A really big game — and it’s not Cal
The 120th Big Game is next week, but Stanford’s game against No. 9 Washington on Friday night is pretty big, too. In fact, it’s the Cardinal’s most significant regular-season Pac-12 game since the Cal game of 2015.
A loss would eliminate them from the Pac-12 North title race and put the Huskies (8-1, 5-1) in the driver’s seat as they aim for a second straight conference title.
If the Cardinal (6-3, 5-2) win, they would have to beat Cal. Then they’d have to hope that Washington State (8-2, 5-2) has a third conference loss (to Utah or Washington). Stanford would hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over Washington, but not Washington State.
There’s another delicious element. Stanford’s Bryce Love, a Heisman Trophy hopeful and the nation’s leading rusher (on a yardsper-game basis), takes on the nation’s top defense in yards allowed.
“What doesn’t get talked about enough, defensively: They’re big,” Stanford head
coach David Shaw said. “They’re big, they’re physical, they’re athletic. Even some of the guys who were there when coach (Chris) Petersen got there got bigger.”
The Huskies bottled up the Cardinal ground game last year in a 44-6 pounding, Stanford’s worst defeat in a decade. The Cardinal rushed 30 times for just 29 yards. Christian McCaffrey had 49 yards on 12 carries, and Love got the ball just twice, a 3-yard carry and 5-yard reception.
After two straight tough games on the road, a squeaker over Oregon State and a loss to Washington State, the Cardinal finish the regular season with a three-game homestand. They are 57-8 at Stanford Stadium over the past decade and have won four in a row over the Huskies at home.
Quarterback Jake Browning is in his third year as the Washington starter. The 6foot-2 junior guided the Huskies to the College Football Playoff last season. They lost to Alabama in the semifinals. On Saturday, Browning tied the school for career touchdown passes with 75.
“Jake gets lost in the shuffle sometimes because he’s not the 6-4, 220-pound pro prototype quarterback,” Shaw said. “He’s just the guy that makes completions, wins games, scrambles when he needs to, makes all the right decisions.
“He’s more of the Drew Brees than the Andrew Lucklooking quarterback, but when you watch him, he plays the game the way you’re supposed to play it: with energy, passion and emotion.”
When Stanford doesn’t convert third downs Friday night, two bad things will happen. It probably will have to punt, and Dante Pettis will be waiting to receive. The nation’s leading return man has four touchdown returns this season and an NCAA-record nine in his career.
Washington tailback Myles Gaskin is closing in on a third straight 1,000-yard season and averages 6.2 yards per carry. He pierced the Cardinal for 100 yards or more in each of the past two seasons.
Stanford fans hope Love will be back to 100 percent nearly a month after he injured his ankle against Oregon. If he has a big night, he probably could assure himself an invitation to the Heisman ceremony as one of the finalists.
“I watch a lot of tape, not just of the conference but around the country,” Petersen said, “and I haven’t seen a back that’s better than him.”
Washington middle linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven, a Menlo Park native, said there’s more to Love’s game than speed and shiftiness. “He’s obviously really fast, but his ability to keep his legs moving is probably underrated. He’s a tough kid, and a lot of the big runs he’s had this year is not because he’s had a perfect block. He’s made guys miss and run through guys. He’s a pretty special talent.”
Another back the Huskies will have to keep an eye on is fullback Daniel Marx, who provides robust blocking for Love and is capable of getting yards himself. He caught his first pass in two years against Washington State, making a nice catch of a low pass from K.J. Costello and going 24 yards to help set up a touchdown.
Stanford is one of the few teams that need a fullback in their pro-style offense. “We explained what a fullback is to our defense today,” Petersen joked Monday. “They were very intrigued.”
There’s one other intriguing fillip to the matchup. Shaw needs one win to tie Pop Warner (1924-32) for the most wins, 70, in program history.
“It’s still kind of surreal,” Shaw said of approaching the milestone. “I feel like I still just got here. Every time I say seven years, I think, ‘Has it really been seven years?’ ” The record “is kind of out there and one of those things you reflect on later.”