The Opening Kickoff
- Stanford football plays its fifth home game of the season as it hosts NC State on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. PT. The game is televised on ESPN and is Stanford's second Friday-night home game in 2026, a first for the Cardinal since 2012.
- The Cardinal beat Elon 34-7 during Reunion Homecoming weekend on Oct. 17, improving to 3-1 at home this season and 8-3 at home going back to 2024. Stanford is averaging 27.3 points per game inside Stanford Stadium during that span, compared to just 14.4 on the road.
- Stanford held Elon scoreless in the first half, the first time Stanford has done so since Oct. 15, 2022, at Notre Dame, and the first time at home since the 2019 season opener against Northwestern.
- Sticking with Stanford's defense, the Cardinal kept the Phoenix grounded on Saturday night to the tune of just 52 passing yards and a 29.2% completion percentage. It's the fewest passing yards Stanford's defense has allowed since Oct. 14, 2017, against Oregon and the lowest opponents' completion percentage at Stanford Stadium since Nov. 24, 2001, against Notre Dame.
- Switching to the offense, Stanford ran for 222 yards and piled up 515 yards of total offense on Saturday, both season highs. It was the most rushing yards at home for the Cardinal since 2018 against Oregon State and the most yards of total offense since 2020.
- Micah Ford was named ACC Running Back of the Week following a record-setting performance against Elon, his second weekly award from the ACC. Ford ran for 179 yards and added 52 receiving yards, posting a career-high 231 scrimmage yards. He ran for four touchdowns, tying a Stanford single-game record most recently set by Christian McCaffrey in 2015. It is the tenth four-rushing-touchdown game by a Stanford running back.
- Thanks to his breakout game against Elon, Ford now has eight rushing touchdowns, a new career high and the most by a Stanford running back since Austin Jones in 2020. Ford's eight rushing touchdowns are tied for the most in the ACC by a running back with Duke's Nate Sheppard.
- Sticking with running backs, all five of Stanford's touchdowns against Elon were scored by running backs. The last time Stanford had a game with at least five touchdowns, all of which were scored by running backs, was the 118th Big Game against California.