Stanford 20, San Jose State 17
When: 10:00 PM ET, Friday, August 31, 2012
Where: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California
Temperature:
60°
Head Official:
Attendance:
40577
By SportsDirect Inc.
Stanford 20, San Jose State 17: Jordan Williamson kicked the go-ahead field goal early in the fourth quarter as No. 18 Stanford fended off an upset bid by visiting San Jose State.
Stepfan Taylor rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinal, who squandered a two-touchdown halftime lead in their first game of the post-Andrew Luck era. Luck was the top overall draft pick in last April’s NFL draft.
Williamson’s 20-yard field goal with 13:15 to play put Stanford ahead and Ed Reynolds intercepted a fourth-down pass with 1:10 remaining to seal the victory and hand San Jose State its 20th loss in a row against nationally ranked teams dating back to 2000.
Stanford’s Josh Nunes was 16-of-26 passing for 124 yards in his first career start.
San Jose State trailed 17-3 at halftime before dominating the third quarter behind junior college transfer David Fales, who finished 24-of-35 passing for 216 yards.
Blake Jurich scored on a 3-yard run to complete a nine-play, 79-yard drive to pull the Spartans within seven and Fales tossed a 21-yard scoring aerial to Noel Grigsby to end a 12-play, 82-yard drive that tied the contest with 2:17 left in the quarter.
Stanford was impressive early in scoring two touchdowns over the first 10-plus minutes.
Taylor scored on a 1-yard run to cap a 13-play, 81-yard drive for the Cardinal’s first points, and Nunes tossed an 11-yard scoring pass to Drew Terrell with 4:23 left in the quarter.
San Jose State got on the board on a 38-yard field goal by Austin Lopez with 10:23 left in the half. Williamson booted a career-long 46-yard field goal for Stanford as time expired in the half.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Stanford has beaten San Jose State five consecutive times. … Grigsby caught seven passes for 93 yards. He set a Spartans’ record with 89 receptions last season. … The Cardinal converted only 2-of-13 third-down opportunities while San Jose State was 7-for-16. … The memory of Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh was honored at halftime. Walsh, who died in 2007, was a graduate of San Jose State and had two coaching stints at Stanford.
Top Game Performances
Receiving
San Jose State |
|
Stanford |
Noel Grigsby
| Player |
Ty Montgomery
|
7 |
Receptions |
5 |
93 |
Yards |
49 |
13.3 |
Avg Yards |
9.8 |
1 |
Touchdowns |
0 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
San Jose State
|
287 |
71 |
216 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0.5 |
2 |
Stanford
|
280 |
155 |
125 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3.0 |
1 |