Maybe these near disasters are keeping the Huskies grounded in the fact that they need to keep improving if they’re going to make it to the PAC-12 Conference Title Game and possibly into the national playoff. They got off to a decent start in this one. After holding Stanford to just 27 yards in twelve plays and forcing a punt on their first possession, Washington was in the end zone less than three minutes later on a Jack Westover TD run to go up 7-0 half-way through the 1st Qtr. But after that they were held to three-and-outs on their next two possessions and didn’t score again until after Stanford had already tied it up on a 5 yard Ashton Daniels scamper into the end zone to start the 2nd Qtr. The Huskies second score to go back out in front 14-7 happened well into that period, and this time was on a TD pass from Michael Penix-Jr to WR Rome Odunze. After forcing the Cardinal to punt on their next possession, Washington would expand that lead less than 15 seconds later when Penix-Jr hit Sophomore WR Ja’Lynn Polk for a pass that resulted in a 92 yard run to the house to go up 21-7. And at this point it seemed as though the game was going to turn into a rout. But like all games Husky lately they have given us all reason to wonder why, after beating their first four opponents by an average of over 30 points, they have won their last three by a just a single possession difference.
Stanford started chipping away at the score and connected on book-end field goals before the half after holding Washington to a three-and-out to make it 21-13 by the break. The Hukies got the ball to start the 3rd Qtr but after two Washington penalties and a sack had to punt it away and the Cardinal chipped away some more. Aided by a Husky pass interference penalty, Stanford would score after just three plays on an Ashton Daniels TD pass to Sophomore WR Elic Ayomanor to make it 21-19 with ten minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. After that, back-to-back punts by both teams would be followed by back-to-back TD’s by both making still a very uncomfortable two point lead for the Huskies at 28-26 with just a little over a minute left in the 3rd Qtr. Washington would finally extend that lead to 35-26 at the end of a quick, under two minute, seven play 79 yard drive on a Michael Penix-Jr 24 yard TD pass to Devin Culp. After holding Stanford to a three-and-out the Huskies would get another chance to widen the gap even further but would fumble the ball leading to a Cardinal TD to make it a 35-33 game with under seven minutes left in the fourth. Washington’s next chance to get some breathing room resulted in disaster in the form of an interception in the Stanford Red Zone with just five minutes left to play.
As much trouble as Washington has had lately putting games away this looked like the end of the road against a team that had already put up over 300 yards in the air and 100 on the ground. All they had to do was kill some clock as they worked the ball down field and put themselves in position for a field goal and one point victory. But inexplicably, unable to move the ball Stanford—who had recorded three three-and-outs, an interception, and forced a fumble during the game—decided to go for it on 4th and 2 on their own 28 yard line with well over 3 minutes left in the game instead of punting. They could have used Chip Kelly’s half-time speech to his Bruins when he told them this is Halloween and not Christmas. Four plays later, with only 28 yards to go, Washington was back in the end zone with a 42-33 lead and another win they were able to squeak out.
For Stanford, Sophomore QB Ashton Daniels connected on 31-of-48 for 367 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions while also rushing 18 times for 81 yards and two more scores. On the ground the Cardinal rushed for 128 yards on 35 attempts with backup QB Justin Lampson picking up the other score. For Washington, QB Michael Penix-Jr connected on 21-of-37 for 369 yards, 4 TD’s, and 1 pick. WR’s Ja’Lynn Polk and Rome Odunze, along with Senior TE Devin Culp combined for 292 yards and all four TD’s on just 14 receptions while on the ground it was Junior RB Dillon Johnson who picked up 84 of Washington’s 91 yards of total rushing as well one of two TD’s with Senior TE Jack Westover picking up the other. With Stanford having one of the two worst defenses in the PAC-12 conference I can’t imagine this amount of difficulty bodes well for the Huskies going forward but I think back to that game against the Ducks and know they have it in themselves to play much better. Both teams are on the road this week with Stanford traveling out to the Palouse to take on a very frustrated Washington State Cougar team while Washington heads to the Coliseum where they’ll have to play a whole hell of a lot better than this to beat the Trojans.