This is the Depth Dossier: the Stanford Cardinal, Week 7.

Stanford walked away with a 34 to 7 win over Elon on Homecoming, but the real headline is that running back Micah Ford matched Christian McCaffrey's school record for rushing touchdowns in a game, and Stanford's defense still let an FCS back run wild.

It took a full quarter for Stanford to get anything going. The offense missed a field goal, got stopped at the goal line, and generally looked stuck against an FCS opponent. Then Ford took over. He ran it 19 times for 179 yards and four touchdowns, finishing with 231 total yards from scrimmage. Quarterback Davis Warren was steady, going 27 for 39 for 279 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. But the defense couldn't match the offense's second-half energy. Elon running back Kamerin McDowell-Moore ran for 164 yards, his fourth straight 100-yard game. Head coach Frank Pritchard said he challenged the team at halftime, and it answered.

Let's dig into why that first quarter was such a mess. Stanford's offense was nearly invisible early, producing almost nothing on a points-per-play basis. Then in the second quarter, it flipped completely, becoming efficient and nearly unstoppable. Two scoring chances died in that rough first quarter. A 35-yard field goal attempt by kicker Emmet Kenney missed, and a nine-play drive that reached the Elon one-yard line got overturned on review at the goal line. Add in whatever would have come from that overturned spot, and that's three scoring chances that vanished before halftime, which explains why this felt scoreless a lot longer than the final score suggests.

Once the offense got rolling, it really got rolling. Seven scoring opportunities turned into 35 points, and the power running game converted basically every time. Ford was the engine behind nearly all of it, including a touchdown where he scooped up a bobbled direct snap and carried it in himself.

The officials were busy too. Four plays got reviewed, including a fumble by running back Sedrick Irvin that went through the end zone in the fourth quarter. It was originally ruled a one-yard gain before replay overturned it to a touchback. It didn't change the outcome here, but it's the kind of call that could decide a closer game.

The bigger concern is the run defense. Stanford gave up 220 rushing yards on 34 carries to an FCS team, keyed by McDowell-Moore's 164 yards and an 84-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. That's his fourth straight 100-yard game against anybody, which makes this look like a real pattern, not a one-week blip. Stanford did convert both of its fourth-down tries to make up for it.

Now to the depth chart, where the biggest question mark is on the offensive line. Guard Niki Prongos left the game in the third quarter after a play where he was involved as a pass target, and an outside report, not confirmed by the program, suggests he could be out for an extended period. That should stay an open question rather than a confirmed injury. He'd only just come back from missing the first three games of the season in late September, so if this report holds, it's a second absence in a short span. No other changes were reported on the line, and Pritchard praised the run blocking regardless. Freshman quarterback Michael Mitchell Junior came in late and went two for two, which is worth watching if Prongos's situation drags on.

Everything else comes back to Ford. His 231 yards from scrimmage are the most by a Stanford running back since 2017, and he carried the ball on 85 percent of the team's rushing attempts. This isn't a committee backfield. It's his show. He also picked up his second ACC Running Back of the Week honor.

On defense, no jobs changed hands, but the run defense's recurring issue is now a two-week trend worth watching, especially heading into games against offenses with their own workhorse running back.

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.