On Saturday, Stanford football fell to #18 Washington by final score of 40-22. Washington quarterback Michael Penix, Jr.went 22-37 for 309 yards and 2 touchdowns while wide receiver Rome Odunze had 8 receptions for 161 yards and 1 touchdown. Washington tailback Wayne Taulapapa rushed for 120 yards and 1 touchdown on 13 attempts. Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee went 17-26 for 286 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception while wide receiver Michael Wilson had 6 receptions for 176 yards and 2 touchdowns. Stanford running back Casey Filkins rushed for 100 yards on 20 attempts. Stanford falls to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-12 while Washington improves to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12.
“Difficult loss today,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said after the game. “Crowd wasn’t a factor. I mean, it was loud, it was rocking, but I thought our guys handled the communication very well. Wasn’t an issue with getting off the ball. We had an issue with blocking them. You know, it’s kinda the wrong place in the wrong game against the wrong team to not have your starting tackles out there. You know, we missed Myles [Hinton] during the game and then Walter Rouse had to go out for a little bit and came back and wasn’t a hundred percent, but battled through it. Difficult. Very difficult.
“But on top of that, wasn’t just Washington who played really well, I mean it was us. Offensively, we gotta stop turning the ball over. You know, we’re gonna do whatever we can to stop that because I think that we’ve proven it now if we don’t turn the ball over, and we don’t have the catastrophic mistakes, we can march down the field and be effective and score points. So, that’s top of my list right now: Cutting down on our offensive mistakes.
“Defensively, this is a tough league. A lot of great quarterbacks, a lot of high-powered offenses, a lot of really good football players and they’re going to make some plays. They’re going to score some points. That’s not the issue. The issue for me is to make sure that we limit the big plays, limit the explosive plays, but then part of playing defense is playing great offense and turnovers in the red zone take away points from us and then turnovers in our own end give points to them and we did both.
“So, really difficult for us because there’s a lot there for us. There’s a lot there for us. And we’re gonna find a way to get it out of our team. You know, it’s top of my list right now. We’ve got players, love our schemes, a lot of things that we’re doing, but we’re not giving ourselves a chance. We have to give ourselves a chance to be in these games in the fourth quarter and we’ll find a way to win, but right now we’re not giving ourselves a chance and that’s what has to change.”
Stanford got the ball to start the game as Bryce Farrell was on the return, returning the ball to their own 23 yard line. It would be a quick three and out drive for Stanford as Ryan Sanborn came out and punted it 50 yards to the Washington 30 yard line before it was returned for 12 yards by Giles Jackson.
Washington would make quick work of Stanford in their first drive as Penix completed a pass to Odunze for 18 yards before connecting with Jack Westover for 21 yards. This set up a three yard touchdown run by Will Nixon, making it a 7-0 Washington lead with 10:32 to go in the 1st quarter.
Stanford’s next drive would start off better as they had 1st and 10 on the Washington 41 yard line. Filkins was doing work for Stanford with 46 all-purpose yards on three carries and one reception. Starting left tackle Walter Rouse headed to the sideline banged up, which didn’t help an already depleted Stanford offensive line.
Stanford’s drive would get near the red zone but end in an interception as McKee tried to complete a pass to Filkins only for it to roll off him and into the hands of Washington’s Cam Bright. Washington had the ball on their own 13 yard line with 3:29 to go in the 1st quarter.
Washington would lead 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. Stanford finally got a tackle for a loss by Ricky Miezan making it 2nd and 11 for Washington from the Stanford 34 yard line. Stanford’s defense was giving up too many yards far too easily.
After a Washington field goal, it would be a lead for the Huskies with 13:26 to go in the half. Stanford caught a bit of a break to hold them to a field goal, though they did a nice job forcing the 3rd and 10 that led to the field goal attempt.
On the next drive, Stanford’s drive ended in a punt that was downed by Michael Wilson at the Washington three yard line. 9:08 was left in the half for Stanford. Tanner McKee had been sacked five times up to this point, not getting the kind of protection that he was in need of.
