Stanford, Calif. - The San Jose State University football team allowed 23 unanswered points after taking a 10-0 second-quarter lead, as host Stanford University won by the final score of 23-10 in the second Bill Walsh Legacy Game at Stanford Stadium on Saturday, September 20.
The loss in its non-conference finale evens the San Jose State record at 2-2 on the season heading into Western Athletic Conference play. The Cardinal also evened their mark at 2-2.
Junior Kyle Reed, in his third career start at quarterback for the Spartans, was efficient at 23-of-26 for 165 yards passing, including completions on his first 15 attempts in the first half, but was sacked eight times on the night.
Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard and tailback Toby Gerhart had short touchdown runs around a trio of Aaron Zagory field goals after the Spartans had trotted out to a 10-0 advantage on a 39-yard Jared Strubeck field goal in the first quarter and freshman Brandon Rutley’s first collegiate touchdown on a four-yard run up the middle at 8:26 of the second quarter. Gerhart was a Spartan menace for a second straight meeting between the area rivals, rushing for 148 yards on 22 carries a year after going for 140 yards on 12 attempts against San Jose State.
After forcing a three-and-out on the Cardinal’s first possession, San Jose State’s first time with the ball started out promisingly. On their opening three plays, the Spartans got a five-yard burst from Rutley, an 18-yard completion from Reed to Jalal Beauchman, and a nine-yard catch by tight end Jeff Clark. A four-yard gain by Reed and a 13-yard scamper by Yonus Davis moved the ball to the Cardinal’s 17, before the drive stalled.
Reed was sacked for an eight-yard loss, and San Jose State eventually had to settle for the 39-yard field goal by Strubeck to get on the scoreboard at the 9:16 mark.
San Jose State gained the ball back after another three-and-out by Stanford, and began to move it again, sprung by a five-yard, first-down catch on a third-and-four play to the SJSU 48. Back-to-back eight-yard gainers by Reed and Davis gave the Spartans another first-down at the Stanford 36, but the home side then forced a Philip Zavala punt thanks in large part to a second sack of Reed.
Stanford finally got a first down on its ensuing possession Pritchard rolled out to his right and ran for a six-yard gain on third and five to the 22. Later in the drive on another third-down play, the senior quarterback’s pass was picked off by Spartan cornerback Coye Francies, the first interception of his Spartan career for the senior transfer from Oregon State.
Eleven plays, 79 yards and 5:47 later, San Jose State was in the end zone for the first time on the night, as Rutley ran up the middle for a four-yard touchdown with 8:26 left in the half. Key plays on the efficient drive included an 11-yard Reed-to-Josh Harrison pass on a third-and-six play to the SJSU 47, an 11-yard Davis run on third and two, and a 15-yard face mask penalty against Stanford that negated a sack, put the ball at the Stanford 19, and was followed by runs of eight and seven yards by Davis to the left and Reed to the right, respectively, ahead of the score.
The Cardinal looked to have opened its scoring account on its next possession, when Pritchard hit Doug Baldwin for what initially was ruled a 39-yard touchdown reception. Senior Spartan cornerback Christopher Owens had caught Baldwin from behind and slapped the ball out from underneath his right arm, however, and after a replay review, the call was overturned and ruled a fumble at the one-yard line, with the Spartans taking over at their 20 on the touchback since the ball had gone out of bounds out of the side of the end zone.
That drive earlier featured a bizarre play in which Pritchard’s pass was deflected at the line by senior defensive tackle Jarron Gilbert, with Pritchard catching his own pass and rumbling 25 yards down the left sideline to the SJSU 42.
After San Jose State had difficult moving the football, Stanford got the ball back one final time in the half at its own 36. The Cardinal put together a 10-play, 64-yard drive that took up the next 2:46, and with 38 ticks left, Pritchard went around right end for a one-yard touchdown run, the first of his career, to make it a 10-7 game.
The drama was not over for the half, however, as Reed hit Davis for a 14-yard pass down the left side as time expired, with a horse-collar-tackle penalty tacking on 15 yards and setting the Spartans up for a 39-yard field goal attempt on an untimed play. Strubeck’s attempt went wide left. One play prior to the Davis catch, Reed missed Richmond down the middle to register his first incompletion after connecting on 15 straight passes to begin the contest.
San Jose’s opening drive of the second half also started out well, with Davis running to the left for 16 yards on the first play, followed by Reed completions of seven and 21 yards, respectively, to Beauchman and senior tight end Brian Elledge, to the Stanford 28. A false-start penalty around a pair of sacks by Tom McAndrew and Pannel Egboh, forced the punt.
Following two successful third-down conversions on Stanford’s next possession, Gerhart broke through a seemingly sure tackle in the middle of the field, bounced to the outside on the right and went for a 29-yard gain to the SJSU 28. A 39-yard Zagory field goal ultimately tied the score at 10-10 at 5:54 at the end of the 11-play, 65-yard sequence in 5:13.
Two big plays early on the next Stanford sequence got the home side within striking distance again, as Pritchard threw 14 yards to Richard Sherman and Gerhart busted a 31-yard run to the SJSU 33. Three more snaps netted a loss of two yards for the Cardinal but Zagory blasted a career-long 52-yard field goal to give his team its first lead of the night at 13-10 at 1:49.
On the final play of the third period on a third-and-two play from the Stanford 35, a fumbled snap turned the ball over to the Cardinal as Erik Lorig fell on the loose ball at the 38.
Exceptional plays by Spartan junior linebacker Justin Cole on consecutive snaps allowed San Jose State to get the ball back on its own 25 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Cole first produced a jarring hit on Gerhart on a crossing pass down the middle on a second-and-27 play, before collecting the first Spartan sack of Pritchard on the night, for a five-yard loss. Gilbert had earlier made a tackle for a four-yard loss on Anthony Kimble ahead of two straight penalties against Stanford for a false start and holding.
San Jose State was not able to move the ball on its ensuing possession. On third and one from the Stanford 46 on the next Cardinal drive, Travis Jones tackled Gerhart for a one-yard loss on a critical play to keep Spartan hopes alive with the scoreboard clock approaching six minutes.
Two more sacks, both by Tom Keiser, to give Stanford six on the night, with the second one causing a Reed fumble which Lorig again recovered, gave the Cardinal the ball back at the Spartan 7-yard line.
Stanford did not gain a single yard in three plays, with Zagory’s 24-yard field goal making it 16-10 with 3:43 left and leaving Reed and the Spartans with one final opportunity to win the game.
An eighth Stanford sack, this one by Pat Maynor, totaling a loss of 55 yards for San Jose State, on a fourth-and-six play at the SJSU 40, turned possession over one final time at 1:41. Gerhart’s two-yard touchdown run with 0:09 left put the final punctuation as the Cardinal came away with the 23-10 victory.
Davis rushed for 66 yards on 11 carries and became just the fourth Spartan running back to eclipse the 2,000-yard plateau for his career, now at 2,054. Clark collected game and career highs of eight catches for 52 yards. Defensively, Owens tallied a team-high 11 total tackles, sharing the game high with Stanford’s Maynor while adding the forced fumble. Gilbert had a game-high 3.0 tackles for loss. Cole had the lone San Jose State sack among his six tackles. Rutley returned five kicks for 130 yards and totaled 100-plus all-purpose yards for a second game in a row, at 158.
San Jose State contests a second straight road game and opens the Western Athletic Conference portion of its 2008 schedule at the University of Hawai’i next Saturday, September 27. Kick-off at Aloha Stadium is set for 6:05 p.m. Hawaii time, 9:05 p.m. Pacific.