Stanford football’s home game win streak breaks in Pittsburgh loss

Stanford football (3-6, 2-4 ACC) could not overcome a string of offensive turnovers in a 35-20 loss to Pittsburgh (7-2, 5-1 ACC) Saturday afternoon at Stanford Stadium, marking the Cardinal’s first home loss of the season and extending their losing streak to two games.

The game began with an aggressive offensive drive for the Cardinal, as head coach Frank Reich went full send on fourth-and-one from Stanford’s own 35-yard line just two minutes into the first quarter. The attempt failed. Pittsburgh seized the opportunity, running four plays for 35 yards to jump out to an early 7–0 lead with 11:16 remaining in the opening quarter.

Stanford responded quickly. On third-and-five from its own 35-yard line, redshirt senior quarterback Ben Gulbranson extended the play by rolling right and firing deep downfield to senior tight end Sam Roush, connecting for a 53-yard strike to the Pittsburgh 20-yard line. The Cardinal would go on to kick a 39-yard field goal and cut the deficit to 7-3 with 9:41 left in the first quarter.

The Stanford defense came up big on the next drive. At the Pittsburgh 32-yard line, the Cardinal forced a fumble as the Pittsburgh quarterback tried to escape pressure, giving Stanford short field position. 

Three plays later, on third-and-nine, Gulbranson targeted CJ Williams on a curl route. The cornerback deflected the pass, but Williams corralled the ball, turned upfield and raced 35 yards for a touchdown to put Stanford ahead 10-7 midway through the first quarter.

“When the football gods are on your side a little bit, the plays tend to go your way,” Williams said when asked about his first of two receiving touchdowns that day.

Pittsburgh answered early in the second quarter, marching 56 yards and converting on fourth-and-two to retake the lead at 14-10. 

The Cardinal offense attacked again, crossing midfield before Gulbranson’s pass to Roush was intercepted (his second interception of the day), snuffing out a chance to reclaim the lead.

The Panthers extended their lead to 21-10 through a short receiving touchdown with 1:47 remaining before halftime. Stanford managed to respond in its two-minute drill, driving into scoring position for another field-goal conversion to make it 21-13 at the break.

The second half continued to belong to Pittsburgh. After pushing the lead to 28-13, the Panthers delivered the exclamation point when Gulbranson’s pass, throwing from Stanford’s own 25-yard line, was intercepted for a pick-six as a Pittsburgh cornerback jumped an out route intended for junior wide receiver Caden High. That made it 35-13 with under five minutes left in the third quarter.

Gulbranson completed 17 of 30 throws for 228 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions before he was replaced by redshirt freshman Elijah Brown, who completed 10 of 14 passes for 108 yards and one touchdown in the final quarter. 

Stanford added a late touchdown in the fourth to push the score to 35-20. The Cardinal were unable to recover from three red-zone turnovers.

“We’ve got to figure out why we didn’t run the ball better when we thought we’d come in here and have at least a decent day running the game,” Reich said postgame. 

Stanford’s ground game never found traction, totaling a loss of 10 yards as the team continued to miss sophomore starting running back Micah Ford for a second straight week.

Despite the result, the Cardinal defense saw some successes, particularly from sophomore corner Brandon Nicholson, who recorded two interceptions in the end zone to prevent further scoring plays. 

“He’s just got a nose for the ball and then he knows how to finish plays,” Reich said when asked about Nicholson’s performance.

Stanford will look to rebound next week on the road against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels (3-5, 1-3 ACC). Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Kenan Memorial Stadium.

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