NC State has had a welcomed bye week, and have been focusing on defeating Stanford at 12 p.m. Saturday on the ACC Network.
Stanford was expected to struggle this season, and it has. The Cardinal went 3-9 overall and 2-7 in the Pac-12. Stanford has moved to the ACC and are off to a 2-6 overall start, and 1-4 in the league. The two wins were against Cal Poly in week two Sept. 7, and 26-24 at Syracuse on Sept. 20.
Five Stanford players to watch
Sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor
The gifted 6-foot-2, 210-pounder from Medicine hat, Alberta, has 42 catches for 484 yards and four touchdowns this season. He is coming off having 11 catches for 96 yards in the 27-24 loss against Wake Forest last Saturday. He torched Colorado last year with 13 catches for 294 yard sand three scores in a 46-43 double-overtime victory Oct. 13, 2023. He finished his freshman year with 62 catches for 1,013 yards and six touchdowns in 2023. He was a three-star prospect by Rivals.com in the class of 2022 coming out of Deerfield (Mass.) Academy.
Senior linebacker Gaethan Bernadel
The 6-1, 227-pound Bernadel played his first two years at Florida International, and then transferred to Stanford for the 2023 season. He has 51 tackles, three tackles for loss and one pass defended this season. Bernadel has collected 284 career tackles and three sacks. Bernadel was a Rivals.com three-star prospect coming out of Hallandale (Fla.) Beach in the class of 2021.
Junior quarterback Ashton Daniels
Stanford was hoping to replace Daniels against Wake Forest last week, but freshman quarterback Elijah Brown was replaced after struggling. The 6-2, 215-pound Daniels has gone 102-of-164 passing for 941 yards, six touchdowns and eight interceptions. However, he is a good runner and has 77 carries for 352 yards. Daniels was a three-star prospect by Rivals.com in the class of 2022 coming out of Buford (Ga.) High.
Senior kicker Emmet Kenney
The Fargo, N.D., native has been a quality kicker this season. He’s made 10 of 12 field goals with a long of 51 yards, and he’s made all 18 extra points. Kenney made a 39-yard field goal at the final horn to defeat Syracuse 26-24 on Sept. 21.
Senior linebacker Tristan Sinclair
The 6-1, 221-pound Sinclair leads Stanford with 63 tackles this season, plus one sack and 4.5 tackles for loss. He has had 12 tackles apiece against both SMU on Oct. 19 and vs. Virginia Tech on Oct. 5. Sinclair has 206 career tackles and 2.5 sacks this season. He was a three-star prospect in the class of 2019 coming out Danville (Calif.) San Ramon Valley by Rivals.com.
What to watch for from Stanford
1. Mystery at quarterback. Stanford is likely starting junior Ashton Daniels, but freshman Elijah Brown could also get some time.
It’s the classic case of if you are playing two quarterbacks, do you have one? Brown is the future and came out of famed Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei in the class of 2024. He was ranked No. 208 in the country by Rivals.com. He played against SMU and threw for 153 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Brown started against Wake Forest and went 5-of-9 passing for 24 yards and one interception before getting benched.
Daniels has some intriguing tools, but has also been inconsistent. Daniels is a gifted runner and has two games of tallying 87 rushing yards — at Clemson and vs. Texas Christian. Daniels has thrown for over 200 yards in two games, including the Wake Forest contest.
2. Defense has been uneven. Stanford’s defense was good in the win over over Syracuse on Sept. 20, and had moments against Wake Forest last week.
Overall, the Cardinal are allowing 398.6 yards per game, 270.9 passing yards, 127.8 rushing yards and 31.5 points per contest.
Stanford allowed 49 points at Notre Dame, 40 points against both SMU and at Clemson and 34 points in the season opener vs. Texas Christian.
The shining moment was the 26-24 win over Syracuse, with junior outside linebacker David Bailey getting two of the four sacks. The Cardinal also had seven tackles for loss, had two interceptions and senior safety Mitch Leigber returned one of the interceptions for a 71-yard touchdown.
