On Tuesday, August 31st, Stanford Football Head Coach Buddy Teevens said, "The season is here, and we are very anxious to get it underway. We've progressed as a group in the preseason and we're anxious to get the season underway against San Jose State this Saturday."

On Saturday, two minutes and twelve seconds into the opening of its 110th season Stanford scored a touchdown against San Jose State when quarterback, Trent Edwards (Los Gatos, CA) threw a short pass to his wide receiver, Evan Moore (Brea, CA).

Earlier in the week, Buddy spoke about his starting quarterback. He said, "I believe he is ready to go. He had a very positive off-season, has put on probably about 15-18 pounds and matured physically. With a greater degree of confidence, he seems to be seeing the field better this year and his accuracy has improved as well."

Regarding Moore, Teevens commented, "I think the transition back to football from basketball may have left him a little rusty, but he worked very hard during the off-season and progressed well during the spring. He's very passionate about football and basketball, and taking advantage of his skills has served him well."

Tonight's game marked the 60th meeting between the Cardinal and Spartans with Stanford holding a 45-13-1 advantage.

Luckily for the players, coaches, press and fans, the kickoff took place at 7:00 p.m.. At 7 o'clock the temperature in Palo Alto was a balmy 100 degrees.

The game was televised by KRON-TV Channel 4 and co-broadcasted by Greg Papa and Bill Walsh. Papa did play-by-play while the former Stanford and 49er coach offered color for the game.

With 5:05 left in the 2nd Quarter, Stanford went for it all on a 4th down and 2 on San Jose State's 30 yard line. Brilliantly and confidently, Moore grabbed a one-handed pass to bring the catch into the end zone to bring the Cardinal up 13-0. Moore's catch turned out to be the play of the game.

After the botched extra point attempt, Kyle Matter (Newhall, CA), Stanford's backup quarterback, turned a lemon into lemonade when he ran the ball into the end zone for two points.

At the beginning of half-time, KRON's Susan Blake interviewed Coach Teevens. When asked what he thought of the first half Buddy responded by saying, "It wasn't as clean as it needs to be. Offensively, we need to finish some plays off and complete a couple more passes. Defensively, we need to shut people down."

When asked about Evan Moore, he said, "Evan's a good player. We'll be giving him the ball as much as possible."

Teevens took over a Stanford team coming off of a nine-win season in 2001, but under his leadership they have since stumbled to 2-9 and 4-7 seasons.

Teevens, however, is not a novice when it comes to being an underdog. In 1987, the first Dartmouth College team he coached, went 2-8, then came back-to-back with 5-5 campaigns, followed by two 7-2-1 seasons.

Then at Tulane, Teevens went 10-45 from 1992 to 1996 before winning as an assistant coach at Florida from 1999 to 2001.

Just before the start of the 3rd Quarter, Bill Walsh introduced a special guest, Vaughn Bryant, a Pac-10 Champion (Defensive Back '90 - '93) who helped Stanford beat Notre Dame, UCLA, USC and Penn State in the same year.

Responding to Papa's prompt regarding Stanford's Defense Bryant said:

I thought the Stanford defense put a lot of pressure on their quarterback. I thought, had they been able to contain him, he would have even less yards. On broken plays, he was able to get some yards and keep some drives alive. But for the most part, I thought they did a pretty good job.

In response to questions regarding the offense and Evan Moore, Vaughn said:

I think Evan is going to have a big year. I wish he could have played even more last year. Because he is like a big Eddie McCaffery with the height. He has good speed. And he has excellent hands. And he has a basketball background which will bode well for him.

Coach Walsh asked for a grade for Stanford's defense. Bryant gave them a B+.

In the third quarter, with one minute and fifty-four seconds off the clock, Stanford's Ken Tolon (Albuquerque, NM) ran the football in for a touchdown.

Then Edwards carried the ball in for his third touchdown of the night. 10 minutes left in the the third quarter Stanford went up 29-0.

Justin McCullum (Mercer Island, WA ) caught a deflected ball, a forty yard pass by 6' 8" quarterback Ryan Eklund (Federal Way, WA), as he was falling to the ground in the end zone. Unfortunately, by the time he officially caught it, the referee called it out-of-bounds.

Walsh said, "In practice, you would be impressed. That was good for him and his career."

With the ball on the 1 yard line, Tolon again set the Stanford Band playing, completing what McCullum came so close to doing in the previous play.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, the San Jose Spartans kicked a forty yard field goal, eliminating Stanford's chances of a shut-out.

Six minutes later, Stanford quarterback T.C. Ostrander (Atherton, CA) threw a short pass to David Marrero (Parkland, FL), who ran it down the field forty yards for a touchdown. Unfortunately, the ball was brought into play too early, so the stellar touchdown did not count. Until that time, Stanford had a "spartan" attitude toward penalties.

And finally, with four-and-a-half minutes left in the game, Stanford put it in the end zone one more time. This time, it was Ostrander handing the ball to Ray Jones (Columbus, OH), completing a 96 yard drive in 96 seconds.

Walsh gave Stanford B+ for tonight's performance. He gave the Spartans an "Incomplete."

Congratulations Buddy and the entire Stanford team.

Next year, Davis will replace San Jose State on Stanford's schedule.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome and soulful living, and an impressive start to Stanford's season.

~ Jennifer King