Cardinal Crushed: Stanford's Biggest Issues in Blowout Loss to Virginia

The Cardinal fall to 1-3 and are back to the drawing board

Sep 13, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach Frank Reich (center) during the fourth quarter against the Boston College Eagles at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

It was another tough week at the office for the Stanford Cardinal. Earning their first win of the season in their home opener against Boston College, the Cardinal were looking to keep that momentum going in the following game against Virginia.

Hitting the road to take on the Cavaliers, the Cardinal ended up leaving with another loss, falling 48-20 in what was an offensive masterclass from Virginia and a demoralizing defeat for the Cardinal.

Even though Stanford took the loss, a lot was learned about the program in the game. In fact, the Cardinal showed a lot in the loss that helps fans, media and everyone in between understand the type of team that the Cardinal are in 2025.

Through the first three games of the season, the defense was the main storyline, with dominant performances against Hawaii, BYU and Boston College. Against BYU in particular, it was because of the defense that Stanford was able to stay in the game for as long as it was despite losing 27-3.

Offensively, the Cardinal faltered in the first two losses before finding a rhythm against Boston College.

But against Virginia, the defense struggled mightily, especially when it came to defending the pass. In what was supposed to be a slightly less high powered offense than Boston College, the Cardinal ended up giving a massive first half to the Cavaliers, with wide receiver Trell Harris catching three touchdowns in the first quarter.

And when it came to Virginia's quarterback, Chandler Morris, he ended the game with 380 passing yards and four touchdown passes, while also recording one on the ground.

Defensively, Stanford has the pieces to be consistently good but this game showed that defending the pass is something that is still an issue. The Cardinal will face much tougher teams as the season goes on, such as Miami, SMU, Notre Dame, among others, with all of those programs having good quarterbacks.

If the Cardinal continue to struggle defensively like they did against Virginia, tough times could be coming the rest of the season.

But offensively, things are looking up. After two rough games to begin the season, with quarterback Ben Gulbranson throwing three interceptions between the first two contests with no touchdowns, the Cardinal offense has finally found a rhythm.

Throwing for 286 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions and 69% completion percentage, Gulbranson put together his second straight good game under center. With the Cardinal offense looking to have a rhythm, they can now focus on consistency.

Overall, Stanford's loss to Virginia was bigger than expected and exposed some cracks on Stanford's otherwise elite defense. But teams learn a lot about themselves throughout the season and in this case, Stanford can learn and grow even more.