thirty minutes of the game. The Cardinal offense shredded the Bruins defense. However, teams have to play sixty minutes of football.
With backup QB Chase Griffin and backup running back Brittain Brown, the Bruins scored 31 unanswered points to lead 34-20 with 5:39 left. Cardinal QB Davis Mills threw three interceptions that set up the Bruin touchdowns. The Bruins scored a touchdown the first time they had their hands on the ball in the second half. They went 57 yards on seven plays for the score. There was a feeling that momentum had shifted to the Bruins.
Their next score came when Mills’ pass was picked off. Mills had thrown 222 passes without an interception. The Bruins drive stalled on the Cardinal 32-yard line. On fourth and four, Griffin connected with tight end Greg Dulcich for the score.
The Bruins picked off another Mills’ pass at the Bruin 16-yard line. Brown then ripped off a 41-yard run. Griffin connected with Chase Cota in the end zone for the score. UCLA led for the first time 24-20. UCLA continued to rip through the Cardinal defense. They were driving for another score when the Cardinal defense stiffined. The Bruins kicked a field goal to lead 27-20.
The Bruin defense put seven more points on the board when cornerback Jay Shaw intercepted Mills errant throw. He took it to the house to make it 34-20. The Bruins had scored 31 unanswered points in the second half. Time was running out for Stanford.
The Cardinal rose to the occasion. They went on a 75-yard drive to creep within seven 34-27 with 2:39 to play. The Cardinal tried an onside kick. UCLA was able to field it cleanly and ran it back to the Cardinal 27-yard line. Stanford’s defense forced a fumble, and they were back in business with just a minute and 43 seconds left to play.
Could they do it? Did they have enough left in the tank to engineer a drive that would tie the game? They answered both questions. They converted on a fourth and one to stay alive. Davis Mills connected with Fehoko on a 29-yard pass to tie the game and send it to overtime.
It took two overtime periods to end the game. UCLA scored first. Stanford responded to tied it at 41-41. In the second overtime period, Stanford went first. They put seven more points on the board. The combination of Mills to Fehoko worked again.
UCLA had to score to tie the game. They did. The Cardinal defense forced them into a fourth and 18 for a first down. The Bruins needed 21 yards for the score. Griffin found Kyle Phillips in the end zone for the TD. Bruins’ head coach Chip Kelly decided to go for two points.
If they converted, the Bruins would win. If they failed, the day belonged to Stanford. The Bruins ran the play. Stanford held. Penalty flags flew all over the field. Each team was charged with a penalty. They had to rerun the play. The Cardinal defense stopped the run on the one-yard line to seal the win for Stanford. Final score Stanford 48-UCLA 47.
Game notes and stats: Davis Mills had quite a day. He was 32 for 47, good for 428 yards. Austin Jones had 23 carries for 92 yards. Simi Fehoko had a career-high sixteen receptions for 230 yards and three touchdowns. Stanford record 560 total yards on offense. The Bruins had 483. The Bruins’ Brittain Brown rushed for 219 yards.
Both teams left everything on the field Saturday night. Had Kelly decided not to kick the extra point, the teams probably would still be on the field. It was a terrific college football game and a great way to end the season.
The Stanford Cardinal downed the USC Trojans by a final score of 17-3 at Stanford Stadium on Saturday night. The majority of folks believed that these two teams would’ve fought each other until the very end, but that wasn’t the case, as Stanford took an early lead and never looked back. USC’s lone score came in the middle of the third quarter on Chase McGrath’s 35-yard field goal to reduce the deficit to 14-3, but the Trojans were unable to mount a comeback on the road.
With the win, the Cardinal climbed its way back to No. 9 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll. Not only that, freshman offensive center Branson Bragg tweeted a shoutout to his current team and wrote, “I chose the right place to spend the next 4-5 years of my life.” In case you need a refresher, Bragg is a four-star center from Texas who committed to Stanford this summer. The Cardinal also chose the right center to be a great blocker up front.
Here are three takeaways from Stanford vs. USC. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading.
3. The early bird gets the worm As I’ve mentioned in the introduction, Stanford took an early lead and never looked back.
Prior to the game, @gostanfordnotes tweeted that Stanford has won 18 of its last 21 games when scoring first. After the game, @gostanfordnotes tweeted that Stanford has won 19 of its last 22 games when scoring first. Do you see a pattern here?
Trojans quarterback JT Daniels was arguably the more talented quarterback coming into Saturday’s game, but the Cardinal tormented Daniels for most of the night. It’s obvious that Daniels needs help from the his backfield.
This was the first time the Cardinal held the Trojans under 10 points since 1992 when the Cardinal prevailed over the No. 11 Trojans in a 23-9 rout under head coach Bill Walsh.
