Stanford's special teams help key 41-7 win over Cal Poly

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Tiger Bachmeier had a 90-yard punt return for touchdown in the third quarter, sparking Stanford to a 41-7 win over Cal Poly on Saturday.

Ashton Daniels passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns, while back-up quarterback Justin Lamson ran for a score to help Stanford to its first home victory under second-year coach Troy Taylor.

“It’s good for us as players, good for the student body, good for our coaches, everybody that’s involved,” said cornerback Collin Wright, who had an interception. “It’s been a minute. It’s awesome for the guys who have been here who went through that to finally get that turned around and be able to celebrate our home.”

Bo Kelly completed 17 of 25 passes for 149 yards for Cal Poly (0-2).

On a day when the Cardinal offense had sporadic success, Bachmeier provided the big spark with Stanford’s first punt return for touchdown since Christian McCaffrey’s in the 2016 Rose Bowl. Bachmeier’s return for touchdown is also tied for the second longest in school history.

“I thought he was going to fair catch the ball. Luckily he didn’t,” Taylor said. “Made somebody miss, picked up unbelievable great blocks and then he showed off his speed.”

That capped a big afternoon by Stanford’s special teams.

The Cardinal (1-1) blocked a field goal attempt, ran a successful fake punt in the first half and Emmet Kenney added two field goals, setting the tone against the FCS Mustangs in the first-ever matchup between the two schools.

“Going into this week we knew we had to be great on special teams,” said Wright, who was originally credited with the blocked kick before it was changed and given to Aristotle Taylor. “They showed some things that we thought, as a special teams unit, that we could attack and we did. Those things are momentum changers.”

Stanford needed all of it to make up for an offense that repeatedly sputtered.

The Cardinal fumbled away their first possession then later got stopped on a 4th-and-goal try.

Stanford rotated quarterbacks throughout the first half.

Daniels took the majority of snaps and threw two 5-yard touchdown passes, to Mudia Reuben and Sam Roush. Third-stringer Elijah Brown also had a 12-yard touchdown throw in the fourth quarter.

“We were super resilient coming out in the second half,” Daniels said. “Tiger gets that long punt return touchdown, kind of gets the guys going. We just took it and ran from there.”

The Mustangs got their only score with some trickery in the second quarter. Kelly made a backward throw to wide receiver Michael Briscoe, who then threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Jake Woods.

After the Cardinal were stopped on a fourth-and-goal play, they got the ball back late in the second quarter and Daniels completed five consecutive passes for 71 yards. Lamson took over at quarterback and scored on a 2-yard keeper.

The score remained close until Bachmeier fielded a punt at his own 10-yard line and burst up the field before cutting to his right into the clear then outracing a defender into the end zone.

THE TAKEAWAY

Cal Poly: Kelly bounced back nicely after throwing three interceptions including two pick-sixes in a season-opening loss to San Diego. The redshirt sophomore showed a lot of poise and athleticism while avoiding making costly mistakes.

Stanford: It wasn’t always pretty but after a close loss to TCU in the season opener, the Cardinal will take it. Getting key plays on special teams makes some of the offensive issues easier to handle.

UP NEXT

Cal Poly: The Mustangs return home to the play their final non-conference game of the season when they host Division II Western Oregon on Saturday.

Stanford: The Cardinal make their ACC debut at Syracuse on Sept. 20.

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Michael Wagaman, The Associated Press