This one shall be remembered as a game of “what could have been?” Wake Forest rallies from a two touchdown deficit to beat Stanford 24-17.
It was all Cardinal in the first half. Andrew Luck looked amazing guiding the team up and down the field. Toby Gerhart was running hard, the offensive line was dominating.
But in the second half, the team looked a little flat. It started on the very first play when Ryan Whalen, who caught seven passes in the first half, dropped an easy one that would have gone for at least seven yards. Instead it was second and ten, and the Cardinal ended up going three and out.
On defense Stanford really struggled to stop the wide run on the hand off to the wide receiver. That stretched the defense and opened things up in the middle. Eventually the defense wore out and could not stop the Demon Deacons in clutch time.
Penalties and missed opportunities really cost the Cardinal. The biggest of course was when it was 17-17 and Toby Gerhart rambled for 37 yards into the red zone, only to have it called back by a clipping penalty (I am still waiting to see where the clip was?). False starts, procedures, dropped passes, and the occasional missed throw by Luck all kept the Stanford offense from getting any sort of rhythm going.
The defense has played bend but don’t break for the better part of the first six quarters of this season. The second half they started to break. The DL depth was challenged with both Matt Masifilo and Brian Bulcke going down with injuries.
Where do the Cardinal go from here? Well, this certainly did not end their season, just a tough road loss to a very good football program. The Cardinal will fly home and regroup and get ready for their home opener against San Jose State next Saturday.
But for now, it will a long, frustrating flight across country where players and coaches will ask themselves what could have been?
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STANFORD VS WAKE FOREST PREGAME NOTES
Comments
Good game but the same thing that has plagued them last season hurt them today - bad pass defense!!!
game should have gone to OT!
Why don't they rotate the secondary? Most other colleges rotate by series.
Dave,
Good points overall, and we could've started out 2-0 with two road wins. You're right about the false starts/procedures disrupting any offensive flow. That was frustrating. Also didn't expect the senior tight end to drop at least two passes that should've been caught. We need some new linebackers in there too, except Snyder. I thought Snyder played a helluva game. Also didn't like Harbaugh's decision to kick a field goal rather than go for it on 4th and (less than) 2 at the WF 27 with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the 3rd qtr. I was furious when he brought the kicking team out. It was sign of weakness. Heck, you got Marecic and Gerhart in the backfield. Have some confidence in your players.
any news on masifilo? he was taken off the depth chart...
Could not agree more with AJ about not going for it on 4th and less than yard!! To win football games, you got to take a few calculated risk and understand the strengths of your team which in Stanford case is their running game. You have a 6'1" 237lb running back and fullback that is a hammer and you can't get 1/2 a yard. Come on Jim, make a stand. Defensively, we simply need to improve. Too many missed tackles and blown coverages spell defeat. For Standford to win it needs to keep running the ball until somebody stops it and so far no one has come close.
i don't understand where all the harbaugh-haters are coming from. do i need to remind anybody of "buddy ball" and the walt harris "era?" reading some of these comments make me feel ashamed to be a stanford football fan since it makes us seem like a bunch of malcontents. be happy that he's doing a great job turning around a program that was on the verge of extinction, recruiting great student-athletes, and doing it all for relatively little compensation.
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