Following Friday night's 45-6 drubbing at the hands of Miami, Stanford is looking to make as much progress as possible over the next two weeks before taking the field at Duke on September 19.
Quarterback Davis Warren finished the game 21-41 for 214 yards, but the data suggests that he was fairly consistent against both Hawai'i and Miami, despite the much different game result.
"I don't have all the stats, but definitely penalties were a huge, huge thing ," Warren said after the game. "We beat ourselves in a lot of ways tonight. You cannot do that against a good football team. It's just a situation where it's hard to live in second and 15, second and 20. That's difficult."
Stanford was flagged for nine penalties for 70 yards, with a number of those calls wiping out completed passes for a big first down.
The PFF data graded Warren at a 75.6 offensive score (76.9 against Hawai'i) and a 76.2 pass grade (81 against Hawai'i). While these are drops in the level of performance, they're slight in the grand scheme of things against one of the best teams in college football. Those drops will be ironed out through improved receiver performance or lineup changes.
That high level of consistency from Warren is not something he showcased in 2024 as the starter for Michigan.
Warren was getting rid of the ball more quickly on Friday night, with Stanford trying to counteract Miami's elite defensive line . While the results weren't always there with four drops on the night, the scheme itself was keeping the Stanford QB upright, which is a big win.
Against Hawai'i, with a fuller group of projected starters on the offensive line, Warren was getting 2.94 seconds on average for all dropbacks. Against Miami, he was down to 2.50 seconds on average. This approach meant Stanford allowed fewer pressures on Warren (7) than they did against Hawai'i (10).
That difference in time kept the receivers from getting down the field as far, which kept the passes relatively short. With Stanford facing so many downs with long distances to travel, those extra steps matter in moving the ball.
Miami limited Stanford's ability to make explosive plays, which certainly played a role here, but the Cardinal had just one fewer first down on Friday (11) than they did the previous weekend when they seemingly moved the ball at will against Hawai'i with 12 first downs.
Stanford was still able to move the ball at times, even with a depleted offensive line against one of the best d-lines in the country. That should bode well going into games against teams like Duke, where the Cardinal will have the better-ranked preseason offensive and defensive lines and an extra week between games.
The Cardinal will be able to dictate what kind of offense they want to run against those types of teams, while they just showed they have the tools to succeed when they're outmatched up front.
