Washington Huskies vs Stanford Cardinal Preview
By Matthew Gray
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
The Pac-12 has four unbeaten teams and two of them will face off Saturday night as Washington (1-0 Pac-12, 4-0 overall) journeys to play Stanford (2-0, 4-0) in a 7:30 p.m. game.
The game will air on a national scale on ESPN television. Washington progressed up a spot in the AP Top 25 this week, checking in at No. 15, whereas the Dawgs moved up two spots to No. 18 in the Coaches’ Poll. Stanford stayed at No. 5 in both rankings.
The game is the first of two straight vs. top-5 teams for the Huskies, who return home Oct. 12th to take on No. 2 Oregon at Husky Stadium.
Washington is highly ranked in the NCAA in a quantity of offensive and defensive classifications, counting: 3rd in 3rd-down conversions, 4th in completion percentage and 5th in total offense, as well as 2nd in pass efficiency defense and 4th in scoring defense.
Bishop Sankey will cross the threshold this week as the nation’s No. 1 rusher with 151.8 yards per game. Sankey broke Corey Dillon’s UW record with 40 carries (good for 161 yards) last week vs. Arizona. He’s rushed for 100 or more in seven of the last nine and for 200 in two of his last five.
Sankey is just the fourth-ever Husky to rush for 200 yards in two games, joining Corey Dillon, Napoleon Kaufman and Louis Rankin.
Keith Price, who is presently No. 12 in the country in pass efficiency, moved into the No. 3 spot in UW career passing yards in the win at Illinois — he now has 6,997 career yards.
UW has over 80 plays in all four games so far (85, 85, 81, 86), in the Idaho State game, eight different Huskies scored a touchdown (one each), in the Huskies’ win over then-No. 19 Boise State and the UW detained the Broncos minus a touchdown for the first time since 1997.
Seven true freshmen played in the season opener: WR Darrell Daniels, DB Kevin King, DE Joe Mathis, WR John Ross, WR Damore’ea Stringfellow, PK Cameron Van Winkle and DB Trevor Walker — three more (DE Marcus Farria, WR Taelon Parson, DB Kaleb Taylor) played in the Idaho State game.
Not including specialists (kickers, punter, snappers, holders, returners) the UW has 36 players who have started at least one game in their career, including eight offensive linemen.
All five of senior Travis Coons’ punts vs. Arizona were downed inside the 20. Coons is furthermore one of 23 kickers in the country who has yet to miss a field goal this season (4-for-4).
Sean Parker is fifth in the nation in interceptions per game.
Washington embraces a moderately close 41-38-4 lead in the series against Stanford, but has been the prevailing team in contemporary years. After winning eight straight vs. Stanford from 1959 to 1966, the Huskies lost 10 in a row from 1967 to 1976. From the time when that 1976 loss occurred, Washington has gone 22-8 against the Cardinal.
The game kicks off at Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California
Saturday, October 5, 9:30 PM (CT) on ESPN