The Stanford Cardinal took advantage of some questionable decisions from the Washington Huskies coaching staff and quarterback to improve to 1-1 in the Pac-12 Conference with a nervy 20-13 victory in Seattle. Quarterback Kevin Hogan completed 17-of-26 passes for 178 yards with a touchdown and an interception to lead the Cardinal with alumni Doug Baldwin and Richard Sherman on the sidelines.
Coming out of this game there will be four main points that fans of the Washington Huskies will be asking about. The first point is the offense. For a team with as much talent as Washington has at the skill positions, the offense looks very poor. It was the worst offensive showing since October 30th, 2010 when the Huskies only gained 107 total yards in a 41-0 loss to these Stanford Cardinal at Husky Stadium. Washington was only able to generate 179 total yards on Saturday.
It was not a matter of Stanford holding possession for a long time either, Washington actually ran more offensive plays (68-66) than Stanford on Saturday. It was just lack of execution in the passing game. Stanford came in with a gameplan to force Cyler Miles to beat them through the air; the Cardinal did an excellent job of shutting down the Washington running attack and when Miles did drop back into the pocket, he was under pressure most of the time.
Washington’s quarterbacks finished the day completing 15-of-30 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, Miles threw all but one of the passes as Jeff Lindquist attempted a deep pass to John Ross that was nowhere near the speedy receiver.
The last three points that will be talked about during the next few weeks as Washington preps to face off with California in Berkeley are three very puzzling decisions made in the fourth quarter. The first of those poor decisions came with just over seven and a half minutes to go in the game with Washington facing a 4th-and-9 from their own 47. Instead of punting the ball down the field and potentially pinning Stanford deep in their own territory, Washington called a fake punt which was snapped to the up back Shaq Thompson. Thompson ran to the right side of the line but Stanford was ready for the call and brought the runner down for no gain resulting in a turnover on downs with Stanford getting the ball at the Washington 47.
This is a play that you think would be called if Washington’s defense had been struggling all game but these guys had held Stanford to 13 points, to that point, and forced three turnovers including a fumble return for a touchdown. So what is going through the head of Chris Petersen in this situation? Really? It was a very puzzling call that backfired as Stanford would need six plays to score the eventual game-winning touchdown.
The second puzzling call came on the kickoff right after the final touchdown of the game as Stanford kicker Jordan Williamson kicked the ball out of bounds. So Washington was about the get the ball at their own 35 just needing 65 yards to tie the game and potentially force overtime with 4:29 left. Fortunately for Stanford, they were called offside on the kickoff and Petersen decided to decline the kick out of bounds penalty and force Stanford to re-kick to John Ross after a 5 yard penalty.
Ok, this one is less confusing considering that Ross originally ran the first Washington kickoff return back for a touchdown to start the game. That would be called back for a block in the back penalty. This did not work out for Washington as Ross would be tripped up at the 16-yard-line for a 13 yard return. Washington would eventually punt.
Finally, we get to the last play of the game for Washington. The situation is 4th-and-18 from the Stanford 36 with under 20 seconds to go. You know that you have to get at least 18 yards to keep the game going at the minimum. Stanford pressures obviously and forces Miles to step up in the pocket, Miles then makes the boneheaded decision to tuck the ball and try to run. He gains five yards before being taken down at the 31 yard line for a turnover on downs.
This may have been the worst decision of them all. Facing 18 yards for a first down, Miles decided to tuck the ball and run? Does he think he is the Flash? The middle of the field was not even open, he ran directly into pressure. You’d think that somebody would have told him to just put the ball in the air and give your receiver a chance to make a play. This is Seattle and sometimes Golden Tate-type receptions like the famous one against the Green Bay Packers do happen. Not this time, five yards, a turnover on downs and a very disappointing end to a poorly played game on the offensive side of the ball.
Washington has the next week off before returning to action against the California Golden Bears on October 11th. The kickoff time has not been announced yet but we will keep you posted on that time when the Pac-12 announces it most likely on Monday.