From the opening kickoff, you could tell that Duke was going to test Stanford in this one. The Blue Devils began the game with an onside kick that they easily recovered without a Cardinal in sight. They then drove down the field, taking it to the Stanford 7 on three plays before stalling out at the goal line. 

The drive ended in an interception by Stanford, which provided some hope that they had made a big stop and would use that momentum to their advantage. 

Instead, the offensive line had troubles all afternoon, leaving quarterback Davis Warren under pressure before he could even go through his progressions on a large swath of his dropbacks. He ended up with an average of 2.52 seconds to throw over the course of the game, but early on that number was below two seconds. 

Warren ended up completing 18 of 32 pass attempts for 151 yards and a touchdown and a fumble that was recovered by Duke. It wasn't a perfect game from him by any means, but he also wasn't given a ton of time in the pocket, either. PFF recorded seven dropped passes, including at least a pair from Caden High that should have been first downs. 

He attempted 32 passes and faced some sort of pressure on 16 of those. He was sacked four times, had two passes batted at the line of scrimmage and another attempt where he was hit as he threw.

The Stanford run game showed some promise, even with the offensive line's struggles, with Micah Ford notching 11 carries for 76 yards (6.9 yards/carry) and Sedrick Irvin adding another 18 yards on four carries, but Stanford fell too far behind in the second half and had to abandon the run game in order for big plays. 

Duke tried to help Stanford out, committing nine penalties for 80 yards, limiting their own drives and prolonging some of the Cardinal's, but they just couldn't get much going on either side of the ball. 

While the offense struggled to move the ball consistently — especially in the second half — the defense had no answer for Nate Sheppard, who torched Stanford for 154 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns. He added one catch for two yards and another touchdown, giving him three on the day. 

Coming into this game, it seemed as though we'd get a real glimpse of what this Stanford program would be this season. They'd defeated Hawai'i and been blown out by Miami, two teams on different sides of the competitive scales. 

Duke is the reigning ACC champion, but they also have some flaws, like those penalties they kept drawing, and with an extra week to recover and prepare, this looked like a game in which Stanford could surprise some people.

That is not what happened, and this loss has put a damper on the expectations for the rest of the year. 

"I just left the locker room talking to our team, and what I told them was one, that's a good football team," head coach Tavita Pritchard said postgame. "And at the same point in time, we did not play a good game. We missed the mark, and that starts with me."

Coach Pritchard said he felt that the team was ready for this game following two tough weeks of practice, but they weren't, which starts with him. He cited problems not sustaining drives, not tackling well enough on defense, and being unprepared for the onside kick to start the game that stole a possession and some early momentum. 

This game was one that was supposed to show us what this Cardinal team is made of. Now it's a little worrisome that they may have done just that. Stanford will have another chance to shift that view next weekend at home against Wake Forest.