Stanford Football Focusing on Blocking Heading into Week 2 Showdown with Cal Poly

Dylan Grausz | Sep 4, 2024

Oct 21, 2023; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach Troy Taylor (left) and quarterback Ashton Daniels (14) walk on the field before the game against the UCLA Bruins at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

After coming up just short in week one against TCU, the Stanford Cardinal return to the practice field this week ahead of what will be a tough matchup against an FCS school, Cal Poly, with the Cardinal eager to win their first home game since the 2022 season. And with a new game week here and the anticipation beginning to mount for week two, head coach Troy Taylor, along with players Jay Green and Ismael Cisse, were made available to the media during the weekly press conference. Here are five takeaways from what coach Taylor had to say on Tuesday afternoon.

Offensive line improvement is a focus for this week

The offense was able to do a lot of good things last week, but there were some instances in which both pass protection and creating running lanes became an issue, with TCU managing to sack the quarterback four times and record 10 tackles for loss. Heading into this week, making sure that the line play is more consistent will be a point of emphasis leading up to the game.

“We’ve got to improve,” Taylor said. “I think there were moments where we did some good things in the run game, but overall, we’ve got to improve our protection and be better at the point of attack and finish blocks. So I would say that’s an area that we need to see improvement in this next week.”

Having talented playmakers and a good offensive game plan is vitally important, but it all starts up front and if the Cardinal are able to get top notch protection, the ceiling for what the offense will be able to accomplish will rise considerably.

Early showing by the defense has brought a new sense of confidence

Last season, the Cardinal only managed to record 11 total turnovers as a team, struggling to become a consistent threat that was capable of really containing high octane offenses. But in week one, the defense came up with two turnovers that both came via fumble recovery, and looked very sharp for it being only the first game, invoking a sense of confidence throughout the team.

“I thought the defense made huge strides this week against a really talented team that presents a lot of conflict on the field and how they RPO and what they do in the pass game and their talent level is really good,” Taylor said. “So, the two turnovers were huge, one we converted into a touchdown. We’re just gonna need more of those throughout the year. You’ve got to get turnovers and you’ve got to get short fields to give yourself an opportunity to beat good football teams so I think as we play more aggressively, we will create more turnovers. We’ve got to be able to pressure the quarterback a little bit more and make him a little more uneasy, hurry his decision making, hit him a few more times in the pocket and hopefully we get some more opportunities, some more turnovers because that’s going to be a crucial part to our season.”

Being able to score on offense is one big part of football, especially at the college level, but if Stanford is able to build off of its week one performance and become a potent defensive team, it could spell trouble for whoever they play the rest of the way.

Quarterback rotation on Saturday will most likely be similar but with some adjustments

Going into last week, the official word on who would be the starting quarterback remained a mystery, with Ashton Daniels, Justin Lamson and Elijah Brown all being candidates to take snaps. However, Daniels ended up starting with Lamson also getting snaps and while both of them were good enough to keep the QB outlook the same going into week two, Brown could also start seeing more game reps, with him having been a highly touted recruit coming out of high school.

“Ash will start but Lambo [Justin Lamson] will play like he always does,” Taylor said. “I really want to see Elijah Brown play, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he got in the game. He’s just a talented guy that we need to get on the field and get him some experience and let him play, so we’ll see how the game sorts out, but Ashton will start and then we’ll go from there.”

The most important position on the team, the Cardinal look to be in good shape at the position but the fact that they feel confident with their other options as well could mean that good things are coming, not just for this year, but for the future as well.

Cal Poly will provide a good challenge for both sides of the ball

Despite losing its first game last week against the University of San Diego, the early impressions of Cal Poly have put the Cardinal on their toes, locked in and ready for the challenge that will come with playing against the talented Big Sky program.

“On the offensive side of the ball, they’re gonna spread it out [and] they’re gonna throw it so you’ve got to be able to get pressure on the quarterback and cover down and still not be susceptible in the run game,” Taylor said. “And defensively, they play a lot of zone, they’re very sound fundamentally, they play hard. I think their d-line is good, they got some good edge guys and their tackles are good. And then they keep the ball in front of them so they limit the big plays and they really played well this past [week]. I think there were two defensive touchdowns against the University of San Diego, so that was 14 points. They did not give up so I think they probably feel pretty good about how they played on defense. So it’ll be a challenge.”

No game is easy, and while on paper Stanford should be able to handle business fairly convincingly, it will take everyone doing their job well in order to go home with a win under their belt before they begin ACC play the following week.

No overconfidence for this game

Losing to Sacramento State by seven points in week three last season, Stanford knows what it is like to lose to an FCS opponent and with the feeling being one that the team is all too familiar with, one big part about this week is making sure that overconfidence does not become an issue.

“I’ve been a part of FCS-FBS battles,” Taylor, a former head coach at Sacramento State, said. “And these guys, they play great football at the FCS level. And these guys, they come in with the mentality that they want to prove something so you better be ready, or you’re going to be in trouble. So there will be no overconfidence problem on our side at all, we’ve got a lot to prove. And we want to get in the win column and we got to do that by playing a great football game in all three phases.”

This type of game has all the makings to be a trap game and with conference play on the horizon and the intensity of the schedule getting ready to pick up, the Cardinal will do all they can to make sure that they go into this game ready and focused in order to avoid an upset and get a wave of momentum before they hit the road for their first away game.