Warren made Stanford’s fourth-down throws worth the risk

Stanford needed 33 yards to reach the end zone and had one down left to keep its drive alive. Davis Warren got all of them. His touchdown pass to Nico Brown, with four seconds remaining in the third quarter, gave the Cardinal a lead they would keep.

The South Bay program’s 34-27 victory against Georgia Tech on Saturday turned on its willingness to keep throwing in uncomfortable situations. Warren finished with 396 passing yards and three touchdowns. His most valuable work came when an incompletion would have ended a possession immediately.

That is a better reason to praise Stanford’s fourth-down approach than the familiar suggestion that aggression is admirable by itself. The Cardinal converted three of four fourth downs, all three through the air. Warren and his receivers supplied the execution that made those decisions worthwhile.

The failed attempt mattered, too: Micah Ford lost a yard on an earlier fourth-down run, ending a drive in Georgia Tech territory.

Brown’s touchdown was the culmination of a second-half recovery that initially moved much more slowly. Stanford trailed 20-10 at halftime. Its first possession after the break had already survived long enough to reach Georgia Tech’s 26 when an offensive pass-interference penalty erased a completion and moved the ball backward.

On fourth-and-11 from the 36, Warren completed a 30-yard pass to Jordan Onovughe. Stanford had exchanged the possibility of ending that drive empty-handed for a first down at the 6. The offense still could not reach the end zone, and Emmet Kenney eventually kicked a field goal that reduced the deficit to seven.

It was an imperfect reward for a difficult conversion. It was also a reward Stanford would have lost if Warren’s throw had failed. That distinction gives the decision some substance: the quarterback rescued a possession damaged by his own team’s penalty, while the subsequent stall prevented the completion from becoming a complete escape from earlier mistakes.

The next scoring drive was far quicker. Caden High caught a 49-yard touchdown pass, bringing Stanford level at 20-20. After Georgia Tech punted again, the Cardinal drove 68 yards in 12 plays. Brown finished that possession with the fourth-down touchdown, pushing Stanford ahead 27-20.

The passing game had finally made its long gains show up fully on the scoreboard. Earlier, Stanford had reached Georgia Tech’s 7 on a second-quarter possession, only to have a rushing touchdown erased by a holding penalty. That drive ended with a field goal. The Cardinal could move the ball; turning the movement into enough points had taken considerably longer.

Warren completed 22 of 36 passes without an interception. Stanford gained 482 yards, with only 86 coming on the ground. Georgia Tech therefore had ample reason to expect the ball in Warren’s hands on the important downs. Expecting a pass and stopping the pass proved to be different assignments.

There was defensive help. Early in the fourth quarter, Georgia Tech failed on fourth down when Omar Staples sacked Alberto Mendoza, giving Stanford the ball at the Yellow Jackets’ 24. Three plays later, Warren found High for a 7-yard touchdown. The lead had grown to 34-20.

Georgia Tech made sure that was not permission to relax. A 75-yard drive ended with Mendoza’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Jaiven Plummer, cutting the margin to seven. The Yellow Jackets finished with 431 yards and 25 first downs; this was no comfortable night of Stanford controlling both sides of the game.

Brandon Nicholson’s interception stopped a later Georgia Tech threat, and the Yellow Jackets’ final possession ended with a lost fumble on a lateral. Stanford finished by kneeling twice. Those were the easy snaps at last, after Warren had spent the second half making the difficult ones productive.

Sources

ESPN box score and play-by-play

Official team report