It seemed all too familiar. A lethargic offense and a tentative defense put the Demon Deacons in a hole early in the game, trailing the Stanford Cardinal 17-3 at halftime. However, with their backs up against the wall and nothing to lose, the Deacons came out of the locker room in the second half and mounted a remarkable comeback, stunning Stanford with 21 unanswered points and a 24-17 victory on Sept. 12 at BB&T Field.

From the opening kickoff, Stanford showed that they were not to be taken lightly. After returning the kickoff to the 36 yard line, it only took the Cardinal 4:07, 64 yards and a 26 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andrew Luck to wide receiver Ryan Whalen to jump out to an early 7-0 lead.

The Deacons would respond with a drive of their own, but a hard-hitting Stanford defense would hold the Demon Deacons to a 20 yard field goal by junior Shane Popham, making the score 7-3.
The rest of the first half would be all Stanford.

At the start of the second quarter, Stanford, led by quarterback Luck, drove the ball 80 yards down the field and scored off of Luck’s second touchdown pass of the day, which came in the form of a 15 yard strike to Whalen.

The Deacons took back possession after the score and advanced 48 yards down the field, but were stopped once again by the Stanford defense, forcing a 33 yard field goal attempt by Popham. The try would bounce off of the left upright and give Stanford the ball on their own 20 with 1:42 left on the clock.

The Cardinal hurry-up offense quickly drove the ball out to the Deacon 37 yard line, setting up Eric Whitaker’s 54 yard field goal, which just squeaked over the crossbar to give Stanford a 17-3 lead as time expired in the first half of play.

Whitaker’s 54 yard bomb set a new BB&T Field record for longest field goal.

The Deacon’s went into the locker room wondering what had happened.

It was easy to recognize the Deacons’ mistakes at the half. “Defensively, in the first half, we were playing pattycake,” Head Coach, Jim Grobe said.

The players were not pleased with their first half performance either.

“This is not the way we play,” senior linebacker Matt Woodlief  said. “This is not the way we have been practicing.”

“Coach gave a good speech at halftime,” said fifth-year senior offensive lineman Joe Birdsong. “He basically said ‘if you don’t play better, you shouldn’t show up to practice on Monday.’”  But the Deacons knew that all hope was not yet lost.

Birdsong remained confident in his team’s ability. “We’ve been in this situation plenty of times,” he said. “We wanted it more than they did,” Woodlief said. And the Deacons would show it in the second half.

A different Deacon team emerged from the locker room after the intermission and would quickly go to work against Stanford.

The Deacons received the ball to start the second half, and, after advancing the ball only 15 yards, were forced to punt it away to Stanford.

But, when things were shaping up to form a repeat of the first half, the Deacon defense came alive, holding the Cardinal to a quick three-and-out and giving the ball back to the Deacs on the Wake Forest 28 yard line with 11:19 left in the third quarter.

The Deacons took the ball back and strung together a solid 72 yard scoring drive, featuring several big plays from their senior players. Fifth-year senior quarterback Riley Skinner started off the drive with a 16 yard pass to fifth-year senior tight end Ben Wooster, which was quickly followed by an 11 yard scamper by senior tailback Josh Adams. Two plays later, sophomore receiver Chris Givens gained 17 yards on rush to the right sideline.

The Deacons advanced all the way down to the Stanford 18 yard line, but were stopped and faced with a big fourth and two. The call to go for it on fourth down was an easy one for the coaching staff to make. Josh Adams took the ball and exploded down the right side of the field for a 15 yard gain to the Stanford three yard line. Fifth-year senior fullback Mike Rinfrette would plow into the end zone on the next play to make the score 17-10 with 6:41 left in the third quarter.

Skinner’s pass to Wooster was his 666 completion, breaking the school record for most career completions.

With the ensuing kickoff being pushed out of bounds, Stanford started their drive at their own 40 yard line. After moving the ball 33 yards down the field to the Wake Forest 27 yard line, the Cardinal was stopped by a resurgent Deacon defense and forced to attempt a 44 yard field goal attempt that went wide left, preserving the 17-10 score.

