Takeaways from Stanford football's loss to Wake Forest

Time to regroup and refocus for the next game.

Oct 19, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach Troy Taylor during the fourth quarter against the Southern Methodist Mustangs at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

This one may hurt for a while. With Wake Forest up 27-24, the Stanford Cardinal (2-6, 1-4 ACC) were driving down the field with a chance at a win, when a late game turnover squashed any opportunity for the Cardinal to snap their four-game losing streak. Instead, the Cardinal have now lost five in a row and will once again go into a game fishing for a win. However, a game as competitive as this one will surely provide a bad taste in Stanford's mouth and give it added motivation next week.

Here are five takeaways from Stanford's loss to the Demon Deacons.

This Cardinal loss will be felt

No matter the situation, all losses sting, especially when a team like Stanford hasn’t won a game in a while. And while a loss is a loss no matter how you look at it, ones like the one that Stanford endured on Saturday where it was as close as it was can make them extra hard to get over but also provide a true test of grit and resilience.

“They're all painful to be honest with you. That's the nature of the game we're in,” Taylor said. "You put everything you can into a week both as coaches, players, everyone. Our ops people, everything. And then to come up short, I understand. Sometimes when you're closer it can seem like it hurts more. When you're trying to build a program and do those things all the losses hurt. You just have to be able to respond and be resilient and come back the next week.”

Now having lost five straight, the Cardinal will certainly play with added fire and hunger the rest of the way. With four games left, the focus will be on being competitive in all games so that they can head into the offseason with increased hope for the future.

Defense showed promise

Despite what the score suggested, the Cardinal defense created problems for Wake Forest, with the defensive side of the ball coming up with some big plays, most notably an interception and a fumble return for a touchdown. While there were definitely some areas that were not perfect, the defense once again showed why it has been the backbone of this team all season long.

“I thought they did a pretty good job in that area,” Taylor said. “Second week in a row we've had hands to the face on a quarterback after we stopped them on third down that resulted in points. That kind of stuff has to improve. But we had a scoop and score [for] six points. We had a tough goal line stand on the one yard line. Kept them out of the end zone there at the end of the game and heck of an interception by Brandon Nicholson. I thought we did some good things on defense. Obviously we can play better but I thought it was a pretty gutsy performance.”

Offense is certainly important in any football game, but a strong defense can be a team’s ticket to a championship and if the Cardinal can hone in on that and become one of the nation’s strongest defensive teams, they could evolve into a serious threat in the offense heavy ACC.

Starting fast will become a major emphasis going forward

As has been the case in a lot of Stanford’s losses this season, a slow start was a big factor against the Demon Deacons this weekend, as after going down 14-0, the Cardinal found themselves having to climb back into the contest. Despite tying the game back up on multiple occasions, the momentum of the opponent was too much to overcome. With slow starts being a major issue this year, the team will look to focus on improving their fortunes in that area and work on switching things so they can be the team that starts fast from now on.

“That's a point of emphasis, that we need to start fast,” Taylor said. “Obviously had a breakdown in protection and the ball sailed and they got the pick. Sometimes I don't see the other side of the ball's touchdown because I'm talking to the offense. So I didn't see that one. Just not clicking right away on offense and putting our defense on a short field hoping to go down and at least move the ball.

"They got off to a good start, 14-nothing. I thought our guys responded. Obviously we scored and then the defensive touchdown was big. Missed field goal. Just did some stuff that it's hard to win. Bad coverage on the punt. Missed a field goal. And then there were a couple of missed throws [and we] turned the ball over. Even if your defense makes those plays, if you're not on all three cylinders, it's going to be difficult to win.”

Being able to get momentum is a key in many games, and if the Cardinal can stop other teams from scoring, especially early in games, and put points on the board themselves, then things could look a lot different down the line and create situations where more games are much more competitive.

This may still be Ashton Daniels’ team after all

After freshman Elijah Brown dazzled in his college debut against Cal Poly, questions began to rise as to whether he was going to ascend the depth chart and take over the starting quarterback role, even when he was sidelined with an injury.

But since his return, Brown has struggled, and after getting the start against Wake Forest, early game struggles made way for Ashton Daniels to be reinserted into the lineup. Once in, Daniels played well and was kept in the rest of the game, now begging the question of what the plan will be moving forward at QB, as Daniels most likely earned the right to keep his job.

“We were going to play both of them and then utilize them both and then Ash just got hot,” Taylor said. “I thought he played well in the run game, ran the ball well, didn't miss a ton of throws or many throws, made good decisions in the pass game. So when he started playing well and we started getting in a rhythm, I just went ahead and stuck with Ashton.”

A 2-6 record suggests that the rest of the season is about building for next year and beyond and while playing Brown may be the best thing to do for that, giving Daniels the opportunity to keep developing ahead of a big senior season is another direction that the Cardinal can opt to go with as they look to return to contender status.

Confidence in the future is high

This season has definitely been filled with challenges, there is no denying that. But, for a program that is both deep in a rebuild and in a new conference, there have been a lot of moments to be proud of, especially with the defensive core boasting one of the nation’s best run defenses, and despite virtually being eliminated from bowl contention, there is extreme confidence in the locker room that things will soon come together.

“We're almost there. I feel like people can feel it and we just got to come next week and ball out,” linebacker Tevarua Tafiti said.

Rebuilds can be tough and grueling but it is important for the Cardinal to rely on the areas that they excel at, so that they can build on it and make it a phase that puts them over the top, giving them the necessary tools to compete for both conference titles and eventually, College Football Playoff spots.