Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
STANFORD, Calif. - Kaiden Bennett narrowly avoided a sack to throw a 49-yard touchdown pass with 1:32 to play and Sacramento State beat former coach Troy Taylor's Stanford team 30-23 for the Hornets' third win ever against a Pac-12 school.
Bennett flung a short pass to Marcus Fulcher just before his knee touched the ground and Fulcher did the rest from there to score for the Hornets (3-0) and spoil his former coach's home debut at Stanford.
Taylor took over the Cardinal (1-2) after going 30-8 in four seasons and leading the Hornets to their first berth in the FCS quarterfinals in school history last season. Many of his former players are still at Sacramento State and his former defensive coordinator, Andy Thompson, replaced him as coach.
Sacramento State won its school-record 22nd straight regular season game at Taylor's expense, sending Stanford to its second loss ever to an FCS-level school. The Cardinal lost to UC Davis in 2005.
The Cardinal took a 23-20 lead early in the fourth quarter when Joshua Karty kicked his third field goal of the game on a score set up by Collin Wright's interception.
The Hornets answered with a 44-yarder from Zach Schreiner to tie the game with 4:13 to play. They then forced a punt to set up the winning score.
The Cardinal used two QBs with Ashton Daniels starting. He threw a 51-yard TD pass to Eric Ayomanor and had an interception before being replaced by Justin Lansom to start the third quarter. Lanson went 7 for 18 for 138 yards and also threw an interception.
Stanford scored TDs on its first two possessions to take a 14-3 lead and appeared in position to take control after recovering a surprise onside kick. The Cardinal drove into the red zone before Daniels threw a deflected pass that Caleb Nelson intercepted in the end zone.
The Hornets then put together back-to-back long touchdown drives and took a 17-14 lead following Bennett's 1-yard keeper with 35 seconds left in the half.
THE TAKEAWAY
Sacramento State: Hornets have played at least one FBS opponent every year since 2002 but winning those games has been rare. They beat Colorado State last season and had wins over Pac-12 foes Oregon State in 2011 and Colorado in 2012.
Stanford: Taylor has plenty of work to do to rebuild a Cardinal program coming off back-to-back three-win seasons. He won his debut at Hawaii before getting blown out 56-10 at USC last week and losing to the Hornets. The schedule doesn't ease up with seven of the final nine games against teams currently ranked in the AP poll.
September 16, 2023
| Scoring Summary |
| First Quarter |
Sac | Stan |
| Stan |
TD |
6:34 |
Casey Filkins 1 yard TD run (Joshua Karty Extra Point) |
0 |
7 |
| Sac |
FG |
0:44 |
Zach Schreiner 24 yard field goal |
3 |
7 |
| Second Quarter |
Sac | Stan |
| Stan |
TD |
13:07 |
Elic Ayomanor 51 yard TD pass from Ashton Daniels (Joshua Karty Extra Point) |
3 |
14 |
| Sac |
TD |
6:01 |
Elijah Tau-Tolliver 1 yard TD run (Zach Schreiner Extra Point) |
10 |
14 |
| Sac |
TD |
0:35 |
Kaiden Bennett 2 yard TD run (Zach Schreiner Extra Point) |
17 |
14 |
| Third Quarter |
