On Saturday at 4:00 PM PT on FS1, Stanford football will welcome #5 Washington to The Farm. Stanford comes in at 2-5 and 1-4 in the Pac-12 while Washington comes in at 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: Last weekend, Stanford fell to UCLA at home by a final score of 42-7.
RECAP: Stanford unable to keep it going against #25 UCLA
On Washington: The Huskies are undefeated this season, hence their top-five ranking. They’re gunning for more than just a Pac-12 title as they are hoping to win a national title. A loss to Stanford would doom any hopes of a national title, so they absolutely have to win this game.
Washington has looked vulnerable at times, defeating Arizona State 15-7 at home last week and narrowly beating Arizona 31-24 on the road. They also rocked Cal’s world 59-32 in Seattle, so they have turned on the jets as well.
The Huskies are led by senior quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. who has thrown 2,576 yards, 20 touchdowns, and only five interceptions while completing 70.8% of his passes. He’s been excellent in the pocket, making great decisions with the ball while possessing arm strength and accuracy.
Junior running back Dillon Johnson is the top rusher for the Huskies, rushing for 346 yards and five touchdowns on 69 carries. He has been superb so far. The number two running back is sophomore Will Nixon, who has rushed for 147 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries.
The top two receiving targets for Penix are junior wider receiver Rome Odunze (45 receptions, 818 yards, and six touchdowns) and sophomore wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk (41 yards, 688 yards, and five touchdowns). Both guys get targeted pretty equally and while Odunze does have more yards, Polk is not far behind. So, a pretty evenly balanced attack between those two.
The top two tacklers on the defense are senior linebacker/safety Dominique Hampton (50 total tackles) and senior linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio (45 total tackles). Both guys are very physical and do a great job of setting the tone for the defense.
As far as ball-hawking is concerned, junior cornerback Mishael Powell has two interceptions for 96 returned yards, so he’s one who Stanford’s quarterbacks Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson need to watch out for.
Their field goal kicker Grady Gross is 7-8 on his field goals, making all four of his kicks inside the 30 yard line and making both of his kicks from 40+ yards out. He is 1-2 from 30-39 yards out, which is interesting. Overall, a good kicker.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Penix. He’s the best player on the offense and everything flows through him. If the defense can contain him and at least make him work, maybe they can make this game interesting.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is control possession. They need to convert third downs and hold onto the ball for as long as they can while moving the chains and progressing towards points. If Stanford wins the battle of possession by converting on their third downs and moving the chains, they’ll have a chance to at least keep this thing close. Establishing the run is going to be crucial to that happening. If Casey Filkins is able to run the ball well for the Cardinal, that would help a ton.
The third thing Stanford needs to do find a way to force some turnovers. Get an interception, force and recover a fumble, that sort of thing. If Stanford’s defense is making things tough on Washington in that respect and taking advantage of any looks they do get, they could make this more interesting than people think.
Finally, Stanford needs their offensive line to hold steady. The offensive line is a bit banged up, so others are likely to have to step up. If that part can hold and the offensive line is able to do well with their run and pass blocking, that would be huge for the offense. It’s tough for offense to get going if they are doing well in those areas.
Prediction: I have to pick Washington in this one since they are a top five team. I’ll say Stanford does better than they did against UCLA, but it will still be a decisive win for Washington 42-20. Stanford proved us all wrong at Colorado, so with that game now in our minds, we have to be ready for the unexpected. It’s just that you can’t really predict the unexpected to happen since that’s why it’s called unexpected. It’ll be fun to see if Stanford is able to outperform expectations and make this a game. If they do, maybe I’ll have to rethink my predictions going forward.
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