San Jose State @ #3 Stanford
Stanford Stadium
Palo Alto, CA
September 3, 2011
Defense sets the tone for Stanford's opener
Offense finds its legs after halftime as Cardinal cruises past SJSU to start 2011In some ways, it was exactly the way Brian Kudron wanted his debut as Stanford head coach to go.
In others.....not so much.
Stanford's offense sputtered and stumbled out of the blocks, and the entire program suffered a scare when Andrew Luck did not return to the game after halftime. But thankfully it was only a precaution, and the Cardinal's vaunted running game hummed to life, and the defense stood their ground to pitch a 44-0 shutout of San Jose State in the season opener.
Luck took a nasty shot on Stanford's opening drive, and looked out of sorts for the remainder of the half. With Stanford ahead 16-0 at halftime, Coach Kudron made the call to go with backup Brett Nottingham in the second half.
"The doctors told us he was available, but our defense was playing well, and we had faith that our running game would get on track, so I decided to go with Brett," Kudron said. "In a more precarious situation, we would've gone with Andrew, but we were confident that we could get the job done without putting him at further risk. He's fine, he'll be good to go next week, no problem."
Stanford's powerful stable of running backs took over late in the second quarter and through the second half. All four backs got in on the action, with "second stringer" Anthony Wilkerson leading the charge with 120 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, star linebackers Shayne Skov and Chase Thomas led a high-pressure, often-blitzing siege that crushed San Jose State's offense all day long.
| San Jose State Spartans at Stanford Cardinal |
| Sep 3, 2011 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| San Jose State Spartans (0-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| #3 Stanford Cardinal (1-0) | 3 | 13 | 21 | 7 | 44 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| SJSU | STAN |
| Total Offense | 49 | 487 |
| Rushing Yards | -50 | 286 |
| Passing Yards | 99 | 201 |
| First Downs | 3 | 18 |
| Punt Return Yards | 0 | 74 |
| Kick Return Yards | 88 | 33 |
| Total Yards | 137 | 594 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 1 |
| 3rd Down Converstion | 1-12 | 9-16 |
| 4th Down Conversion | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 0-0 | 1-3 |
| Penalties | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Posession Time | 10:57 | 29:03 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | SJSU | STAN |
| 2:52 | (STAN) Williamson, 20 yard FG | 0 | 3 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | SJSU | STAN |
| 8:13 | (STAN) Williamson, 32 yard FG | 0 | 6 |
| 4:11 | (STAN) Williamson, 33 yard FG | 0 | 9 |
| 2:00 | (STAN) Wilkerson, 2 yard run (Williamson kick) | 0 | 16 |
| THIRD QUARTER SCORING | SJSU | STAN |
| 8:04 | (STAN) Wilkerson, 27 yard run (Williamson kick) | 0 | 23 |
| 6:55 | (STAN) Terrell, 61 yard punt return (Williamson kick) | 0 | 30 |
| 1:19 | (STAN) C. Thomas, 7 yard fumble return (Williamson kick) | 0 | 37 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | SJSU | STAN |
| 4:41 | (STAN) Wilkerson, 51 yard run (Williamson kick) | 0 | 44 |
| San Jose State Spartans | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Matt Faulkner | 8/20 | 99 | 0 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Brandon Rutley | 12 | 10 | 0.8 | 0 | | Matt Faulkner | 10 | -60 | -6.0 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Chandler Jones | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 0 | | Ray Rodriguez | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 0 | | Kyle Nunn | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 0 | | Josh Harrison | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | | Noel Grigsby | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Vince Buhagiar | 10 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Keith Smith | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Tiuke Tuipulotu | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Travis Johnson | 3 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Peyton Thompson | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Folio Vae | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Harrison Waid | 10 | 388 | 38.8 | 0 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Brandon Driver | 4 | 88 | 22.0 | 0 |
| | Stanford Cardinal | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Andrew Luck | 10/23 | 173 | 0 | 1 | | Brett Nottingham | 3/3 | 28 | 0 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Stepfan Taylor | 12 | 67 | 5.5 | 0 | | Anthony Wilkerson | 11 | 120 | 10.9 | 3 | | Jeremy Stewart | 7 | 35 | 5.0 | 0 | | Tyler Gaffney | 5 | 34 | 6.8 | 0 | | Andrew Luck | 4 | 16 | 4.0 | 0 | | Brett Nottingham | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Coby Fleener | 5 | 65 | 13.0 | 0 | | Stepfan Taylor | 2 | 79 | 39.5 | 0 | | Chris Owusu | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 | | Griff Whalen | 2 | 31 | 15.5 | 0 | | Zach Ertz | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | | Ryan Hewitt | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Trent Murphy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Matthew Masifilo | 5 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | | Max Bergen | 5 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Chase Thomas | 4 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | | Barry Browning | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Delano Howell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Michael Thomas | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Terrence Stephens | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | | Charlie Hopkins | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Shayne Skov | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | | Ben Gardner | 5 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Jordan Williamson | 3/4 | 5/5 | 14 | 34 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Daniel Zychlinski | 1 | 44 | 44.0 | 0 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Chris Owusu | 1 | 33 | 33.0 | 0 | | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Drew Terrell | 3 | 74 | 24.6 | 1 |
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