Stanford Football: 3 Takeaways from Sun Bowl victory over Pitt

In an extremely low scoring affair, the Stanford football edged out Pitt 14-13 in the 2018 Sun Bowl. What did we learn about both programs?

Both of these teams came ready to play, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Of course, it helps that both offenses also struggled to get much of anything going. It only took two scores for Stanford to pull this one out, one in the second and one in the fourth. For Pitt, settling for field goals twice instead of getting into the end zone was detrimental to their campaign for a season above .500.

Let’s talk takeaways from the offensive struggle that was the Sun Bowl this season.

3. Pitt won every statistical category, except the score.

This is always an interesting point to note. Pitts outgained Stanford 344 to 210 in terms of total yards. That, in itself, is shocking to me. It is normally the team that wins that battle that wins the game, but the Arizona Bowl and now the Sun Bowl has done the exact same thing.

Stanford lost the first down battle, 18 to 12, as well. That one isn’t as shocking as the point isn’t to get the most first downs, it is to get the most points on the scoreboard. They also lost the time of possession battle to the Panthers, which normally wins the game. If one can keep the ball, you tend to win the game as the other team’s offense doesn’t get the chance to score. Of course, if you settle for field goals that does change things.