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Business as Usual for the Stanford Cardinal in victory over the Washington Huskies

Washington was statically the best defense in the Pac-12 headed into the game but it was not enough as the Stanford Cardinal cruised to victory.

By nickdempsey
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Stanford Cardinal offense came into this game against the Washington Huskies firing on all cylinders. The Washington Huskies defense has been playing remarkably well, clearly something had to break, and it was the Huskies defense.

Stanford opened the scoring up with a touchdown pass from Kevin Hogan to Austin Hooper giving the Cardinal an early 7-0 lead. Remound Wright punched in the second touchdown giving Stanford a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.

Concerns about Washington's defense keeping the game to a close, low-scoring affair seemed unfounded early. Though in fairness, keeping this Stanford offense to a mere 17 points in the first half of the game is a fairly impressive defensive performance. Washington was able to sack Hogan and force punts something Stanford fans have not been used to of late. Conrad Ukropina tacked on a field goal to close the half out with a 17-0 lead at halftime.

Stanford absolutely dominated time of possession in the first half by an almost 3-1 ratio. The Stanford offense had 14 first downs, Washington only had 2. The Huskies had 0 plays in plus territory, Stanford had 23. It was a dominant half of football for the Cardinal.

Second Half:

The Huskies started strong with a nice kick return, followed by a 57 yard drive consisting entirely of Gaskin rushes. The Huskies punch the ball in and close the lead to ten. 17-7 Stanford leads early in the second half. The Cardinal, however, struck back when Hogan hit McCaffrey with a touchdown pass Stanford back on top 24-7.

Stanford spread the ball around to so many different players including names we do not hear often like Dalton Schultz and Greg Taboada. Kevin Hogan got the ball to 10 different players and we saw some new plays (like a screen to the fullback). This was also Christian McCaffrey's first game with a rushing and receiving touchdown.

Headed into the fourth quarter Stanford was in front 31-7 with ‘garbage time' approaching and Washington throwing with wild abandon. The Huskies punched in a touchdown to close the lead to 31-14 with about 12 minutes left to play in the game. Stanford attempted to shorten the game with a very long time consuming drive that ultimately ended in an interception. Washington would take over with 3:39 left in the game, but it didnt matter. Stanford wins 31-14.