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Sep 27, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal wide receiver Caden High (0) catches the football during the fourth quarter against the San Jose State Spartans at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Stanford Football Riding High

Originally posted on Stanford Cardinal on SI
By Jason Burke | Last updated Sep 28, 2025 11:00 AM ET

Heading into their second bye week of the season, Stanford football holds a 2-3 record as the daunting part of their season approaches. Saturday's game against San José State wasn't the most pretty performance, but in the end the Cardinal got the job done.

The biggest play of the first half was arguably the fumble that Stanford QB Ben Gulbranson had in the first quarter, when he was sacked on third and three from the Cardinal 32. That gave the Spartans excellent field position, and they were able to capitalize with a touchdown from the ten that gave them a 10-7 lead.

Even with the miscue, Stanford held SJSU within a score for most of the contest while both quarterbacks aired it out for over 400 yards.

Spartan QB Walker Eget went 36-of-58 for three touchdowns and 473 yards in the air, as his team decided to rarely run the ball. In total, San José State rushers had 14 carries for 51 yards, including two from Eget for 19 yards. Jabari Bates carried it just six times for 19 yards the whole game.

Stanford matched that game plan to a degree, with Gulbranson completing 29-of-43 for 444 and a pair of TDs. His 444 yards are the third-most passing yards in program history.

While he was under fire for his play after the first two games this season, Gulbranson has really stepped up for the Cardinal since the win against Boston College, and has the passing game proving to be a force that opposing defenses have to plan for.

His favorite target of late has been CJ Williams, whom he found 12 times in this one or 138 yards, while Caden High made some huge catches to move the ball, collecting five catches for 110. One of those monster receptions came on fourth and ten, with the game on the line for Stanford.

Gulbranson unleashed a deep ball down the middle of the field, and High was able to haul it in for a 34 yard pickup, not only extending Stanford's drive, but also putting them at the SJSU 25. Williams would make a pair of grabs to get the Cardinal to a first and goal situation, and Sedrick Irvin would punch it in at the goal line to give Stanford a 30-29 edge.

Stanford would go for two, but failed to convert. While the Cardinal had taken the lead, with just a one point lead and the opposing QB having already thrown for nearly 500 yards, they weren't out of the woods just yet.

While the Stanford offense made plenty of big plays in this one, it was Jay Green and redshirt sophomore Ché Ojarikre that combined to keep the Spartans out of field goal range.

On first and ten from their own 38, Eget had plenty of time, and fired a ball deep into Stanford territory that initially looked like a catch from Leland Smith, but the Cardinal defenders converged on him and the ball popped free. It was ruled an incomplete catch on the field, and kept San José State out of field goal range with three seconds on the clock.

It wasn't an easy win by any means, but Stanford will certainly take it.

Stanford's next game will be on Saturday, October 11 in Dallas, Texas as they take on SMU. There has been no kickoff time announced just yet.

This article first appeared on Stanford Cardinal on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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