Stanford football has seen its share of blowouts in the past year. This time around, however, the Cardinal were on the wrong side of the rout as No. 10 Washington (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) man-handled Stanford (3-1, 2-1 Pac-12) 44-6 during a statement game for the Huskies in front of a sellout crowd in Seattle.
Both the offensive and defensive lines failed to execute as the team gave up 8 sacks for the first time since 2006, before the Jim Harbaugh-David Shaw era even began. The injury-ridden Cardinal substituted multiple O- and D-line backups to fill in for injured players such as defensive lineman Solomon Thomas and offensive tackle Casey Tucker.
Stanford seemed uncharacteristically lacking discipline as it was flagged 11 times for 100 yards. Crowd noise contributed to miscommunication, fumbles and two delay-of-game penalties.
From the outset the Huskies were in control, scoring at will starting with their first drive of the game when quarterback Jake Browning launched a 35-yard pass to receiver Dante Pettis to set up a Pettis touchdown a few plays later.
The Dawgs would go on to score a rushing and another passing touchdown and a field goal to give them a commanding 23-0 lead at the half from which they never looked back. Stanford’s 30-0 deficit in the 3rd quarter was the largest under Shaw and the largest since the 2008 Big Game.
Junior running back Christian McCaffrey silently picked up 223 all-purpose yards including 144 yards in kickoff returns but was stifled on the run against a smothering Husky front seven. Senior quarterback Ryan Burns gained 151 yards on 15-for-22 passing including a touchdown toss to sophomore receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside in the Cardinal’s only score of the night.
Washington displayed a balanced attack as receiver John Ross tallied 128 all-purpose yards, running back Myles Gaskin netted 100 yards rushing and Browning threw 15-for-21 for 210 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.
At multiple points during the game, Shaw tried to settle down his offense by calling timeouts but the decisions came to no avail as one led to a snap that Burns wasn’t prepared for on 4th down and another was followed by a fumble.
The Cardinal hope to rebound next week as they host Washington State on Saturday, Oct. 8.
Contact Tristan Vanech at tvanech ‘at’ stanford.edu.