By Jeremy Harness
photo credit google images Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey
STANFORD – While Stanford keeps rolling, the teams directly in front of them seem to tumble out of the way.
At this point, the Cardinal appear likely to be on a crash course with Utah in the Pac-12 championship game on Dec. 5. However, the No. 3 Utes suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday, falling to unranked USC.
While Utah was on the wrong side of a beatdown, 10th-ranked Stanford was busy wearing down – and then running away from – Washington in a 31-14 victory at Stanford Stadium. While No. 9 Florida State also lost, the 10th-ranked Cardinal are expected to move up even more.
They have made their season-long ascent authoritatively and efficiently, and Saturday’s game was the ultimate show-and-tell. Stanford held the ball twice as long as Washington and gradually broke down an increasingly-tired Huskies defense without turning the ball over once. The point was driven across in a first half that saw the Cardinal out-gain Washington, 251-58, while racing to a 17-0 lead.
“It starts with the guys up front,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “When they’re doing their job, it makes our job a lot easier. You’ve got a quarterback like Kevin Hogan who can demand the field. He’s one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met on the field.”
McCaffrey made history on Saturday with 300 all-purpose yards to go along with two touchdowns, the school-record fifth game in a row that he has racked up 200 or more yards of offense. Fifty of those yards came on a third-quarter pass from Hogan, which saw him slip by the Washington secondary and scamper untouched into the end zone.
Meanwhile, Hogan had a very solid game, completing 17 of his 24 throws for 290 yards and a pair of scores.
Stanford jumped right on Washington (3-4, 1-3 Pac-12) from the outset. Upon receiving the opening kickoff, the Cardinal marched down the field by firmly establishing their vaunted running attack.
After four straight runs, Hogan caught the Huskies by surprise on a 2nd-and-1 and found tight end Austin Hooper down the middle of the field for a 21-yard touchdown to give the Cardinal the quick lead.
“His leadership has been huge for us,” coach David Shaw said. “He’s been as efficient as any quarterback in college football over the last month and a half. He’s come up with some really nice balls, giving a guy a chance to make some plays.”
While embarking on its longest drive of the season, Stanford struck again to extend its lead to start the second quarter. Aided by a 24-yard pass from Hogan to McCaffrey to convert a 2nd-and-19, the Cardinal drove 90 yards while using up more than eight minutes to do so and capped things off when Remound Wright scored on a one-yard plunge.
The fact that Washington could not throw the ball at all certainly helped Stanford. K.J Carta-Samuels completed only nine of his 21 passes for 118 yards, most of which came in a second half that saw the game all but decided, which proved to be particularly deadly for the Huskies on third down.
Washington did not convert any of its five third-down attempts and got only two first downs in the entire half, forcing its defense to be stuck on the field for extended periods of time and allowing Stanford’s bruising offense to pound away.
In fact, the Huskies did not reach Stanford territory until the start of the third quarter.
The Cardinal will travel up north to face Washington State next Saturday night, but this is not expected to be a cakewalk by any means.
The Cougars have been a conference doormat for years, but after losing its season opener to Portland State, they have experienced a major resurgence that continued after its road win over Arizona on Saturday. Washington State (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) also owns a road win over Oregon this year, so next week’s showdown could very well decide the Pac-12 North title.
“It’s going to be a great game,” linebacker Blake Martinez said. “It’s going to show everything we’ve been working for these past seven games. It’s going to show how great our young secondary is. We are definitely going to have our hands full with each play, but I know our guys in the secondary are going to do what they need to do to make those plays.
“I trust them completely.”
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