A quarterback change didn’t jumpstart the worst-scoring offense in the ACC, but it did provide a measure of optimism as Stanford now heads into the Big Game in two weeks.
After a rough three quarters in his first start of the season, redshirt freshman quarterback Elijah Brown led two late touchdown drives but the Cardinal lost to host North Carolina 20-15 on Saturday.
The Tar Heels (4-5, 2-3 ACC) led 20-3 early in the fourth quarter. At that point, Brown had 97 yards on 21 attempts, committed two turnovers deep in Stanford territory, and had been sacked eight times for 63 yards.
The former top recruit did come alive in the fourth quarter, leading scoring drives of 75 and 80 yards. He threw a 24-yard touchdown to fellow Mater Dei alum CJ Williams with 1:48 remaining to make it 20-15.
“I’m really happy with how Elijah fought back,” interim coach Frank Reich said. “Obviously some of the protection stuff, he’s just trying to hold on. So he didn’t flinch. It didn’t faze him. And then in the second half, we got it going a little bit, and he started getting hot.”
Stanford (3-7, 2-5) got the ball back at its 20 with 46 seconds left, but Brown was sacked for a ninth time and the clock ran out before the Cardinal got near midfield. Stanford had given up a conference-worst 29 sacks heading into Saturday.
Brown finished 27 of 39 passing for 284 yards for the Cardinal, which finished winless on the road for the first time since 2002. Its previous four road games against Power 4 competition had been decided by at least 24 points.
Stanford made a QB change after scoring a conference-worst 17.8 points a game behind sixth-year senior Ben Gulbranson. At first, it didn’t seem to have any positive impact.
The Cardinal defense held the Tar Heels to 47 total yards in the first half, but the game was tied 3-3.
UNC got an early field goal after Brown fumbled while being sacked, and the Tar Heels recovered at the Stanford 7. The Cardinal drove down the field at the end of the first half for a tying 38-yard field goal by Emmet Kenney, who had missed from 41 earlier in the quarter.
UNC scored the go-ahead TD on the first drive of the second half, and took a 20-3 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 55-yard TD by Jordan Schipp after safety Jay Green fell down in coverage.
But Brown was 14 of 20 for 187 yards in the fourth quarter to provide some momentum heading into the end of the season.
“Our guys have no quit in them,” Reich said.
South Carolina State transfer Caden High had a season-high 10 catches for 102 yards for Stanford. Meanwhile, Micah Ford came back from an injury suffered three weeks ago to rush for 68 yards on 17 carries.
Defensively, Cardinal linebacker Matt Rose had eight tackles, two tackles for loss, two QB hurries and a strip-sack.
Stanford now has two weeks to prepare for the Big Game against Cal. It will then wrap up the season at home against Notre Dame on Nov. 29.
Bowl eligibility is no longer possible, but the team still has a chance to break a four-game losing streak against Cal and also win five games in a season for the first time since 2018.
“This is a merciless game,” Reich said. “We got a bunch of good guys who are playing their hearts out for each other for all the right reasons, and we’re coming up short. We had some big goals, you know, for the year, that we needed to get a win today, and that didn’t happen.
“So it tears your heart out. But we got two more to go, and there’s no pity parties. I mean, we got to be mentally tough and line back up and learn from this game and get better and fight to the end.”
