The Stanford D has itself a dude, in the form of Clay Patterson, a defensive tackle with three sacks and nine QB pressures, who wreaks havoc in the A and B gaps, right up in the QB’s grill.
“91 (Patterson) is playing at a high level,” UVA Football coach Tony Elliott said, ahead of the matchup between his ‘Hoos and the Cardinal on Saturday night.
Elliott sees Patterson, is a 6’3”, 280-pound grad senior, as a “matchup problem for any interior guy in a one-on-one situation.”
“You got to be smart in how you handle him, and may have to slide in his direction,” Elliott said of Patterson, who is in his second year at Stanford – he spent his first three college seasons in the Ivy League, at Yale.
So, super smart kid, who also looks like a late Day 2 or Day 3 NFL Draft pick next spring.
ICYMI
Senior linebacker Matt Rose (36 tackles, one sack, one PBU in 2025) is trending toward the back part of the 2026 draft, and is the key to the run defense that held Boston College to 74 sack-adjusted rushing yards in the 30-20 upset of the Eagles last week in Palo Alto, and is 40th nationally in rushing defense through three games (103.0 yards/g).
Rose leads the Stanford D and is in the Top 25 nationally with 18 run-game tackles.
Could be that the game we’re about to watch on Saturday night is a matchup of a bit of an unstoppable force – UVA is eighth nationally in rushing offense (266.7 yards/g) – against a, for the most part, immovable object.
“It’s going to come down to just a little bit of practice in execution. That’s what it always comes down to, hand placement, pad level, coordination, working together,” Elliott said.
“When we’re supposed to be doubling, we need to stay on our doubles as long as we can to create a new line of scrimmage. Backs are going to have to be disciplined with their eyes. They’re going to have to run with a mentality to fall forward.
“It’s going to be a good matchup. I’m excited to see how our guys respond now that we’re getting to ACC play,” Elliott said.
***
On offense, Stanford put up 213 yards on the ground in the win over BC, with Micah Ford, a thicc 6’0”, 220-pound bruiser, going for 157 yards on 17 attempts, and a 75-yard third-quarter TD that broke a 20-20 tie.
Ford and the other two backs on the depth chart are all healthy young men – Cole Tabb is listed at 5’8”, 200; Tuna Altahir is 6’0”, 230.
Lots of steak and potatoes there at the training table on The Farm.
“Stanford has the ability to run the football behind that big offensive line, and they got some big thick running backs that come downhill that are going to fall forward,” Elliott said.
ICYMI
The starting quarterback, grad senior Ben Gulbranson, “does a good job of distributing the ball,” Elliott said, being nice – Gulbranson is averaging 145.7 passing yards per game, completing a modest 53.6 percent of his attempts, with four TDs and three INTs.
“I think their tight ends are as good as any that we’re going to play all year,” Elliott said.
Certainly the biggest – Sam Roush (seven catches, 87 yards, one TD in 2025) is 6’5”, 260, and two other guys with one catch each this year, Chico Holt (6’5”, 255) and Brendan Doyle (6’4”, 255), do not miss many meals.
The interim coach, Frank Reich, has NFL experience – a 41-43-1 record in parts of six seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers, with two playoff appearances in Indy.
“Coach Reich is a very accomplished football coach, very, very good at what he does, done it at the highest level. You can see some of the pro influence on what they do offensively, so it’s going to be a fun challenge,” Elliott said.
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Chris Graham