The Deacons would retake possession and on the first play of the drive junior wide receiver Devon Brown showed off his open field moves on a 19-yard run play to the right sideline. The Deacs continued to push the ball downfield and exploit a tiring Stanford defense. The offensive unit pushed the ball all the way down to the Stanford 15 yard line by the end of the third quarter.

After a short break, the teams retook the field and Stanford, pushed back against their own goal line, was able to come up with what they thought was a big stop late in the game. The Deacon offense was faced with a crucial fourth and four down on the Stanford nine yard line.

Faced with a big fourth down late in the game, the Deacon coaching staff was faced with a huge decision. Go for it or kick the field goal?

After weighing his options for a few seconds, Grobe kept his offensive unit out on the field and it paid off, as Skinner found a wide open Jordan Williams in the back of the end zone after somehow scrambling out of the pocket as it collapsed around him.

“We needed the touchdown,” Skinner said. “We couldn’t keep taking three (points). Time was running down and Stanford was bleeding the clock. Jordan found the back of the end zone, I had to scramble a little bit, and we made a play off of the scramble.”

The touchdown knotted up the score at 17-17 with 14:01 left in the game.

After the touchdown, the teams exchanged possession for the next few minutes of play until Stanford finally retook possession on their own 14 yard line with 7:20 left to the play. The Cardinal began to mount a drive that the Deacon defense was unable to respond to. Stanford moved the ball with ease down to their 46 yard line.  Faced with third down and one yard to the sticks, Stanford running back Toby Gerhart  busted open a huge run down the Stanford sideline that would have put the Cardinal into field goal range. The play, however, was called back after a clipping penalty committed by Stanford offensive tackle Chris Marinelli. The ball was spotted at the Stanford 34 yard line and, after a short completion, the Cardinal was forced to punt the ball away.

After the Stanford punt pinned the Deacs deep in their own territory, the offense took over at its own nine yard line with 3:49 left in the game.

The rest, they say, is history.

Led by Skinner, the Deacs mounted a 91 yard drive in under four minutes. The Demon Deacons moved the ball downfield with ease. The winning touchdown was set up by a 44 yard pass from Skinner to sophomore wide out Lovell Jackson, who fell two yards short of pay dirt. Three plays later, Skinner plunged into the end zone behind a surge from the offensive line to make the score 24-17 with only 0:02 left on the clock.

Trying to recreate the magic “The Play” from their 1982 loss to Cal, Stanford wildly lateraled the ball around the field, searching for a miracle. Unfortunately for them, there was no band on the field. A Stanford fumble recovered by sophomore Scott Betros would end the game and solidify the Deacons’ improbable comeback.

In the second half of the game, the Deacs outgained Stanford 311-116 and the defense shut out a strong Cardinal offense.
Skinner finished the day with 187 yards passing and one passing touchdown.

The 251 rushing yards were divided up among a number of players. Adams led the pack with 54 rushing yards, followed by Givens with 51 yards and Brown with 47 yards.

The team was pleased with its second half performance.

“The second half might be one of the best we’ve ever had,” Grobe said. “We know what we are capable of, we just need to play better.”

But they know that they cannot make play like this every week and expect to win. “We have to come out and play four quarters,” Woodlief said.

“We only played two quarters today.”

“We had gone six quarters not playing very good football. I know we are young and inexperienced, but the excuses run out after a while and you have to start playing better,” Grobe said. “We are going to be disappointed the rest of the season if we start that slow in the first half.”

The matchup against Stanford was also a coming out party for the speedy freshman Lovell Jackson, who caught the 44 yard pass that set up the winning score.

“Lovell Jackson has maybe the best foot speed on our team,” Grobe said. “He routinely runs by our defensive backs. He’s got some special abilities.”

The game also saw the offensive line come together as a unit.

“Last year, when things were going wrong, they were bickering and guys were sitting by themselves,” Skinner said after the game. “But they are just a unit now.”

Next up for the Deacons is the Elon Phoenix on Sept. 19 at BB&T Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

While many feel this might be a week off for the Deacons, it has the potential to become a trap game.

In their first two games, Elon has scored 97 points and has only been scored on once.

The Deacons own the all-time series against the Elon Phoenix 8-0-1 and this weekend’s matchup will be the first time that the two teams have met since 1939.