Cougar football was unable to spark any magic against Stanford, ultimately falling to the Cardinals 34-17.

  The Stanford Cardinals started off the scoring with a quick opening drive field goal by senior kicker Jordan Williamson giving Stanford a quick 3-0 lead with 11:47 to play in the first quarter.

WSU was forced to punt and Stanford responded with a touchdown drive after senior quarterback Kevin Hogan found sophomore tight end Eric Cotton for a 39-yard touchdown pass. The score gave Stanford a 10-0 lead with 9:30 to play in the first quarter.

  The Cougars got on the board after redshirt senior quarterback Connor Halliday connected with wide receiver redshirt senior Vince Mayle for a nine-yard touchdown pass. The score cut the lead to 10-7 with 4:35 to play in the first quarter.

 Stanford scored again after senior wide receiver Ty Montgomery’s punt return put them at the WSU 16-yard line. Hogan connected with sophomore tight end Greg Taboada for a three-yard touchdown on a fade route. The score increased Stanford’s lead to 17-7 with 11:08 to play in the second quarter.

  Both defenses stood pact the rest of the half. Stanford had an opportunity to score as time expired going into half, but Williamson was unable to connect on the field goal attempt.

  The second half provided more of the same. Redshirt junior kicker Quentin Breshears nailed a 46-yard field goal to make the score 17-10 with 7:51 to play in the third quarter.

 The Cardinals responded with the second connection of the night for Hogan and Taboada to push the score to 24-10. The score occurred with 3:07 left to play in the third quarter.

  Halliday connected with sophomore wide receiver River Cracraft for a three-yard score. It cut the lead to 24-17 with 13:02 remaining in the fourth quarter.

 That was as close as the Cougars could get. Williamson hit another field goal, this time from 34-yards out to extend the lead to 27-17 with just 8:13 to play in the fourth quarter.

 The Cardinals extended their lead to 34-17 after a rushing touchdown by senior Remound Wright. The score put the icing on the cake with only 1:38 to play in the fourth quarter.

 With the loss, the Cougars fall to two and five on the year. They will only have two losses to work with in order to make a bowl game in their remaining five games. 

Cracraft set a Cougar single-game record with 14 catches for 100 yards and a touchdown.

Cougar quarterback Connor Halliday finished the game 42 of 69 for 292 yards and threw for two touchdowns while throwing one interception.

Reporting by William Cheshier