Major breakdowns in every area will leave Stanford with plenty to think about entering the bye week.

The Cardinal lost their sixth straight game Saturday — and their fifth by at least 24 points — in a 59-28 loss at N.C. State on Saturday morning.

Once again, Stanford (2-7, 1-5) got off to a slow start, giving up the first 14 points for the fifth straight conference game.

At least this time it had an excuse. The Cardinal were playing at 9 a.m. Pacific Time for the first time this season and playing their fourth game in the Eastern Time Zone in seven weeks, a consequence of their first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Stanford now plays its last three games in the Bay Area — at home against Louisville on Nov. 16, followed by the Big Game at Cal and the season finale at San Jose State.

Whether the Cardinal can take advantage of the shorter trips depends on whether their defense can recover from giving up the seventh-most points in program history, and whether a rotating series of quarterbacks and running backs can help the offense keep up.

“The message is just to continue to compete,” said Stanford coach Troy Taylor, whose record fell to 5-16 with the Cardinal. “There’s no magic player or anything that’s going to save us. We just have to fight. I don’t think we stopped, I really thought they were competing, but the message is come out of the bye and try to finish these last three games strong and get some W’s.”