Troy Taylor and Stanford fall to the monster he built in Sacramento State

Troy Taylor was welcomed to Palo Alto with a tough Sacramento State team

In the first home game of the Troy Taylor era, Stanford welcomed the monster program he built.

To start off their game against Sacramento State, Stanford jumped on Sacramento State early and even had a chance to notch an early dagger.

However, following a great touchdown pass from Ashton Daniels to Elic Ayomanor, that saw them go up 14-3 and recover a cheeky onside kick after the score, Stanford made a huge mistake.

In Sacramento State territory, Daniels was under pressure and forced a pass into the end zone that was deflected and picked off. 

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No one play should ever dictate a game, but that pick saved Sacramento State and kept them in the game. The Hornets went on to score their next two drives going up 17-14, leading heading into the second half.

Taylor had seen enough from Daniels who took a sack to end the first half, as Syracuse transfer Justin Lamson got the nod to start the second half. Lamson came in pushed the ball down the field, and led Stanford to a field goal to tie the game. Scotty Edwards followed that up with an interception to give Stanford a chance to go ahead.

Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Lamson missed Bryce Farrell on a deep shot and followed that up with a pick into triple coverage. The Hornets were able to turn the pick into three points going up 20-17, to which Stanford was able to answer with one of their own to tie the game back up. 

The teams exchanged field goals, again to make it 23-23, and Stanford had a chance to march down the field and end the game but the offensive line gave up a sack, a quarterback hit, had a holding call, gave up another sack, and finished the drive with Lamson getting pressured and hit. 

The Hornets followed that up with a huge touchdown pass from Kaiden Bennet after evading the rush, giving them a 30-23 lead. 

With Stanford needing a touchdown, they came up short as the drive was again hurt by the Hornets' defense easily getting into the backfield.

Stanford dropped their second game of the year, and we are still seeing the last effects of the David Shaw era.