Blowout on the Field, Momentum Behind the Scenes for Stanford

Stanford began their toughest stretch of the season with a 34-10 loss on the road to SMU. On the one hand, the final score made this look like a complete blowout, similar to last year's 40-10 loss to the Mustangs on The Farm, but the Cardinal were actually in this game late.

Stanford improbably drove down the field, collecting back-breaking penalties along the way, but they were set up with a third and goal from the SMU nine, trailing by two touchdowns. They'd been pushed back to the 22 earlier on this set of downs, and had even had a touchdown called back on a personal foul penalty, but they were still on the precipice of getting within seven.

Instead, QB Ben Gulbranson tossed his first interception since the Week 2 BYU matchup, and SMU's Justin Medlock ran it all the way back for a Mustang touchdown, making it 31-10 with just over six minutes to play. Stanford had gone from potentially getting a huge touchdown, to having the game effectively end in the span of one play.

Stanford went three and out on their next possession, punting it away, and SMU drove down and added a field goal in the end that served as the cherry on top.

Stanford Was Close to Making This One a Nail Biter

Obviously a loss is a loss, but in the grand scheme of pushing the program forward and showing that brighter days are just around the corner for Stanford football, this game actually achieved that.

The easy thing to say would be "just don't throw a backbreaking pick-six" and all of a sudden the team is back in it. But going back a couple of plays, the Cardinal actually made it into the end zone and had the score they were after. The takeaway here is play clean football. Interceptions are going to happen. That's part of the game. Penalties don't need to happen, however.

Some of the top college football programs that are loaded with NFL bound players can get away with sloppy play now and again, but for a program like Stanford, playing clean can go a long way to getting them where they're looking to be.

They had the touchdown they were after, and they would have had an intense seven or so minutes remaining where they would have needed a defensive stop, plus the offense to go down the field and score again. If the score had been 24-17 with seven minutes to go, that would have been seen as a huge moral victory, with a chane at an outright win.

Takeaways From Stanford's Loss at SMU

In the end, even with the lopsided score, Stanford's offense kept up with SMU, putting up 353 yards to the Mustang's 369, and Ben Gulbranson actually held the edge in passing yards, 278-247. The duo of Cole Tabb (9 rushes for 62 yards) and Micah Ford (16 for 53) combined for 115 yards, while SMU put up 139.

The Cardinal held their own on the road in a tough environment playing at 9 a.m. (PT). The final score obviously didn't reflect those stats and the effort that went into this game, but looking at this program from where they began in Week 0 in Hawaii and Week 2 at BYU, this is a huge step forward for Stanford football.

Up next, they'll face a reeling Florida State program that has lost their last three contests, and this one will take place where the Cardinal are unbeaten this season—on The Farm.