On Saturday at 7:30 PM PT on FS1 and KNBR 1050 AM, Stanford will take on the #18 Washington Huskies on the road in Seattle. Washington comes in at 3-0 overall (0-0 Pac-12) while Stanford comes in at 1-1 overall (0-1 Pac-12).
Stanford Depth Chart: Washington
Myles Hinton out for Saturday at Washington
Last time out: Two weeks back, Stanford fell to USC at home by a final score of 41-28. Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee went 20-35 for 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions while USC quarterback Caleb Williams went 20-27 for 341 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.
RECAP: Stanford falls to #10 USC on The Farm
On Washington: The Huskies are coming off a huge 39-28 home victory against Michigan State and will look to protect their house once again with Stanford coming to town. They are led by junior quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. who has 10 passing touchdowns, 1 interception, a 66.0% completion percentage, and 1079 passing yards.
The lead tailbacks on this Huskies team are graduate transfer Wayne Taulapapa and sophomore Cameron Davis. Both have 35 carries on the year, so they’ve been splitting touches through three games. Taulapapa averages 5.3 yards per carry and has two touchdowns on the year while Davis averages 4.5 yards per carry and four touchdowns.
Their two main receivers are sophomore wide receiver Jalen McMillan and redshirt freshman wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk. McMillan has 16 receptions for an average of 19.3 yards per reception to go along with three touchdowns. Polk has 12 receptions for an average of 20.4 yards per reception and four touchdowns.
On defense, sophomore linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and sophomore cornerback Mishael Powell each lead the team with 17 total tackles. Both are doing a great job of making plays in the backfield and helping their defense get stops.
As a team, the Huskies are averaging 45.3 points per game while their opponents are averaging 18.0. They have an explosive offense and a defense that knows how to get stops.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is keep Penix in check. He’s a dynamic quarterback that knows how to make plays and get the ball into the hands of the right people. If he has a big game, Washington will cruise to a win. If Stanford can make things tough on him, they’ll have a chance to win.
Secondly, Stanford needs to take care of the ball. Turnovers did them in against USC and while they beat Colgate with little trouble, turnovers were an issue in that game as well. Stanford has to make sure they are taking care of the ball and not giving away free possessions. That starts with McKee under center and also Casey Filkins, who will be taking over the lead running back spot with E.J. Smith out. Both of those guys have to take care of the ball and make sure they’re making good decisions when it’s in their hands.
Finally, Stanford’s defense needs to step up. They were bad in the first half against USC but looked better in the second half. Some of that was due to USC not going as hard in the second half, but some of that was also due to the defense just playing better. If the defense can step up, not get easily burned, and force at least one turnover, that would be huge for Stanford’s chances of winning this game.
Prediction: Washington is at home and they are ranked. That alone is reason to pick them to win this game. I think Stanford’s offense will do fine, but the defense has me worried. I got Washington winning this game 38-31.
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