3. Kicking is a strength. NC State was aided in defeating California by freshman kicker Derek Morris missing his fourth field-goal attempt from 28 yards out with 1:34 left in the game. NC State went on to win 24-23.
The Cardinal have a good kicker and punter this season. Kenney has gone 10 of 12 on field goals with one of the misses coming from 53 yards against Virginia Tech. He’s also had 16 touchbacks on 35 kickoff returns.
Sophomore punter Aidan Flintoft is averaging 43.2 yards on 32 punts with six punts of 50-plus yards and he’s landed 10 inside the 20-yard line.
Sophomore punt returner Tiger Bachmeier, who is the younger brother of Wake Forest quarterback Hank Bachmeier, has nine punt returns for 111 yards and a 90-yard touchdown, which he did against Cal Poly, and he has five kick returns for an average of 21.0.
Three keys to the game for NC State football
1. NC State has struggled to find its identity this season, but the offense took a step forward in its last game in the 24-23 win over California.
The Wolfpack didn’t throw an interception, but did lose two fumbles. Not many true freshman start at quarterback, but NC State’s Cedrick Bailey has thrown for a combined 635 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in his last two starts.
Bailey has completed 112-of-167 passes for 67.1 percent, and tallied 1,376 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions this season. Take out the Tennessee brief appearance, he’s played extensively in six games.
For comparison, Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, Utah’s Isaac Wilson, Florida’s DJ Lagway and Mississippi State’s Michael Van Buren are in a similar position as starting freshman quarterbacks.
• Raiola has thrown 162-of-245 passes (66.1 percent) for 1,744 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions.
• Van Buren has gone 83-of-145 passing (57.2 percent) for 1,101 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions in five games.
• Lagway has gone 54-of-86 passing (62.8 percent) for 1,024 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions. He has played extensively in two games, and parts of five others.
• Wilson has gone 98-of-177 passing (55.4 percent) for 1,200 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions.
2. Stanford has been susceptible to opposing teams throwing the ball against them, but been more stingy against the run.
NC State rushed 30 times for just 29 yards against California and that isn’t acceptable. It marked the second time this season the Wolfpack rushed for under 40 yards in a game, with Tennessee the other contest. The Wolfpack have been held under 100 yards in four of the eight games this season.
The emergence of redshirt freshman running back Daylan Smothers in the passing game has helped offset the situation. NCSU could also get power back Jordan Waters back in the lineup after he missed the California contest.
3. NC State has had extra time to adjusting to playing without redshirt junior middle linebacker Caden Fordham.
Senior Devon Betty has taken over the position and he’s had 17 tackles the last two games, and has 36 on the season. Redshirt freshman Kamal Bonner has been next man up the last two games, and tallied 17 tackles himself at strongside linebacker.
NC State’s depth at the position is limited with redshirt freshman Kelvon McBride in the mix, and this week’s depth chart including true freshmen Zane Williams and Cannon Lewis in the two-deep.
Stanford isn’t known for running the ball, other than when Daniels scrambles himself at quarterback. Freshman running back Micah Ford got dinged up recently and leads the team with 64 carries for 305 yards. The squad has four rushing touchdowns this season and averaging 3.6 yards per carry.
Three numbers of note
26 Stanford quarterbacks who have been drafted by NFL teams, including four future No. 1 overall picks — Bobby Garrett (1954), Jim Plunkett (1971), John Elway (1983) and Andrew Lucks (2012). Other first-round picks include John Brodie, who went No. 3 in 1957, and Frankie Albert, who went No. 10 overall in 1942.
30 Bowl appearances for the Cardinal, who have gone 15-14-1. The last bowl game was the Sun Bowl in 2018, a 14-13 win over Pittsburgh.
32 Recruiting team ranking for Stanford by Rivals.com, with 20 verbal commitments in the class of 2025.
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