By PAC-12 standards, heck by all standards, everyone involved in this game knew it was a big one. With both Rose Bowl and conference championship hopes on the line, it was the #14 Washington State Cougars (7-1 / 4-1 PAC 12) that made all the clutch plays down the stretch versus the #24 Cardinal (5-3 / 3-2 PAC 12).
WSU senior quarterback Gardner Minshew (40 for 50 passing / 438 yards / 3 TD’s / 87.7 QBR) continued to look like the college version of Drew Brees Saturday night, dicing up the Cardinal D on The Farm, especially in the 2nd half. Though from a much smaller sample size of course, the Brees comparison does everything to properly explain how Minshew looks behind center in ’18.
Washington State junior wide receiver Dezmon Patmon (10 receptions / 127 yards / 12.7 YPR), the pride and joy of Patrick Henry High School, was his QB’s favorite target all night long. In that regard, he delivered.
For Stanford on the other hand this was a home game that they absolutely needed, that they had in the palm of their hands, and that they let get away in painful fashion. In an always tight PAC-12 Conference, quite simply, these are the games you have to win.
Cardinal junior quarterback K.J. Costello (34 for 43 passing / 323 yards / 4 TD’s / 87.2 QBR) played well for three and a half quarters, as did the entire offense. Along those lines, it was the defense, or lack thereof, that truly earned this loss for The Card.
Senior wideout J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (10 receptions / 111 yards / 2 TD’s / 11.1 YPR) was another bright spot for Stanford Saturday evening, and his NFL draft stock seems to be skyrocketing weekly. Likewise, junior tight end Kaden Smith (9 receptions / 112 yards / 1 TD / 12.4 YPR) is becoming well known as one of the best in the country at his position, and will also be suiting up on Sundays very soon.
Defensively for Washington State, linebackers senior Peyton Pelluer (7 tackles / 1 sack / 1 TFL / 1 PD) and sophomore Jahad Woods (7 tackles / 1 PD / 1 QBH) were impact players from sideline to sideline in this contest. Equally, WSU junior cornerback Marcus Strong (4 tackles / 3 PD) made some key plays on the back end for his side.
For Stanford, this loss unfortunately ends their chances of making a significant Bowl Game, while the now #10 Washington State Cougars have a won themselves a small chance to make the college football playoff. What a crazy week this turned out to be for the PAC-12, then again, I feel that way almost every week.
Things do not get any easier for Stanford (5-3), as they travel north to Seattle to play a Washington (6-3) team also coming off a devastating loss. Separately, #10 WSU (7-1) goes south to Berkeley to take on CAL (5-3), the proud creators of the Huskies devastation.
However it plays out, one thing is for sure, nothing is more unpredictable than the glory of college football. As always, win or lose, Roll Red.
Comments
You're sounding rather chipper, Max,
in light of this most frustrating of losses. As for my mood, I am still rinsing the salt out of my wounds.
I have said everything I desire to say about this game on other threads, so I am done dissecting the Cardinal vs. the Cougs. Time to look forward now, because the Dawgs loom, and Vegas has them at -10. Do we go to 5-4 before getting a home date with the Beavers and (hopefully) a 6th win?
By Jeff Tarnungus on 10.30.18 1:13pm
I agree on the question mark.
WSU was the best (and worst) game we played this year. The O was terrific for the most part. They were aggressive, mixed it up, even got some yards rushing (Blackjoy is correct; IF we could run the ball, then we should. So far this season, we have shown zero ability to run the ball effectively. But run it we have, wasting one possession after another, while two teams built up such big leads that we then had no choice but to pass, which they slaughtered). Play a balanced game. If something works, exploit it. The D was terrible. You pointed out how poorly we performed in the second half; we could not make a stop. Holder is a shadow of himself.
I think the future for the season looks good. UW is going into that game somewhat shell-shocked, I should think. I watched a good part of the Cal game; Cal whupped them. If we can play to our strengths, we can beat them, just like last year. But, as a fan in the midwest, I doubt I’ll get to see another Stanford game this year. We don’t merit a mention on any sports page or network, other than the essentially worthless PACN. Our brand is being eroded every year. We might start unranked next year, which makes it hard to get prime tv time, mention, and progress in the polls.
By jafco99 on 10.31.18 9:32pm
Polls
I have never felt that we’ve been ignored or underestimated in the polls. When we have been great, we get high rankings, and when we suck, we deservedly drop out of the top 25. Just this year, we were ranked 7th—dubiously I might add based on our achievements up to that point—and our game with Notre Dame was a featured matchup on TV. We were unranked in 2014 at year end with an 8-5 record but ended up 2015 ranked 3rd in the nation. Similarly we were 8-5 and unranked in 2009 but ended up ranked 4th in 2010.
By brandtjl1 on 11.01.18 7:08am
Interesting article recently about usc’s demise traces the origin
To the recruiting class of 2012, losing out on five star linemen Murphy peat and Garnett to Stanford from which usc has not yet recovered. We continue to bring in quality linemen with another couple five stars in little and sarrell yet production has been shockingly bad this season.
Anyhow I wonder if we might be seeing the same thing with running backs. Thinking back to the WSU rb borghi. Press talking about Stanford as his dream school, idolizing mccaffrey growing up in Colorado, modeling his game and even touchdown celebration after mccaffrey, yet he picks WSU over Stanford. A four star rb picking air raid where running is an afterthought over Stanford who Should have the better o-line and power running tradition is such a head scratcher. Maybe this is just one isolated incident but I look at the tailbacks after mccaffrey love and worry for next season. If wedington stays at wr, then I must say our bad run production this season takes another nosedive next season with several o line departures to fill.
Could it be our unimaginative run up the middle first second down play calling has made top RB recruits wary of coming to Stanford?
By stanford6thman on 11.02.18 11:29am
If we lose to uw
I hope wsu wins out sneaks into playoffs and gives Alabama a run for its money. Then finally some sec school with second tier talent will decide to give leach a shot, so air raid can torment Alabama and Georgia instead of being a pain in our butts for a fifth year. So many decent football programs in the pac 12 relative to sec where it’s alabama Georgia lsu and the rest are roadkill.
By stanford6thman on 11.02.18 11:33am