Despite failing to cross the opponent’s 40-yard line until the fourth quarter in Saturday night’s 27-3 loss to BYU, Stanford interim coach Frank Reich said he never considered taking out redshirt senior Ben Gulbranson.
“I’m not going to make any quick judgment on this,” Reich said. “I’ve been around too long to understand that quarterback play is the byproduct of a lot of things, and we need the protection to be better. We need to coach better. Yeah, we need to make a few throws as well. But we need to go back and look at the tape.”
All those issues were certainly on display during a truly awful first half, when Stanford (0-2) gained 20 yards on eight possessions, turned the ball over twice deep in BYU territory and allowed a safety on a completed pass.
Gulbranson badly overthrew open receiver Myles Libman on a short crossing pattern and the ensuing interception was returned to the Stanford 17. He was then sacked when right tackle Khalil House was beaten cleanly by a Cougars edge rusher and lost a fumble at the Stanford 5. And later in the second quarter, Gulbranson completed a wide receiver screen to Marcus Brown, who was hit right away before he could get out of his own end zone.
A fourth-quarter field goal eventually extended the Cardinal’s streak of consecutive games scored to 187, but it was still the fewest points scored since a 41-3 loss to Arizona State in 2007 in Jim Harbaugh’s fourth game.
And it was the second straight week that Stanford’s passing game was completely ineffective, a major concern heading into Saturday’s home opener against Boston College. Gulbranson passed for 109 yards and was intercepted in a 23-20 Week 0 loss at Hawaii.
Afterward, Gulbranson took the blame for Saturday’s performance.
“Coming off the bye week, I think we did a great job of watching the tape, learning from our game one, and taking that into the bye week of practice,” Gulbranson said. “And I thought the coaches put together a great plan for us, and I thought we prepared well the whole week. And obviously this one’s on me, and I just have to be better out there.”
Gulbranson, who came to Stanford from Oregon State after spring camp, finished 17 of 32 passing for 142 yards and two interceptions on Saturday.
After throwing for just 68 yards through three quarters, Gulbranson recorded 74 passing yards in the fourth quarter, and Emmet Kenney’s 26-yard field goal with 10:31 remaining prevented the shutout.
Reich, a 14-year NFL quarterback, was pleased that the offense at least ended on a strong note.
“I know what it’s like to be out there and struggling at the quarterback position,” Reich said. “You take the weight of the world on yourself. Everybody starts with the quarterback, and so he feels that pressure. Personally, I was happy for Ben that he finished strong the way he did.”
Still, after Stanford successfully ran the ball against Hawaii (177 yards), it was clear that BYU came into Saturday with the game plan of making the Cardinal beat them by throwing the ball, and Stanford couldn’t come close. The Cardinal finished with 19 rushing yards, its fewest in four seasons, and the passing game couldn’t compensate.
If there was a bright spot for Stanford in the blowout loss, it was that the defense kept the Cardinal in it. Despite BYU starting at midfield or better in four of its first-half possessions, the Cougars (2-0) led just 14-0 at halftime.
“The defense played unbelievable in my mind,” Reich said. “They gave us every opportunity to be in that game, to win that game. And, you know, early on, the game could have been a whole lot different. So really, a lot of credit to the defense. To turn those turnovers into field goals was great defense play.”
True freshman Bear Bachmeier, who committed to Stanford before transferring to BYU after spring practice, was 17 of 27 for 175 yards, the fewest passing yards allowed by Stanford in 14 games.
“For us, we just have to keep swinging,” said senior cornerback Collin Wright, who led the team in tackles (7) after missing the opener with an injury. “That’s what we train for 12 months out of the year, for these moments. So we’ve got to keep fighting and take it one play at a time.”
That mirrored Reich’s message to his team. The Cardinal is entering what seems like the easiest part of its schedule (Boston College, at Virginia, San Jose State) before facing three straight ranked opponents (at No. 17 SMU, No. 14 Florida State, at No. 5 Miami).
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So Stanford needs to quickly figure out how to jumpstart the offense if it has any hope of improving after four straight 3-9 seasons, even if that means switching to redshirt freshman and top quarterback recruit Elijah Brown.
“Just one play at a time,” Reich said. “It doesn’t take much. It takes a belief to start with, a belief in who you are and what we’re doing, and then you just have to execute one play at a time, one first down at a time, one touchdown at a time. That’s the mentality.
“We’re never going to be OK with losing. We’re here to get better and to win. And so I’m excited to go back to work this week. It’s hard to fly home on a trip where you lose a game like this, but I believe in this team. I love these players. I mean, they’re a special group, and they’re going to continue to fight, and we’ll get better.”