Tavita Pritchard Breaks Down What Went Wrong in Stanford's Loss to Wake Forest

The Stanford football program has had some wild swings this season, starting with a huge win over Hawai'i to begin the Tavita Pritchard Era off on the right foot. The Cardinal followed that up with a 45-6 loss at home to Miami, and then a 35-7 defeat at Duke following a bye week, looking lost in both games.

Then Stanford welcomed Georgia Tech to The Farm, and after trailing 20-10 at the half, the Cardinal came from behind in the second half with a huge 34-27 victory, showing poise and grit. This came after Pritchard had said they needed to bring how they practice into the games, and it looked as though Stanford may have unlocked something.

Then they traveled to Wake Forest for Saturday's game, and not only was the 57-3 loss the worst loss of the year in terms of the deficit, but the Cardinal looked largely lifeless in this game. They were unable to move the ball through the air or on the ground with any regularity, and the Demon Deacons just walked all over the Stanford defense. 

After the loss, Pritchard broke down the loss from his view on the sidelines. 

"I think as you look across the game, defense, we still have to take a step [forward] in tackling, and that showed up in the first half again," Pritchard said. "Offense, we shot ourselves in the foot too many times. Whether it was blocking or miscommunication, missed protection, missing a check, there's a number of different things that we could have, and have to do better."

Pritchard said that the message to the team is that collectively they have to take the next step as a program, and that requires being relentlessly committed to getting better. 

He also made sure to say a couple of times that they played poorly, and that he is taking ownership for the team's play. 

Part of the mindset that he's looking for from his players moving forward will be not focusing on what the final score was, but how they can improve on a play-by-play basis. If they are playing a more flawless game and making good decisions, that would set them up to play on even footing, where it's talent against talent. 

This could range from the play call, a few of which Pritchard said he would want back, to the depth of the route or the read of the play. Each of those decisions impacts a play's success when the ball is snapped, and if enough of those go wrong, then that's where a game like Saturday's plays out.

For a team that has allowed 45, 35, and 57 points in three losses this season while mustering a combined 16 points across those three games, fixing these flaws isn't going to flip the score immediately. The goal here is to create a certain mindset within the program, so that by the end of the season these tougher matchups end up a little closer.

The goal then would be to make improvements to the roster during the offseason and make a real push towards being competitive in big games in future seasons. But to recruit those impact talents, Stanford needs to show the improvements on the field now to give the program access to those difference-making players.