No home? No issue for plucky Stanford

Cardinal hold off No. 23 Washington

SEATTLE — First, Stanford was booted from its home, forced to relocate to the Pacific Northwest to continue its season.

Then when the Cardinal tried to have their pregame walkthrough in a parking garage, they got kicked out again and relocated to a park.

When it came time to play their game against No. 23 Washington on Saturday, the Cardinal had been through a week unlike any they’ve experienced.

“It’s been kind of been the mantra the entire week,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “No matter what happens, if you have a great attitude, let’s do it. Let’s work with enthusiasm and do it to the best of our ability.”

The vagabond Cardinal showed no issues from their relocation, jumping to a 21-point halftime lead and holding off Washington’s second-half rally for a 31-26 win.

Austin Jones rushed for two firsthalf touchdowns, and Davis Mills threw a 3-yard TD pass to Scooter Harrington early in the second half to give Stanford (2-2, 2-2 Pac-12) its first win in Seattle since 2014.

Washington (3-1, 3-1) still likely will have a chance at the Pac-12 North title if it can win at Oregon next week. But, for the second straight game, the Huskies had a terrible first half. Unlike the previous week’s victory over Utah, Washington fell short again trying to rally from down 21 points.

The victory capped a crazy week that saw the Cardinal forced away from campus in California because of restrictions in Santa Clara County. Stanford relocated its entire program to Seattle, used a high school for practice and had its walkthrough in a public park in the suburb of Bellevue, just across Lake Washington from Husky Stadium.

Shaw and his staff originally tried to do the walkthrough in a mall parking garage but were asked to go elsewhere.

“People were taking pictures and making fun of us, but we come out here and beat them up, so there’s no happier feeling right now,” Stanford offensive tackle Foster Sarell said.

Mills was solid and had two huge third-down conversion throws on Stanford’s final drive, hitting Semi Fehoko on both to convert thirdand-10 and third-and-11. The Cardinal ran the final 7:54 off the clock with a 14-play drive that was capped by Jones’ 3-yard run on fourthand-1.

Stanford was 10 of 13 on third downs and 2-for-2 on fourth down. Mills was 20 of 30 passing for 252 yards. Jones ran for 138 yards on 31 carries.

The Cardinal will remain on the road before next week’s game against Oregon State.

“Obviously, a loss that is going to sting for us for a little while here,” Washington coach Jimmy Lake said. “This is two consecutive weeks that we have not come out of the gates the way we need to. Our team knows that.”

Dylan Morris was 15 of 23 passing for 254 yards for Washington. The Huskies trailed 24-3 at halftime but scored on each of their first three second-half possessions. Sean McGrew had two TD runs sandwiched around Morris’ 1-yard sneak. McGrew’s 2-yard run with 11:03 left pulled Washington within 31-23.

Elaine Thompsonz The Associated Press Stanford wide receiver Brycen Tremayne makes a 33-yard catch against Washington cornerback Keith Taylor in the second half of the Cardinal’s 31-26 win.