John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
Tiger Bachmeier had a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter, sparking Stanford to a 41-7 win over Cal Poly on Saturday.
Ashton Daniels passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns, while backup quarterback Justin Lamson ran for a score to help Stanford achieve its first home victory under second-year coach Troy Taylor.
“It’s good for us as players, good for the student body, good for our coaches, everybody that’s involved,” said cornerback Collin Wright, who had an interception. “It’s been a minute. It’s awesome for the guys who have been here who went through that to finally get that turned around and be able to celebrate our home.”
Bo Kelly completed 17 of 25 passes for 149 yards for Cal Poly (0-2).
On a day when the Cardinal offense had sporadic success, Bachmeier provided the big spark with Stanford’s first punt return for a touchdown since Christian McCaffrey’s in the 2016 Rose Bowl. Bachmeier’s return is also tied for the second longest in school history.
“I thought he was going to fair catch the ball. Luckily he didn’t,” Taylor said. “Made somebody miss, picked up unbelievable great blocks and then he showed off his speed.”
The Cardinal (1-1) blocked a field goal attempt, ran a successful fake punt in the first half and Emmet Kenney added two field goals, setting the tone against the FCS Mustangs in their first-ever matchup.
“Going into this week we knew we had to be great on special teams,” said Wright, who was originally credited with blocking the kick before it was changed and given to Aristotle Taylor. “They showed some things that we thought, as a special teams unit, that we could attack and we did. Those things are momentum changers.”
Stanford needed all of it to make up for an offense that repeatedly sputtered.
The Cardinal fumbled away their first possession then later got stopped on a fourth-and-goal try.
Stanford rotated quarterbacks throughout the first half.
Daniels took most of the snaps and threw two five-yard touchdown passes to Mudia Reuben and Sam Roush. Third-stringer Elijah Brown also had a twelve-yard touchdown throw in the fourth quarter.
“We were super resilient coming out in the second half,” Daniels said. “Tiger gets that long punt return touchdown, kind of gets the guys going. We just took it and ran from there.”
The Mustangs got their only score with some trickery in the second quarter. Kelly made a backward throw to wide receiver Michael Briscoe, who then threw a twenty-two yard touchdown pass to Jake Woods.
After being stopped on another fourth-and-goal play late in the second quarter, Stanford regained possession and Daniels completed five consecutive passes totaling seventy-one yards before Lamson scored on a two-yard keeper.
The score remained close until Bachmeier fielded a punt at his own ten-yard line and burst upfield before cutting right into clear space and outracing defenders into the end zone.
Stanford will make its ACC debut at Syracuse on September 20th.
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