Stanford may be coming off its most lopsided loss of the season, but there was no issue getting motivated for this week’s game. Not with San Jose State coming to Stanford Stadium for the Bill Walsh Legacy Game.
“Rivalry games are what make college football,” senior receiver CJ Williams said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re 0-3, 0-2, 3-0. I think there’s a sense of animosity and urgency for us to win this game and play at a high level and hopefully dominate them this weekend, which I know we have the ability to do. I don’t think we ever became gun-shy after this Virginia game.”
The Cardinal (1-3) gave up 590 yards to Virginia in a 48-20 loss to drop to 1-3 in the season. They are on track to exactly match the 3-9 record that they have finished with in each of the past four years.
Last year’s 3-9 season ended with a 34-31 loss at San Jose State, which is another point of motivation for the Cardinal.
“We didn’t do what we wanted to do last year,” said Williams, who transferred from Wisconsin. “I know we take a lot of pride in pushing guys around, especially guys that we personally think we’re better than physically, mentally, athletically, things like that. So there’s fuel in that fire right there to go show them who the better team is.”
Here’s what it will take to change the result this season:
STOPPING EGET
Spartans quarterback Walker Eget threw for 385 yards and four touchdowns in last year’s game at Spartan Stadium. That should concern a Stanford defense that had a strong start to the season but just allowed 380 yards and four touchdowns to Virginia’s Chandler Morris.
Cardinal interim coach Frank Reich said that he felt better after watching the tape of the Virginia game.
“The encouraging thing is you can see we can make those plays,” Reich said. “We have made those plays. We did have a few communication errors. We had a few little mental mistakes here and there that led to some big plays. So there were plenty of correctable offenses that we can get better at.”
Stanford, which has 10 sacks so far, needs its pass rush to bother Eget and the secondary to bottle up top SJSU target Danny Scudero, who is second in the country at 126.3 receiving yards a game.
PASSING GAME IMPROVING
Oregon State transfer Ben Gulbranson had his best game as a Cardinal against the Cavs, completing 20 of 29 passes for 286 yards, two scores and no interceptions. Williams was a dependable possession receiver, with nine catches for 103 yards, while speedster Bryce Farrell had 60- and 68-yard catches.
“I think Ben’s gaining confidence,” Reich said. “I think that some of that’s just the natural progression of going into the season and continuing to learn the nuances of the offense, get comfortable with the receivers and calling the game the way he has to call it. So I think we can build off that. In particular, I think he’s throwing the deep ball very well.”
Gulbranson does need better protection from an untested line — he was sacked five times last Saturday.
Gulbranson actually faced San Jose State last year while playing for Oregon State. He was 24 for 37 for 292 yards, but he threw two picks and no touchdowns as the Spartans won 24-13.
HOME AT LAST
Stanford’s only home game this season was also its only win, a 30-20 upset of Boston College.
The Cardinal is back home Saturday, and this time will have the benefit of support from the student section, since classes just started.
“As much as we love playing in front of hostile environments, it’s always good to stay on the West Coast and to enjoy our bed for an extra night that Thursday night, and then Friday go to the hotel and be together, and play in front of our fans and our family that Saturday,” Williams said. “And I think we all take a lot of pride in respecting our home field, respecting our fans and the journey that they made to come to the games.”
The Cardinal have already played in four time zones, with games at Hawaii, BYU, Virginia and Stanford. Their next game will be in a fifth time zone when they travel to SMU.
“I’m guessing we’ve probably logged more miles than any other team in the country at this point,” Reich said. “We do have to figure that road thing out. Obviously, going 0-3 on the road, not a good thing. But excited to get back home in front of our home crowd on our home turf.”
CONNECTIONS TO WALSH
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Saturday’s game was named in 2007 following the passing of Bill Walsh, a San Jose State alum and the head coach of the Stanford Cardinal from 1977-78 and again from 1992-94.
Stanford senior defensive lineman Zach Buckey’s father, Jeff Buckey, played for Walsh at Stanford before playing in the NFL for four years as an offensive tackle. Zach remembers a hand-drawn portrait of Bill Walsh that hangs in the family room of the Buckey house.
“It’s a big deal for me to hopefully win this Bill Walsh legacy game and bring the trophy back and maybe have a full circle moment for our family here at Stanford,” Buckey said.