STANFORD >> Stanford will need to figure out how to unlock its vertical passing game — or hope quarterback Ashton Daniels more fully recovers from his ankle injury — to avoid a long losing streak.

Stanford’s one-dimensional offense was no match for Virginia Tech on Saturday in its first-ever ACC conference home game, and the competition will get only more challenging with games against No. 14 Notre Dame and 5-1 SMU on deck.

Daniels did not practice this week after getting hurt in last week’s loss at Clemson, so the Cardinal (2-3, 1-2 ACC) turned to Justin Lamson, who usually comes in for short-yardage situations.

Lamson was 13 of 24 for 103 yards with two turnovers and was sacked five times in the 31-7 defeat, which was Stanford’s 10th straight home loss against FBS competition.

“We just never had any big plays, really,” coach Troy Taylor said. “If you look down, it was kind of trudging along, and we took shots. We didn’t connect on those shots, so we either misfired or didn’t catch the ball or didn’t protect well. You’re going to have to have big plays against a team like that. It’s going to be hard to go 6, 7, 8 yards at a time, and at the end of the day, we didn’t do enough offensively to create some space and some big plays.”

The only score for the Cardinal was a 19-yard halfback pass from Micah Ford to Elic Ayomanor. Even that option might be unavailable next week, as Ford needed to be helped off the field with 40 seconds left after suffering what appeared to be an injury to his right foot.

Ford, a freshman, had the team’s first 100-yard rushing game from a running back in two years against Clemson. His loss came after Taylor used his timeouts to force a Virginia Tech punt, and then brought the starting offense back on the field to run a two-minute drill despite being down by 24.

“Yeah, you want to compete, and we talk a lot about mentality and not quitting, but you also want to be cognizant of keeping your guys healthy because it’s a really long season.” Taylor said. “Where we are as a program, we need to compete for four quarters and create that mentality that we just don’t stop. But in the same sense, you don’t want to lose anybody, so hopefully he’s OK.”

Ford’s pass was the longest of the day for Stanford. Lamson was intercepted on a long pass that was severely underthrown and he failed to connect on a few other deep shots. He also fumbled on the Virginia Tech 3-yard line in the first quarter when the Cardinal were driving for a tying score.

“I don’t think I performed very well,” Lamson said. “I made a lot of crucial mistakes. I had the turnover early. … I missed a couple of posts that were open and I’ve just got to throw the ball.”

The teams were even in rushing yards at 136 despite Lamson losing 28 yards on sacks. Stanford hasn’t been outrushed by its opponent this season, and the Cardinal finished with more rushing yards than passing yards in consecutive games for the first time since 2017.

But the lack of a passing attack was too much to overcome, especially when Stanford fell behind 14-0 at halftime.

Taylor said that Daniels was available in an emergency, but he didn’t feel comfortable using him when he wasn’t 100% healthy and able to protect himself. So Daniels might be back when the team plays in South Bend on Saturday, but his return doesn’t guarantee the offense will be more productive. Daniels has passed for only 412 yards in three games against FBS competition.

The Hokies (3-3, 1-1) had no such issues throwing downfield. Playing a regular-season game in California for the first time, Virginia Tech took a 21-0 lead two minutes into the third quarter on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Kyron Drones to Da’Quan Felton.

The issues for Stanford weren’t just on offense. The Cardinal didn’t create any turnovers, and Emmet Kenny missed a 53-yard field goal on the first possession that could have given Stanford an early lead, as Taylor said the team was outplayed in all phases.

After back-to-back losses by a combined score of 71-21, Stanford will need to dramatically improve to avoid a four-game losing streak. Notre Dame and SMU are a combined 9-2.

“(Virginia Tech) is a good football team, and they could have easily been undefeated,” Taylor said. “It’s a tough conference, it’s a tough schedule, but that’s what we want. We’ve got to lick our wounds and then go to South Bend and play another great football team.

“It’s a challenge, but we love being in the ACC. This is a great conference.”