Our 2013 NCAA Football schedule continues Saturday as Stanford welcomes Washington to Palo Alto in a battle of Pac-12 unbeatens. We’ll have complete coverage beginning at 10 PM Eastern on our WestwoodOne affiliates coast-to-coast and streaming live right here on WestwoodOneSports.com!
To get you ready for the game, our analyst Terry Donahue, who will call the game, filed this scouting report on the Huskies and the Cardinal.
Washington:
In a Nutshell: This is a huge Pac-12 game pitting two undefeated teams against each other. Washington is a football team that is averaging almost 40 points a game and 574 yards of total offense per game. The Huskies want to be able to run the football and are out-rushing their opponents almost two-to-one to start the season.
Player I’ll Be Watching: Let me give you two. First, quarterback Keith Price. This guy is second in the Pac-12 in passing efficiency and is one of the all-time leading passers in the history of the University of Washington and he’ll have a chance before this season is over to have all of the records for the Huskies. How he plays to a large extent dictates how well Washington is going to play offensively. Secondly, halfback Bishop Sankey is going to be very important for the Huskies. He carried the ball 40 times last week against Arizona. 40! It’s hard to imagine a guy carrying it that many times in a game, but he did.
What the Huskies need to do to win: Washington comes in 4-0 right now and they’ve gotten off to a really good start. But I really question the caliber of the competition that they’ve racked up these points and these yardage totals against. They’re going to see a much different football team in Stanford than they’ve seen the first four weeks of the season. That said, the memory is very fresh of Washington beating Stanford last year in a significant upset in Seattle, and so the blueprint is right there for Steve Sarkisian: play strong defense, win the turnover battle and get a couple of big plays late.
Stanford:
In a Nutshell: Stanford is a very formidable football team. Watching them a week ago against Washington State, they put in an extremely impressive performance, particularly physically. Stanford is 32-3 in their last 35 home games and with Kevin Hogan at quarterback playing the way he is playing, and with the home-field advantage, I think they have a very good chance of winning this ball game.
Player I’ll Be Watching: Quarterback Kevin Hogan. Right now he’s one of the very top players at his position in the conference. He’s a quarterback that’s atop the conference in passer rating and comes in 9-0 as a starter. He’s going to be difficult to beat at home.
What the Cardinal need to do to win: If I’m Stanford, I’m thinking I’ve got to do two things. I’ve got to slow down the running game that the Huskies are going to throw at us and I’ve got to control Keith Price. The Cardinal defense is going to have to hold Washington down and put the game on Price’s shoulders and hope that he can’t get it done.
– Terry Donahue
John Tautges and Terry Donahue will have all the action as Stanford hosts Washington. Coverage begins at 10:00 PM Eastern and you can listen to the broadcast right here on WestwoodOneSports.com.