Washington Huskies play Stanford at home for Game 4
After coming back to beat Utah last week, the Washington Huskies football team looks to make it four straight wins when they host Stanford.
The Washington Huskies were originally scheduled to play this Saturday’s game against Stanford in Palo Alto, California. Santa Clara County, home of the Cardinal, issued new COVID-19 restrictions, part of which bans all contact sports through December 21. Now Husky Stadium will host the game.
The Cardinal team has taken up a temporary residency in Seattle. They will practice locally before this week’s game with the Huskies and then stick around town to prepare for Oregon State in Corvalis the following Saturday.
Washington Huskies
The Washington Huskies head into this game undefeated. They are 3-0 and ranked 23rd in the country after wins over Oregon State, Arizona, and Utah.
Last week Utah did a great job physically against the Huskies. They were able to stop Washington’s offense while pounding the ball against UW’s defense. The half time score was Utah 21 – Washington 0. During the break, Huskies head coach Jimmy Lake told his team that Utah came out swinging and now was their time to fight back.
That’s exactly what Washington did. They came after Utah quarterback Jake Bentley and shut down the Utes running game. The Huskies offense also responded with 17 points in the third quarter, primarily through the air.
On the last drive of the game, Washington quarterback Dylan Moore led his team down the field for the winning score with under a minute left in the game. He found his favorite target Cade Otton on a 16-yard pass play to give UW its first lead of the game. Utah tried to come back, but cornerback Trent McDuffie intercepted a deep ball to clinch a 24-21 victory.
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal are 1-2 on the season so far. They lost to Oregon in their first game of the season 35-14. Not only were they playing a good Ducks team, but the Cardinal was also without their starting quarterback Davis Mills due to contact tracing.
In their 35-32 loss to Colorado, the Buffaloes shut down the run, so Stanford went heavily to the air. Mills threw 56 passes, resulting in 327 yards and a touchdown.
Last week was The Big Game between Stanford and California. The Cardinal almost lost this nail-biter in the final seconds. Cal scored a touchdown, which closed the deficit to 24-23 as time expired. Stanford blocked the ensuing extra-point attempt to win the game.
Outlook
Defensively the Cardinal will try to shut down the Huskies balanced offensive attack. Washington can run the ball with any of their four running backs, and Morris gets more comfortable leading the offense each week. Utah gave Stanford a blueprint in the first half last week, but the Utes eventually wore down. How long can the Cardinal defense last against UW?
The Huskies defense has two big players to worry about. Mills is obviously not afraid to air the ball out. Washington is sure to come after him with relentless pressure. Then there is running back Austin Jones. He has been impressive in spurts, and UW hasn’t done the best job of containing their opponent’s bell-cow back this season.
The Washington Huskies, who play well at home, face another tough opponent in Stanford. It should be a good game and I expect the Huskies to win. Go Dawgs!