By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 5, 2021
The Stanford football team slept-walked through the first half in dropping a 24-7 decision to the Kansas State Wildcats in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday afternoon.
The game was reminiscent of the team’s 16-6 loss at Northwestern Wildcats to start the 2015 season in a game that also kicked off at 11 a.m. Central Time, the equivalent of 9 in the morning on Stanford’s West Coast campus. As in that earlier contest, Stanford quarterbacks threw for exactly 50 more yards than the opposing purple-clad ball-slingers but were outrushed by more than 140 yards.
The key differences between that six-year-old contest and Saturday’s event were that the latter was played at a neutral site, AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and that the Cardinal entered and exited the game with questions about the identity of its starting quarterback.
Cardinal head coach David Shaw announced this week that senior Jack West would start the game under center but that sophomore Tanner McKee would also play. Early returns were unpromising, as West threw three times for 16 yards on the first drive and handed off three times on the second one. Both ended in punts.
Meanwhile, Kansas State moved the ball easily on its first four possessions, two of which resulted in touchdowns. Fifth-year senior quarterback Skylar Thompson handed off to sophomore runner Deuce Vaughn, who gained 17 yards on the Wildcats’ first play from scrimmage, and threw to Phillip Brooks for 22 yards and to Daniel Imatorbhebhe for 16 yards. But on the eighth play of the series, Thompson lofted a ball into the end zone that was intercepted by Stanford junior cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly.
The Cardinal converted the turnover into a three and out, offering K-State another scoring opportunity. This one was utilized to the fullest.
Thompson completed a pass that Brooks broke for a 56-yard gain. On the next play, Thompson faked a handoff and took the ball around left end to score untouched on a six-yard keeper.
Shaw sent out McKee for the next series. The highly touted recruit seemed much more comfortable attacking through the air than had West. McKee connected with sophomore receiver John Humphreys for 20 yards and sophomore tight end Benjamin Yarosek for 12 yards while also making a pair of short throws to junior receiver Elijah Higgins and sophomore running back E.J. Smith. However, the drive stalled in Kansas State territory and ended in junior Ryan Sanborn’s third punt of the afternoon.
The Wildcats returned the ball after advancing 30 yards on five plays in a sequence that was most notable for seeing two-way player Tucker Fisk, once exclusively a tight end, record his first sack as a defensive end. Stanford’s offense returned the favor by completing its second three-and-out of the contest.
The next series started off promisingly for the Cardinal defense. After the Wildcats gained 15 yards on a pass-interference flag against Stanford, senior end Thomas Booker combined with senior safety Kendall Williamson to tackle Vaughn for a four-yard loss. On the ensuing play, Booker made a solo tackle to set up third and 13.
Then disaster struck. On third and 13, Vaughn broke off a 59-yard scoring run to put the Wildcats on top, 14-0. The Cardinal’s offensive ineptitude made the hole seem a lot deeper.
Defying the expectations of some fans, Shaw sent out West to lead the next Stanford drive. He recorded completions of 27 yards to senior wideout Brycen Tremayne and 15 yards to junior running back Austin Jones. But the series ended when West was picked off by senior defensive back Russ Yeast. Kansas State then ran out the clock on the first half.
The big statistical discrepancy at this point was in rushing yards. Kansas State had a significant edge, 131 to 32, in part because the Wildcats was successfully selling out against the pass in an effort to control the line of scrimmage. Kansas State was daring West or McKee to throw against them, but the Cardinal was either unwilling or unable to exploit the situation.
Kansas State got the ball coming out of the locker rooms but soon returned it, thanks in part to a six-yard sack by junior outside linebacker Stephen Herron on third down.
The following sequence was deeply ugly. McKee led the Cardinal to the Kansas State 24 on what turned out to be an eight-play, 32-yard drive that featured five — count ’em, five! — penalties. The big advances were due to a 29-yard Humphreys reception, a 12-yard Jones catch and a 10-yard defensive-holding call. But McKee was sacked twice on the final set of downs, and Sanborn wound up booting a 32-yard punt that was fair-caught at the 9.
This fails to capture the full extent of the carnage. Stanford used two of its three timeouts during the possession, extending a series of clock-management issues that has plagued the Cardinal in season openers — and sometimes later in the schedule — seemingly throughout Shaw’s tenure.
The Wildcats soon gained a first down at their 25, but fifth-year senior Dalyn Wade-Perry made consecutive plays that would threaten their hopes. One play after the defensive tackle stopped sophomore running back Joe Ervin for a three-yard loss, Wade-Perry zoomed unblocked through the offensive line on the snap and sacked Thompson for a loss of eight. Two plays later, Kansas State punted.
But once again, the Cardinal offense logged a three-and-out and promptly returned the ball with 14:51 to go in the final period. The Wildcats capitalized with a nine-play, 44-yard sequence that ended with a 40-yard field goal from redshirt junior Taiten Winkel to give Kansas State a 17-0 lead.
Stanford was unable to fight back. West overthrew Tremayne over the middle on a crossing route, giving redshirt freshman TJ Smith an easy interception that he returned 39 yards to the Cardinal 20.
The Wildcats needed just 46 seconds to make the most of the opportunity. On the second play, Thompson again faked a handoff and ran around left end, this time for a 13-yard touchdown. That made the score 24-0 with 7:10 on the clock.
McKee came out to run a two-minute drill that yielded the Cardinal’s best series of the day. He capped a 10-play, 75-yard series with a 14-yard toss that a closely covered Tremayne caught in the end zone. That concluded the scoring with 3:16 on the clock.
The team statistics had some disheartening numbers for Stanford fans. The Cardinal was four of 12 on third down and was outrushed, 200-39. Vaughn was the game’s leading runner, with 128 yards and a touchdown on just 13 carries.
On the other hand, Thompson had a pedestrian outing, with 144 yards, no passing scores and an interception on nine of 14 passing. However, he gained 33 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
The good news for Stanford was few and far between. Kansas State converted only two of seven third downs, and… well, other than Tremayne gaining 62 yards on a career-high five receptions, that was pretty much it. McKee had 118 yards and a passing score on an admittedly impressive 15 completions on 18 attempts; West finished with 76 yards and two picks while going eight of 12.
Six years ago, the Cardinal bounced back from that dismal Northwestern loss, going on to win the Pac-12 and soundly defeat Big 10 champion Iowa in the Rose Bowl, 45-16. But that team’s quarterback, Kevin Hogan, entered the season as a fourth-year starter, in sharp contrast to the current squad.
Did McKee show Shaw and offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard enough to become the full-time starter? Can the Cardinal pull itself together and acquit itself in its next game against what is likely to be a heavily favored opponent, USC in Los Angeles? Watch this space for answers.
Helpful links
Stanford-Kansas State team statistics — ESPN
Stanford-Kansas State box score
Stanford-Kansas State play-by-play
Stanford-Kansas State interactive box score — GoStanford.com
Stanford-Kansas State statistics (PDF)
Stanford 2021–22 football roster
Kansas State 2021–22 football roster
Game tweets — @memomoment
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