Stanford Beats NC State 31-28 as Davis Warren Throws Four Touchdown Passes

Stanford came into Friday night with an offense that had not scored more than seven points in any of its four losses. By the end of the first quarter, the Cardinal had 14 points, 234 yards and a crowd that was starting to believe.

Davis Warren threw for 303 yards and four touchdowns, Micah Ford ran for 150 yards, and Stanford held off a late NC State charge for a 31-28 win at Stanford Stadium. After NC State scored with 1:23 left, the Cardinal recovered the onside kick and lined up in victory formation to finish it.

Stanford improves to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the ACC, winning back-to-back games for the first time since 2024. NC State falls to 3-4 and 1-3, and less than a day later, the school fired head coach Dave Doeren midway through his 14th season.

A first quarter Stanford has not had in years

Warren hit Caden High for 21 yards on the first snap of the game, and High caught four passes on the opening march. The 11-play, 84-yard drive ended with Warren finding Nico Brown for an 8-yard touchdown at 10:34.

On the second drive, Ford carried four times for 27 yards, and Warren capped an 86-yard march with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Sedrick Irvin Jr. at 3:40. Stanford led 14-0. The 234 first-quarter yards were Stanford's most in an opening quarter since 2017, according to The Associated Press.

First-year head coach Tavita Pritchard said the plan was to "punch first," and the balance made it work.

"I thought a lot of our success early on was complementary run and pass," Pritchard said.

Warren deflected the credit. "They made it easy on me," Warren said, adding that "it wasn't anything special on my part."

NC State punches back

NC State needed only one play to get on the board. With 2:12 left in the first quarter, CJ Bailey hit Deandre Desinor, who caught the ball just short of the Stanford 30 and ran the rest of the way for a 58-yard touchdown.

After a failed Stanford fourth-down try, the Wolfpack tied it. Bailey set up the score with a keeper, and Will Wilson ran it in from 2 yards out at 7:26 of the second quarter. It was 14-14, and the fast start was gone.

The drive before halftime

Stanford took over at its own 10 with 1:54 left in the half. Seven plays later, the Cardinal were in the end zone. Warren threw a back-shoulder ball to High for a 26-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left, and Stanford took a 21-14 lead to the locker room.

Pritchard said the halftime message was simple.

"We knew we needed to keep scoring because [NC State] wasn't a team that was going to go away," he said.

A flag, then a fourth-down dagger

NC State appeared to score on its first drive of the third quarter, but an offensive pass interference call on Victor Snow wiped it out, and NC State ended up punting.

Stanford made it hurt. Ford picked up 43 yards on one play, a 15-yard personal foul on King Mack moved the ball closer, and on fourth-and-4, Warren found Brown for a 5-yard touchdown at 9:20. That made it 28-14.

Brown, a transfer from Yale, had scored just once in his first five appearances with Stanford. Brown doubled that total in one night, and the scouting report helped.

"[We] knew they were going to play a lot of man [coverage] [and] we knew they were going to play a lot of cover three," Brown said.

The Wolfpack do not go quietly

NC State answered. The Wolfpack went 86 yards in 18 plays over 9:25, and Wilson scored his second 2-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. Stanford's lead was down to 28-21.

The Cardinal responded with a long drive of their own, and sixth-year senior Emmet Kenney hit a 31-yard field goal at 8:27 to make it a two-score game again.

Bailey then led a 14-play, 89-yard drive and finished it with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Jackson with 1:23 left. That made it 31-28 and set up the onside kick. Stanford covered it, and that was the ballgame.

Warren, Ford and High carry the offense

Warren finished 22-of-37 for 303 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions, and the four scoring passes were a career best. The ball went everywhere all night, with High, Brown and Irvin all catching touchdowns.

Ford ran 22 times for 150 yards, his second straight 100-yard game, and added three catches for 58 yards.

High was Warren's favorite target, catching nine of 14 targets for 103 yards and the touchdown before the half. Brown finished with four catches for 43 yards and two scores.

As a team, Stanford piled up 477 total yards, averaged 5.3 yards per carry and went 4-for-4 in the red zone. Neither team turned the ball over.

NC State's numbers were not the problem

Bailey played well enough to win, completing 17 of 30 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns and leading NC State on the ground with 59 yards on nine carries. Desinor caught three passes for 79 yards, and Ronnie Royal III led the defense with 10 tackles.

The Wolfpack finished with 381 yards and went 3-for-3 in the red zone. But they were short-handed. Leading rusher Jayden "Duke" Scott missed his second straight game with a foot injury, and the team played without several offensive linemen.

This was only NC State's second West Coast game in 66 seasons, and kickoff was 10:30 p.m. Eastern. The Wolfpack had practiced late at night at home to prepare. It did not help enough.

"It starts with me," Doeren said after the game. "The guys didn't play well enough which means I didn't have them ready."

Doeren out in Raleigh

It turned out to be Doeren's last game at NC State. The school announced his firing on Saturday, with the Wolfpack at 3-4 after their second straight ACC loss.

Doeren went 98-74 in 14 seasons and became the program's winningest coach with a 2023 win over Miami. Athletic director Boo Corrigan said in a statement, "I appreciate his leadership during his 14-year tenure and the passion he brought to this role." Running backs coach and special teams coordinator Todd Goebbel will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season.

What it means for Stanford

At 4-4, Stanford has already matched last season's win total and snapped a run of four straight three-win seasons. The Cardinal are also .500 through eight games for the first time since 2019, and they have not played in a bowl game since 2018.

The problem was where they played next. Stanford was 4-1 at home and 0-3 on the road, where it had been outscored by an average of 44.3 points per game. Next on the schedule was a trip to Louisville on Oct. 31, followed by trips to Virginia Tech and Cal. They needed two more wins to become bowl eligible.

Pritchard had no easy answer for the split. "If I could explain it, I think it would be a lot better than it is," he said.

Warren, a Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year semifinalist, was more focused on what Stanford has built at home. "What matters is defending our home turf," Warren said.

NC State turned to Goebbel, and next on the schedule was a home game against California on Oct. 31.

The last word

A crowd of 13,949 watched a game that ended after 2 a.m. on the East Coast. Stanford threw the first punch, took a few back and still had enough to recover an onside kick. For a program that has waited years for nights like this, it is a start worth defending.

Sources: The Associated Press via ABC7 and WRAL, The Stanford Daily, Roundtable via Yahoo Sports, NCFootballNews, Deadspin and Stanford Athletics. NC State's official box score (opens in a new tab) has the full numbers. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Stanford Athletics.