Sac | Stan |
| Stan |
FG |
10:35 |
Joshua Karty 41 yard field goal |
17 |
17 |
| Sac |
FG |
2:25 |
Zach Schreiner 22 yard field goal |
20 |
17 |
| Fourth Quarter |
Sac | Stan |
| Stan |
FG |
13:30 |
Joshua Karty 40 yard field goal |
20 |
20 |
| Stan |
FG |
8:53 |
Joshua Karty 39 yard field goal |
20 |
23 |
| Sac |
FG |
4:13 |
Zach Schreiner 44 yard field goal |
23 |
23 |
| Sac |
TD |
1:32 |
Marcus Fulcher 49 yard TD pass from Kaiden Bennett (Zach Schreiner Extra Point) |
30 |
23 |
| Team Stats |
| |
Sacramento State |
Stanford |
| First downs |
23 |
19 |
| Rushing |
10 |
10 |
| Passing |
11 |
8 |
| Penalty |
2 |
1 |
| 3rd Down Efficiency |
10-15, 67% |
7-14, 50% |
| 4th down efficiency |
1-1, 100% |
0-1, 0% |
| Rushes-Yards |
36-169 |
42-180 |
| Passing Yards |
279 |
207 |
| Return Yards |
0 |
78 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int |
21-33-2 |
11-24-2 |
| Sacks-Yards Lost |
0-0 |
6-22 |
| Punts |
1 |
2 |
| Fumbles Lost |
0-0 |
0-0 |
| Penalties - Yards |
5-50 |
6-65 |
| Sacramento State Passing |
| Player |
Cmp |
Att |
Yds |
TDs |
Int |
| K. Bennett |
21 |
33 |
279 |
1 |
2 |
| Stanford Passing |
| Player |
Cmp |
Att |
Yds |
TDs |
Int |
| J. Lamson |
7 |
17 |
138 |
0 |
1 |
| A. Daniels |
4 |
7 |
69 |
1 |
1 |
| Sacramento State Rushing |
| Player |
Carries |
Yds |
Avg |
TDs |
| K. Bennett |
13 |
100 |
7.7 |
1 |
| M. Fulcher |
13 |
46 |
3.5 |
0 |
| E. Moleni |
7 |
24 |
3.4 |
0 |
| E. Tau-Tolliver |
1 |
1 |
1.0 |
1 |
| Stanford Rushing |
| Player |
Carries |
Yds |
Avg |
TDs |
| E. Smith |
9 |
71 |
7.9 |
0 |
| C. Filkins |
13 |
54 |
4.2 |
1 |
| R. Butler |
4 |
23 |
5.8 |
0 |
| A. Daniels |
5 |
20 |
4.0 |
0 |
| B. Yurosek |
1 |
5 |
5.0 |
0 |
| B. Farrell |
1 |
4 |
4.0 |
0 |
| J. Lamson |
9 |
3 |
0.3 |
0 |
| Sacramento State Receiving |
| Player |
Rec |
Yds |
Avg |
TDs |
| D. Gandy |
5 |
64 |
12.8 |
0 |
| C. Hill |
4 |
52 |
13.0 |
0 |
| C. Miller |
2 |
49 |
24.5 |
0 |
| M. Fulcher |
1 |
49 |
49.0 |
1 |
| J. Gipson |
2 |
24 |
12.0 |
0 |
| M. Martin IV |
4 |
17 |
4.3 |
0 |
| C. Kuntz |
2 |
16 |
8.0 |
0 |
| E. Moleni |
1 |
8 |
8.0 |
0 |
| Stanford Receiving |
| Player |
Rec |
Yds |
Avg |
TDs |
| E. Ayomanor |
4 |
89 |
22.3 |
1 |
| M. Reuben |
3 |
79 |
26.3 |
0 |
| E. Smith |
1 |
22 |
22.0 |
0 |
| B. Farrell |
2 |
16 |
8.0 |
0 |
| T. Bachmeier |
1 |
1 |
1.0 |
0 |
| Sacramento State Interceptions |
| Player |
Int |
Yards |
| C. Broussard |
1 |
0 |
| C. Nelson |
1 |
0 |
| Stanford Interceptions |
| Player |
Int |
Yards |
| S. Edwards |
1 |
5 |
| C. Wright |
1 |
0 |
| Sacramento State Punting |
| Player |
Punts |
Yards |
Avg |
| C. McGough |
1 |
46 |
46.0 |
| Stanford Punting |
| Player |
Punts |
Yards |
Avg |
| C. Weselman |
2 |
80 |
40.0 |
| Sacramento State Punt Returns |
| Player |
Ret |
Yards |
Average |
| Stanford Punt Returns |
| Player |
Ret |
Yards |
Average |
| C. Filkins |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Sacramento State Kick Returns |
| Player |
Ret |
Yards |
Average |
| Stanford Kick Returns |
| Player |
Ret |
Yards |
Average |
| B. Farrell |
4 |
73 |
18.3 |
| Sacramento State Missed FG |
| Player |
Length |
| Stanford Missed FG |
| Player |
Length |