2. The Bryce Love factor Cardinal running back Bryce Love had himself a night with 136 rushing yards and 1 touchdown–a 6-yard rushing touchdown–that gave his team a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter to kick off the rivalry matchup. Love also averaged more than 6 yards per carry versus the Trojans.
Love, a front-runner in the Heisman Trophy race, bounced back after a dismal start in the Cardinal’s season opener against the San Diego State Aztecs. Love rushed for just 29 yards in the opener.
Love may not be the ideal size as he stands at 5-foot-11 and weighs 202 lbs, but his explosiveness and visions likely will make him one of the first-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft.
1. The dominant Cardinal defense The Cardinal defense stifled the Trojans in the 17-3 rout on Saturday. Every time the Trojans terrorized, the Cardinal defense responded in a big way. Moreover, the Cardinal defense to less than three points in this series since a 13-0 shutout at the Coliseum in 1941.
If you need a refresher, you catch watch the video below.
PASADENA — For 57 and a half minutes, No. 7 Stanford was in trouble. The offense was sputtering, the quarterback couldn’t complete a pass, turnovers were ending possessions early and the Cardinal were in danger of being upset by unranked UCLA on the road on Saturday.
But in two minutes and 35 seconds, trailing 13-9, they roared back to life. With no timeouts and a quarterback who had thrown just one complete pass in the second half, it was Ryan Burns helped orchestrate a 10-play, 70-yard drive, culminating in a fade pass to JJ Arcega-Whiteside in the left corner of the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown, spurring a 22-13 win over the Bruins.
The down was second and goal from the 8-yard line, after Burns had completed four passes and Christian McCaffrey converted on a key third-and-3 in the red zone. And it was Burns who trusted Arcega-Whiteside, making his college debut, to make the game’s biggest play.
“One-on-one, that guy can jump pretty high,” Burns said. “I just put it up for him, and he made a great play. Couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Arcega-Whiteside said he had been dreaming of that moment since he was little, but added he was prepared for the fade thrown his way.
“After practice, we always [say], ‘Hey, let’s throw some fade balls, let’s go deep, let’s have fun,’” he said. “Once coach called that play, I was like, ‘Alright, it’s time to have some fun.’”
UCLA had 24 seconds to work with following the touchdown, but quarterback Josh Rosen was sacked and fumbled on the game’s final play, leading to a Stanford touchdown by Stanf Solomon Thomas as time expired to finish off the game.
It was a dazzling final three minutes to atone for a frustrating night of offense for the Cardinal. But the defense was good enough to keep the Bruins from expanding upon a 10-3 halftime lead. Stanford settled for two field goals to cut the deficit to 10-9 with under five minutes to play, though UCLA answered with a field goal of its own to push the lead back up to 4.
Head coach David Shaw, even in victory, was dissatisfied with his team’s performance.
“The youth of our football team showed in the first three quarters,” he said. “You’ve got to come into somebody else’s house and play well. We didn’t play well.”
Stanford scored first with a field goal on its first drive, but on its next drive, Burns was intercepted by UCLA’s Kenny Young, who returned it 40 yards into Cardinal territory.
That set up a touchdown as Rosen found Nate Iese over the middle on a third-and-five play from the 10-yard line. Iese just crossed the plane with the ball just before his knee hit the ground.
The remainder of the half was a field position battle, though Stanford coughed up the ball once more to UCLA. Midway through the second quarter, Burns completed a pass to Francis Owusu, who fumbled the ball after he appeared to be targeted with a helmet-to-helmet hit by UCLA’s Tahaan Goodman. But there was no penalty, and the Bruins took over.
Their ensuing drive ended in a 27-yard field goal and UCLA went into halftime ahead 10-3.
McCaffrey had an uncharacteristically modest game by his standards, finishing with 139 yards on 26 carries and no touchdowns. Still, Stanford outgained UCLA 207-77 on the ground to atone for the Bruins out-throwing them 248-143 in the air.
The running back said that it was important the team still found a way to win despite the struggles.
“We’re never out of a fight and that’s how we went into that game, knowing that it was going to be a dogfight,” McCaffrey said.
Burns admitted that Stanford should never have been down late in the fourth quarter in the first place. The quarterback completed 13-of-25 passes for 137 yards.
“I was not making the best throws, definitely not making the best decisions,” he said. “This is the kind of team we are, though. We’re never going to give up, we’re never going to back down.”
Shaw agreed, speaking about the character of his players to overcome adversity.
“That’s what happens when you recruit well and you recruit great kids, tough kids, smart kids, guys that don’t bat an eyelash when things get difficult,” he said.
Players like Arcega-Whiteside, who had the moment of his life in his college debut. He said his vertical leap is usually around 31 and a half inches, but on that play, he could have reached the sky.
“When you get that adrenaline going, you jump as high as you need to,” he said.
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