Sept. 20, 2008
Stanford 23, San Jose State 10
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008
Stanford (2-2, 1-1 Pac-10), San Jose State (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
Stanford's current three-game home winning streak is the most since the club won four straight spanning the 2001 and 2002 campaigns. The Cardinal won its final three home games of 2001 (UCLA, California, Notre Dame) and was victorious against San Jose State in the 2002 season opener.
With a victory next week at Washington, Stanford can post its first winning record during the month of September since a 2-1 start back in 2004.
Stanford opens the year 2-0 at home for the first time since 2004 when the Cardinal began the campaign with wins over San Jose State and BYU.
After converting on all four red zone opportunities tonight, Stanford is now 19-21 for the year on scoring chances inside the 20 for a percentage of 90.4.
After trailing 10-0 in the second quarter, Stanford erupted for 23 unanswered points.
Stanford ran 64 plays and produced 363 yards while San Jose State ran 61 plays and ended up with 219 yards.
Eight different Cardinal players caught passes, led by Richard Sherman's three catches for 33 yards.
Toby Gerhart scored his fifth touchdown of the year and rushed for a career-high 148 yards on 22 carries, representing the third 100-yard rushing game of his career. In three career meetings against San Jose State, Gerhart is averaging 17.3 carries and 115 yards per game with two touchdowns.
Stanford recorded a season-best eight sacks in the contest, the most since achieving that same total back on Nov. 1, 2003 against UCLA. Tom McAndrew and Tom Keiser chipped in with two sacks apiece- the first of their careers.
Aaron Zagory's 52-yard field goal with 1:49 remaining in the third quarter was the longest of his career. The 52-yard field goal also tied the ninth-longest mark in school history. Zagory also connected on field goals of 37 and 24 yards for his first career three-field goal game. He has now made his last six consecutive field goal attempts after missing his first try of the season (from 49 yards out).
Tavita Pritchard tallied his first career rushing touchdown on a 1-yard bootleg in the second quarter to slice San Jose State's lead 10-7.
After throwing an interception in the second quarter, Tavita Pritchard had completed just 2-8 passes for nine yards. From that point on, he was 11-20 for 150 yards.
San Jose State quarterback Kyle Reed completed his first 15 passes, a week after connecting on his first 13 throws in a victory over San Diego State.
With his four points, San Jose State senior placekicker Jared Strubeck passed Nick Gilliam (190 between 1999-2002) for fifth-place on the all-time Spartan career scoring list. With 192 career points, he is now tied for fourth all-time with Sheldon Canley (1988-90). The field goal also moves him six closer to all-time leader Joe Nedney (39 from 1991-94), now with 33.
Senior tight end Jeff Clark's nine-yard catch on the third play from scrimmage was his longest of the season. He had single-game career highs of eight catches for 52 yards.
Senior Yonus Davis started as the Spartan tailback and registered 66 yards on 11 rush attempts. He surpassed the 2,000-yard mark with a 13-yard gain on San Jose State's fifth play from scrimmage, becoming the fourth rusher in program history to eclipse the 2000-yard plateau, while remaining fourth on the all-time San Jose State career rushing list. Davis now has 2,054 yards for his career, and is 310 yards behind Gerald Willhite (2,364 yards in 1980-81) for third in the record book.
Until the touchdown run by Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard with 0:38 left in the second quarter of tonight's game, the San Jose State defense had not allowed an offensive touchdown by an opponent since the 3:03 mark in the fourth quarter at Nebraska (9/6).
The San Jose State defense allowed its first 100-yard rusher of the season tonight as junior Stanford tailback Toby Gerhart wound up with 148 yards on 22 carries. Fresno State's Ryan Matthews had rushed for 144 yards (16 attempts) during a 30-0 Bulldog home victory on October 20, 2007. The Spartans went seven games without allowing a 100-yard rusher.