STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford will need to regroup after suffering its second consecutive loss, this time 42-16 to Washington State on Saturday night at Stanford Stadium.
With a 44-6 result at Washington last week, Stanford lost the Pac-12 North Division games by a combined 86-22 and scored two offensive touchdowns.
The No. 15 Cardinal fell behind late in the first quarter and trailed throughout. A 26-yard third-quarter pick-six by Frank Buncom gave Stanford some hope, cutting the deficit to 21-10. But Washington State followed with three touchdowns to build a 42-10 lead.
"The bottom line for us right now is we can't overcome the negative plays and mistakes that we make," said David Shaw, Stanford's Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football.
Stanford (3-2 overall, 2-2 Pac-12) has suffered back-to-back losses for the second time since David Shaw became head coach in 2011. Shaw holds a 32-5 record at home in the Pac-12 regular season. This also was Stanford's worst home loss since a 41-3 rout to Arizona State in 2007.
Stanford had an eight-game winning streak against Washington State snapped, and lost for the first time in all-black uniforms, which have been worn for one game annually since 2010.
Midway through the third quarter, Christian McCaffrey jogged slowly to the locker room. Though he returned to the sideline, he did not return to the field. McCaffrey finished with 35 yards rushing on eight carries, and had 83 all-purpose yards – breaking a national-leading streak of 19 consecutive games with at least 100 all-purpose yards.
"McCaffrey did get banged up," Shaw said. "But there was no reason to put him in late in the game. We just left him out. We'll see how he is during the course of the week."
Notre Dame is next for Stanford, on the road next Saturday.
Ryan Burns got the start and most of the action, but Keller Chryst received more playing time than he had before, mostly late in the game. But after throwing an interception that led to Washington State's final touchdown, Burns re-entered the game and led the Cardinal on its longest drive of the night – 67 yards, the last of which came on a TD pass to JJ Arcega-Whiteside on the game's final play.
Burns completed 19 of 25 passes for a career-high 222 yards, and threw an interception and a touchdown pass. He also was sacked four times and fumbled once. Chryst was 2-of-9 passing for 13 yards.
Meanwhile, Washington State's Luke Falk completed 30 of 42 passes for 357 yards, and threw four touchdowns, with two interceptions and was sacked twice. Eleven Cougars caught passes, including eight with multiple catches as Washington State (3-2, 2-0) outgained Stanford, 458-296.
"I feel, right now, we're beating ourselves," said Stanford safety Dallas Lloyd, who had a first-quarter interception. "Each guy on our team is determined to take it upon himself to look in the mirror and say: You know what? I need to be better. I need to study more during the week. I need to work harder because my coaches, my teammates, my family, but mostly my teammates, are counting on me."
Stanford reached the Washington State red zone twice – at the end of each half. On the final play of the second quarter, Michael Rector was tackled at the WSU 7-yard line with a 44-yard gain on a pass from Burns as time expired. The other resulted in the final touchdown.
In an odd twist, Conrad Ukropina had two long field-goal tries bounce off the left upright – both in the first half with the score fairly close. He accounted for Stanford's only points of the first half, on a 43-yard field goal at the outset of the first quarter. Meanwhile, a pair of Luke Falk-to-Tavares Martin touchdown passes pushed the Cougars ahead 14-3 at halftime, the first being a 5-yarder in the back of the end zone with 2:12 left in the opening quarter.
After taking the second-half kickoff, WSU drove downfield with the aid of three passes to River Cracraft, all for first downs, including a four-yarder on fourth-and-1 at the 6. On the next play, James Williams scored up the middle to give Washington State a 21-3 lead.
Stanford faced some urgency and got help from a third-and-long pass interference call and later a 20-yard pass to Arcega-Whiteside to move downfield. From the WSU 32, Burns was hit as he threw and the fluttered into the hands of Dotson for the interception.
However, Stanford returned the favor to produce its first touchdown. Falk, facing a third-and-23 after a sack by Joey Alfieri, floated a pass over the head of receiver Gabe Marks and into the hands of Buncom, who returned it for a score.
However, Washington State moved the ball at will, putting together an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive and following with a 10-play, 73-yarder the next time. Meanwhile, Stanford next three drives went punt, punt, interception. And that was the ballgame.
Stanford finished with 61 yards rushing, for an average of 2.3 yards per carry.
"We are a work in progress up front," Shaw said. "I didn't think at this point in the season that I would be saying that, but that's just where we are. We've got to make sure we're finding the right combination. Our backs are as good as any in the country, and we've got to give them a chance to make plays."
The consistently strong play that has characterized Stanford in recent seasons was missing.
"We missed two field goals and we were inefficient running the ball, inefficient on third down, and at times decent throwing the ball, and at times inefficient throwing the ball," Shaw said. "Inefficiency is not a sign of a good football team, and that's what we aspire to be. We've got to be good before we're great. We've got to be good first, and that's what we're working on."
Lloyd had another suggestion:
"We just need to take a deep breath," he said, "and get back to where we were in training camp or even the first few weeks of the season, and just … we just need to believe in ourselves."