by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal (3-1, 2-0 Oac-12) will be hosting the University of Arizona Wildcats (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) Saturday night at Stanford Stadium. Game time will be 7:30 pm and the Pac-12 Network will televise the game.

Stanford enters the game with three straight wins after a loss opening day to Northwestern. The Cardinal is the only team with two wins in the Pac-12 conference so far this season. The Wildcats won their first three games by defeating the University of Texas San Antonio, The University of Nevada Reno and Northern Arizona.  UClA handed them their first loss beating them 56-30.

The Wildcats lead the league in scoring averaging 48.2 points per game, total offense (555.5 yards) and rushing(329 Yards). Their running back, Nick Wilson averages 142.5 yards per game and has three-consecutive games 100 yard-games. Their quarterback Anu Solomon suffered a concussion in the game against the UCLA Bruins and is day-to-day. Solomon is fourth best in the conference in passing efficiency. He has thrown eleven touchdown passes without an interception. If Solomon is unable to play, Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez will have to choose between Jarred Russell or Brandon Dawkins. Rodriguez said this about his QBs ” Brandon is faster, and Jerrard is taller. I think he has the strongest arm on the team,.” “Brandon (Russell) is very valuable and brings a lot of energy to the offense.Jerrard, too. He’s so explosive. You don’t know when he is going to pop.”

On the defensive side, the Wildcats will be without the All-American linebacker Scooby Wright III and linebacker Derrick Turituri is banged up. Wright sustained an ankle injury. The Wildcat defense will be challenged to hold down the Stanford offense. Rodriguez said this about Stanford. “They are going to come downhill at you, run the power and pull schemes and stuff like that, but they’ll do it with multiple personnel groupings. They’ll put extra linemen in the game and use multiple tight ends. They have a fifth-year quarterback who is experienced and can make all the throws.”

The Cardinal offense is clicking, and Coach David Shaw had this to say “It starts with the offensive line and our tight ends. Both guys – Dalton Schultz and Austin Hooper are doing a great job blocking. The guy nobody talks about, Daniel Marx, a first-time starter, is having an outstanding year. He’s an NFL prototypical fullback.” Shaw said offensive left tackle Kyle Murphy will start Saturday. Murphy left the game against Oregon State with an injury. David Bright and Brandon Fanaika filled in nicely for Murphy. Shaw said ” Fanaika did very well. At some point, he’s going to be a starter at guard.”

Kevin Hogan will again lead the Cardinal offense. Runnings backs Christian McCaffrey, Barry Sanders, and Remound Wright will handle the running game.The 18th-ranked Cardinal racked up 195 yards running against USC and 325 more in the win over Oregon State.

On defense, The Cardinal are expected to have linemen Brennan Scarlett, and Aziz Shittu available for the game. Linebacker Kevin Anderson will not be available. Redshirt freshman Joey Alfieri will start at outside linebacker in place of Anderson. Alfieri had five tackles and a fumble recovery in the game against OSU.

Should be a great game. The Cardinal wants a win as they head into the showdown with the UCLA Bruins on Thursday. October 15th. The Wildcats want to upset the Cardinal to show everyone that the loss to UCLA was a fluke.