Cardinal overwhelmed in Seattle
SEATTLE — Exposed, physically gashed, mentally shaken, mistake-prone. The No. 7 Stanford Cardinal lost in a lot of ways Friday night.
On a night when a sellout crowd of 72,027 at Husky Stadium honored Washington’s co-national championship team from 1991, it was clear that the 2016 Dawgs are back in the
national picture.
The No. 10 Huskies (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) rode sophomore Jake Browning’s three touchdown passes and 210 yards passing to hand the Cardinal a shocking 44-6 licking.
“That was about as poorly as we can play from start to finish,” head coach David Shaw said. “That’s the bottom line . ... We didn’t rise to the challenge. That starts with me. We didn’t do enough to get our guys ready.”
Browning threw touchdown passes of 3 yards to Dante Pettis, 19 to John Ross and 3 to Aaron Fuller. Without injured starting cornerbacks Alijah Holder and Quenton Meeks, the Cardinal were hard pressed to handle the speedy receivers.
“They’re a good receiving corps, probably the best we’ll see, at least in the Pac-12,” safety Zach Hoffpauir said.
Tailback Myles Gaskin scored on runs of 4 and 8 yards and rushed for 100 yards in 18 carries. Meanwhile, Stanford was held to 29 yards rushing in 30 carries.
Stanford undoubtedly will plummet in the next AP rankings. “We’ll fade to the background in the national scene; that’s fine by me,” Shaw said. “But it’s one loss. We’re going to go back to work.”
He said he anticipated being criticized for the team’s performance. “That’s fine; I’m used to it,” he said. “We’ll be attacked like we’re 0-12 already. But that’s college football.”
There was “a huge overreaction after we lost to Northwestern last year. We’re not going to give up on us, although others may.”
Any similarity between this game and last year’s 31-14 win over the Huskies was purely coincidental. For one thing, Browning missed that game with a shoulder injury, and UW was punchless without him.
For the Cardinal (3-1, 2-1 Pac-12), the loss ended their seven-game winning streak and represented their worst defeat since a 41-3 loss to Arizona State in 2007.
Christian McCaffrey was limited to 49 yards rushing, 30 receiving and 223 all-purpose yards by the fired up Husky defense. He had a 57-yard kickoff return in the third quarter, but it didn’t lead to any points.
It was the first matchup of top-10 teams at Husky Stadium in 19 years, and it was no contest. UW had a 424-213 advantage in total yardage and shredded the Stanford offensive line for eight sacks.
“It’s pretty embarrassing,” guard Johnny Caspers said of the sacks. “Not being able to protect the passer is tough. Any time you don’t do that, it hurts.”
Leading 23-0 after a one-sided first half, the Huskies got a break when a punt bounced off Stanford blocker Ben Edwards and UW’s Lavon Coleman recovered at the Cardinal 40. Gaskin soon scored on an 8-yard run for a 30-0 lead.
Stanford didn’t score until J.J. Arcega-Whiteside caught a 19-yard scoring pass from Ryan Burns late in the third quarter. A pass attempt to Arcega-Whiteside for the two-point conversion was broken up. Burns finished 15for-22 passing for 151 yards.
Browning’s touchdown pass to Fuller and Coleman’s 25-yard scoring run completed the scoring.
A Browning pass to Pettis gave the Huskies a 6-0 lead on their first possession. The PAT kick by Cameron Van Winkle was wide left, one of the few mistakes the Huskies made.
Browning found Pettis on a crossing pattern in the back of the end zone, Gaskin scored on a second-effort 4-yard run, and the Huskies padded their lead to 16-0 in the second quarter on a 19-yard field goal by Van Winkle. Browning threaded a perfect pass to Ross for a 19-yard touchdown and a 23-0 lead. Briefly: Stanford offensive tackle Casey Tucker had to be helped off the field in the fourth quarter with a leg injury . ... Stanford was penalized 11 times for 100 yards.