Stanford Football: 3 takeaways from tight win over Arizona State

3. The defense turned things around

The Stanford defense has been tested this year and at times, has experienced a lapse in productivity. Prior to its win against Arizona State, Stanford had allowed a combined 109 points over the last three games.

While this averaged five touchdowns allowed per each of those games, the defense did a fine job to ramp up its intensity against the Sun Devils.

Arizona State came into the matchup as a .500 team, but even then, the Cardinal needed a bounce-back game and it certainly got it — by only ceding one touchdown all game.

Better yet, The Cardinal defense came through when it was needed most. Up by a score, Arizona State drove down the field within the red zone. However, the Stanford defense stepped up big time to thwart the potential game-tying score and secure the win.

The defense also won the turnover battle, forcing two interceptions and two fumbles — one of which was recovered by the Cardinal.

While the game went down to one of the last plays of the game, the end result was a much better than it has been throughout the last few weeks and this should build confidence for a Stanford team that was slated as a contender in the PAC-12.