Tyler Gaffney's first quarter TD run helped Stanford get out to a big lead. (Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports)
STANFORD, Calif. — Despite winning its first significant test of the season rather convincingly, No. 5 Stanford had some explaining to do after its 42-28 victory over No. 23 Arizona State on Saturday night at Stanford Stadium.
The Cardinal (3-0) dominated the Sun Devils (2-1) for three quarters, rolling to a 39-7 lead entering the fourth quarter.
But Cardinal coach David Shaw decided at that point to take starting quarterback Kevin Hogan out for the next two Cardinal possessions, believing the game of out of reach. At the same time, Stanford’s defense, which had been impressive until then, suddenly could not handle Arizona State’s hurry-up offense.
Stanford went three-and-out on consecutive possessions and ASU quarterback Taylor Kelly threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, reducing the deficit to 39-28 with 6:18 still remaining.
“Once we got the tempo going, we were finishing drives,” said Kelly, who was 30-for-55 for 367 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. “We kept the momentum and fed off each other.”
Stanford then recovered the onside kick, and Hogan returned. Hogan, who was 11-for-17 for 151 yards, two scores and an interception, helped Stanford get a field goal on that possession to put the game away.
“I am not going to apologize for a win,” Shaw said. “We could care less about style points.”
He admitted that Stanford did not play well in the fourth quarter but did not think the quarterback change was part of the problem.
“I’ll take the heat for substituting the quarterback,” he said. “Quarterback was not the issue.”
Shaw faulted the blocking and missed assignments for the failures that helped the Sun Devils make the game competitive at the end.
Despite the Sun Devils’ comeback, Stanford never seemed to be in serious jeopardy of losing the game.
Stanford rolled up 240 yards on the ground, including 95 by Tyler Gaffney. Arizona State managed just 50 rushing yards and had just 7 yards on 13 attempts in the first half, when Stanford took a 29-0 lead.
An interception by Cardinal defensive end Josh Mauro set up the game’s first touchdown and turned the game in Stanford’s favor. The 282-pound Mauro returned the pick 25 yards to the Arizona State 17-yard line, and three plays later, Hogan threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ty Montgomery, who had two touchdown catches.
Stanford drove 90 yards in nine plays to make it 13-0 late in the first quarter, and Anthony Wilkerson scored on a 12-yard run to finish a 72-yard drive that put Stanford ahead 20-0. Hogan’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Montgomery with 4:49 left in the second quarter made it 27-0.
Stanford added a safety in the closing seconds of the half when Matt Haack punted the ball into the back of one of his blockers. The ball bounded back into the end zone to make 29-0.
“They’re a championship-caliber team and we weren’t ready,” ASU coach Todd Graham said. “We were embarrassed by that first half by all the mistakes we made. I apologized to the players for not having them ready. Stanford was better prepared.”
ASU scored first in the third quarter, but when Gaffney scored on a 16-yard run in the final minute of the third quarter, the Cardinal had a seemingly safe 32-point lead.
Then Kelly threw touchdown passes to Chris Coyle, Jaelen Strong and Marion Grice to make it game and cause Stanford fans some anxiety.
“In the first half, it seemed like everything clicked,” Stanford defensive end Ben Gardner said. “(But) there’s definitely a little bit of feeling of disappointment. We’ve got to take more pride in playing out style no matter what the situation.”
NOTES: Stanford all-conference safety Ed Reynolds was ejected in the fourth quarter for a helmet-to-helmet hit on quarterback Taylor Kelly. Unless the conference reverses the ruling during its film review of the play, Reynolds will be suspended for the first half of next week’s game against Washington State. … Arizona State NT Jaxon Hood left the game in the first quarter with an undisclosed injury. … Heavy rain fell in the hours preceding the game, but the rain stopped and the sky cleared shortly before kickoff. … Stanford won its 11th straight game, which represents the second-longest active winning streak among FBS schools. Ohio State won its 16th consecutive game earlier Saturday.
