Stanford leads NC State 28-14 in second half of Friday ACC matchup

Stanford builds a two-touchdown lead

Stanford led NC State 28-14 with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter of their Atlantic Coast Conference game Friday night at Stanford Stadium, according to NC State’s official game center. The Cardinal scored 14 points in the opening quarter, added seven in the second and opened the second half with another touchdown. NC State scored once in each of the first two quarters but had not added to its total in the third at the latest verified snapshot. ^{[1] [2]}

Stanford quarterback Davis Warren had thrown for 282 yards at that stage, more than double the 146 passing yards listed for NC State’s CJ Bailey. Warren’s production helped the Cardinal accumulate 395 total yards on 50 plays, compared with 253 yards on 33 plays for the Wolfpack. Stanford also held a 22-11 edge in first downs and had converted two of three fourth-down attempts. ^[1]

Warren and Ford power the Cardinal

The official tracker listed Caden High as Stanford’s leading receiver with 103 yards and Micah Ford as its leading rusher with 101. Bailey had supplied much of NC State’s offense himself, passing for 146 yards and leading the Wolfpack with 59 rushing yards. Deandre Desinor led NC State receivers with 66 yards. ^[1]

The matchup arrived with both teams trying to build stability in the middle of their schedules. Stanford entered 3-4 after a 34-7 win over Elon and was seeking consecutive victories for the first time in 2026. NC State entered 3-3. A San Francisco Chronicle preview identified Stanford’s Warren and Ford as central to the matchup while pointing to Bailey as the primary test for a Cardinal pass defense that had struggled earlier in the season. ^{[3] [4]}

Friday’s game was the second football meeting between the programs. NC State won the first, 59-28, in Raleigh in November 2024, when the Wolfpack scored on nine consecutive possessions and produced 281 rushing yards. That earlier result offered background rather than a guide to a rematch played with different rosters and in a different stadium. ^[5]

What remains unresolved

The game was still in progress when this article was filed. The final score, complete statistical leaders and any confirmed injury developments were not yet available. Those details should be taken from the completed official box score rather than projected from the third-quarter margin. ^{[1] [2]}

The result carries conference and postseason significance for two teams near the midpoint of their schedules: a Stanford win would bring the Cardinal back to .500, while an NC State comeback would move the Wolfpack above it. Those consequences remain contingent on the final result, which will replace this developing update once independently confirmed. ^{[1] [3]}