Stanford’s defense would then force a Washington punt. Something they had not been able to do all night. It was now time for Stanford to do something as they had 1st and 10 on their own 45 yard line with 6:32 to go in the half. Stanford’s drive would end in McKee quickly fumbling as Washington recovered. Stanford’s offense was continuing to struggle.
Washington would make Stanford pay as Taulapapa had a 34 yard touchdown run to make it a 17-0 Washington lead with 5:53 to go in the half. Stanford’s turnovers were really costing them.
Stanford would finally get on the board in the next drive as Tanner McKee connected with Michael Wilson on a 23 yard touchdown pass. They previously connected on a 37 yard reception earlier in the drive. It was now a 17-7 Washington lead with 4:00 to go in the half.
At halftime, it would be a 17-7 lead for Washington as Stanford avoided coughing the ball up near their own end zone right before the first half ended. All things considered; Stanford was fortunate to not be down by more points. Their defense was settling in and their offense finally showed at least a spark of life with that touchdown.
In the first drive of the second half, Stanford caught a break as safety Kendall Williamson wasn’t called for targeting upon replay review. Williamson’s nice pass break up forced a 4th and 8 and a 47 yard field goal attempt by Washington. The kick would be good, making it a 20-7 Washington lead with 10:54 to go in the 3rd quarter.
The next drive would be a 3 and out for the Stanford offense. Washington would get the ball on their own 31 yard line after nice punt coverage from Ethan Bonner. 9:09 was left in the 3rd quarter.
Washington would extend their lead further after Penix, Jr. connected with Odunze on a 30 yard touchdown reception. It was now a 27-7 lead for Washington with 6:43 to go in the 3rd quarter.
With 2:49 to go in the 3rd, it would be a 30-7 Washington lead after another Huskies field goal. The Stanford defense did a solid job of forcing the field goal. They just were not getting much help from the offense.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Washington led 30-7. Stanford had the ball on the Washington 37 yard line to start the 4th quarter. 2nd and 10.
Stanford would find the end zone on the drive as McKee connected with Wilson on a 21 yard reception before finding John Humphreys for a 17 yard touchdown. Stanford went for two points and converted as McKee found Brycen Tremayne in the end zone. This made it a 30-15 Washington lead with 13:58 to go.
On the next drive, Washington would quickly get in field goal range after a 61 yard reception by Odunze. However, they would not find the end zone, having to settle for the three points. This made it a 33-15 lead for Washington with 11:21 to go.
On the next Stanford drive, McKee would fumble, giving the ball back to Washington. 10:45 was left in the game. At this point, it was clear how the game was going to end.
The next Washington drive would end in Giles Jackson scoring an easy 21 yard touchdown pass, making it a 40-15 lead for the Huskies with 7:41 to go. This one was getting ugly.
To give Stanford some credit, they found a way to score one more time as McKee connected with Wilson on a 78 yard touchdown pass to make it a 40-22 game with 1:45 to go. Wilson in particular fought all game long and was individually rewarded for his efforts even if the rest of his team wasn’t that great around him. In the end, it would be a 40-22 final score as Washington walked out with an easy win.
For Washington, this is a really nice win. Stanford came in hoping to surprise everyone and instead they got shut down pretty fast. Washington was eager to show that they are for real and after the way they played tonight, it’s not hard to think that they’re one of the better teams in the Pac-12.
As for Stanford, this loss stings. Not so much that they lost, but in that they never were really in this game. It was one-way traffic all night long. McKee got sacked eight times and never was able to get into any sort of sustained rhythm offensively. When Stanford did get rolling a bit, they were fine. But the issue is those moments were rare. They have to find ways to establish more consistency.
The absence of right tackle Myles Hinton on the offensive line was noticeable not to mention the fact that Branson Bragg, one of their starting guards coming into the season, has retired. While not excuses for their sloppy play up front, it was clear that this particular offensive line unit was really having a tough time finding a good groove and that really hurt the team.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Oregon on Saturday, October 1st. That game will begin at 8:00 PM PT on FS1 and KNBR 1050 radio. Oregon was #15 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll before defeating Washington State 44-41. It’ll be interesting to see if their ranking will rise at all as a result of that victory.
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