Stanford vs. Washington Prediction Roundtable – What’s Going To Happen

Boise State’s meteoric rise under Petersen begat the lofty expectations awaiting Washington in the coach’s third season in Seattle. Still, Arizona might have the lightest D-line in the Pac-12 – a much different animal (s) than what the Huskies’ O-line will see Friday night.

Washington will play host to No. 7 Stanford on Friday night at 9 p.m. ET in the first matchup of top 10 teams at Husky Stadium in 19 years.

The most influential Pac-12 North matchup of the year may happen on the final day of September.

For someone who tries to keep everything as even as possible, this week is a major challenge for Washington coach Chris Petersen. He said when offers started rolling in from ACC and SEC programs, there were only two non-East Coast schools that offered scholarships, Stanford and Michigan State. And I was living in Portugal when I started to learn how to speak and I was speaking a combination of all three languages.

The Cardinal are a wonderful football team and a model program, but even with McCaffrey, they’re pretty boring. And there’s also an overall momentum angle in play for both teams. “So it’s a great opportunity for the kids, for everybody playing in a game like this”.

Washington’s game against Stanford this week likely will go a long way toward determining the Pac-12 North champion, but keep an eye on Pullman, where Washington State hosts an OR team trying to avoid its first three-game losing streak since 2007. The Cardinal’s last game – against USC – tested Burns’ ability against a tough conference opponent. The Stanford Cardinal ground game is averaging 204.6 yards per contest, and McCaffrey leads the way with 436 yards and three touchdowns.

“There is no practice substitute to the environment that [Burns] was in”, Shaw said. The Sun Devils are likely one win away from cracking the top 25. “No matter who they choose, they’re going to do a great job and step it up in the run game for us”. It’s going to be loud.

If you listened to the podcast this week, you would have heard me pick Stanford early in the week. I know, easier said than done.

OR has won 12 consecutive games against the Huskies, but that streak is in jeopardy this fall after UO’s 2-2 start.

From Washington’s perspective: Since the beginning of the 2015 season, the Cardinal have lost only two games. McCaffrey had four 100-yard rushing games last season on the road, and had 138 yards rushing last week at UCLA.

The Huskies held McCaffrey below his season average in rushing last season, but where he really hurt the Huskies was in the passing game – with receptions of 24, 21 and 50 yards. But the Wildcats couldn’t match Washington’s overtime touchdown. The Huskies are tied for the national lead in takeaways (13) and have committed only four turnovers. 3.

Friday’s total is set at 44 points. The defense ranks eighth nationally in scoring defense at 12 points per game and junior defensive tackle Solomon Thomas was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after returning a fumble 42 yards for a touchdown and also posting a sack against the Bruins.

Washington comes in with big-play threats all over the field on offense, led by Jake Browning’s 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He didn’t play in last season’s loss to Stanford because of injury. Myles Gaskin is averaging nearly five yards per carry as well, giving the Huskies a strong option out of the backfield.

“Speed everywhere”, Shaw said. Browning, running back Myles Gaskin and wide receiver John Ross should be producing explosive plays against the Cardinal defense. Their receivers have speed. The key is they run the right routes, Josh goes through his reads, he reads the right coverages, goes through his progression and reads the right guy.