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SEATTLE — Chris Petersen would like this to be all about what David Shaw has done in building Stanford into the class of the Pac-12 Conference.
“Stanford’s an awesome program. I’ll start with that — program,” Washington’s coach said this week. “This isn’t just an awesome team. They’ve had an awesome program for a while now. They know how to do it.”
In reality, this is all about No. 10 Washington when the Huskies (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) face No. 7 Stanford on Friday night. Now in his third season in charge at Washington, is Petersen ready to have the Huskies enter the national conversation the same way his Boise State teams did when they were at their peak?
Because if the Huskies knock off Stanford (3-0, 2-0) and take command of the Pac-12 North race, they won’t just be in contention for a conference crown. Washington would immediately join a loftier conversation.
This is a rare opportunity for Washington. It’s just the fourth matchup of AP Top-10 teams ever at Husky Stadium and the first since the second-ranked Huskies were taken down by No. 7 Nebraska 19 years ago.
It comes with all the trappings of a big game that have become standard for Stanford: prime-time national television audience; sellout crowd; star players all over the field.
“Obviously, it would be kind of ignorant to say they’re not the team to beat a little bit right now in the Pac-12,” Washington quarterback Jake Browning said.
No player is likely to shine brighter than Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, who was “held” to only 109 yards rushing by Washington last year, but made up for the lack of running production by catching five passes for 112 yards and a touchdown, and having 79 yards in kick returns to finish with exactly 300 all-purpose yards in the 31-14 win.
McCaffrey is coming off a relatively quiet performance in last week’s comeback win over UCLA, rushing for 138 yards but only catching two passes for 13 yards.
“We are unbelievably spoiled that when this kid doesn’t get 300 yards of total offense we say he got bottled up,” Shaw said. “He was phenomenal. He was phenomenal. Those 2-yard runs became 7-yard runs. Those 8-yard runs became 12-yard runs.”
The bigger concern for Stanford is who will be missing. The Cardinal will be without starting cornerbacks Quenton Meeks and Alijah Holder, starting wide receiver Francis Owusu and starting fullback Daniel Marx.
Here are five things to watch as the Huskies aim for what would be their biggest victory in years.
1. Can UW stop star RB McCaffrey?
Few teams can, of course. McCaffrey broke the NCAA record for all-purpose yards last season as a sophomore, finished a close second in the Heisman Trophy vote, and leads the Cardinal in rushing and receiving so far this year.
He’ll line up at tailback, receiver, even wildcat quarterback — he also returns kickoffs and punts — and has touched the ball 91 times from scrimmage this year.
The Huskies gave up 308 yards on 43 carries to Arizona last week, though the Wildcats had a mobile quarterback (Brandon Dawkins) who accounted for 135 of those yards on two big runs. Stanford doesn’t have the same kind of firepower at the quarterback position, though starter Ryan Burns does run occasionally.
Petersen praised McCaffrey effusively this week.
“He’s great with the ball in his hands,” Petersen said. “Unbelievable vision, extremely explosive, and maybe as patient as anybody I’ve seen. Whether he’s returning kicks or handing the ball in the backfield, those characteristics just show up, and it’s a unique combination. His vision is so good, and he’s so patient, and so many times it looks like there’s not really anything there, then he’ll find it.
“And then he’s not going down with one guy just kind of grabbing a hold of him. He’s not going down. You’ve got to tackle this guy with multiple guys. He’s unique and rare. You don’t see guys like this that often.”
2. Stanford’s pass rush.
The Cardinal’s defense hasn’t necessarily dominated, as it ranks 54th nationally in yards per play allowed at 5.22 (the Huskies rank 13th at 4.32). But Stanford does rank eighth in scoring defense, allowing only 12 points per game — opponents have scored just three touchdowns against the Cardinal in three games.
And while Stanford will be without its top two cornerbacks, a consistent pass rush is still likely: the Cardinal have 11 sacks through three games, and is tied for 12th nationally with an average of 3.67 per game. Peter Kalambayi, a hard-hitting linebacker, leads the team with 2.5 sacks and 4.0 tackles for loss.
The Huskies have allowed nine sacks in four games, and gave up four last week at Arizona. They’ll have to be better than that on Friday.
3. Distribution of carries.
UW running backs coach Keith Bhonapha tends to favor the “hot hand,” so to speak, so it will be interesting to see how he distributes carries this week after Lavon Coleman’s big game in Arizona.
Coleman rushed for 181 yards on 11 carries, including a 55-yard touchdown to give UW the lead in the fourth quarter, and a 24-yard carry to set up the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Myles Gaskin carried 24 times for 85 yards, and has yet to eclipse the 100-yard mark in a game this season. Much of that is due to the way opposing defenses have lined up; Browning has been able to throw over the top of teams that stack the box against the run. And there’s no reason to think the coaches will stray much from Gaskin, who set UW’s freshman rushing record last season and is still the best back on the team.
But it stands to reason that Coleman will at least see the ball more.
“I think having a guy that you know can come in there and have some snaps for you and actually contribute to the offense and what we’re trying to get done is awesome,” Bhonapha said.
“The one thing that we have constantly challenged him on is getting to the point where he runs vertical and not doing a bunch of dancing, and he was doing that definitely on Saturday, making the guy miss and getting vertical.”
As for Gaskin, Bhonapha said: “I know people are talking about these long runs that he has to have, but the kid has been productive when he’s had the ball in his hands.”
4. Beat-up Cardinal.
After three games, Stanford is already without several key players due to injury.
That list includes not only Meeks and Holder, but also receiver Francis Owusu, who sustained a concussion after taking a big hit last week against UCLA, and fullback Daniel Marx, who was also hurt against the Bruins.
Tight end Greg Taboada remains questionable. As does offensive lineman Brandon Fanaika.
The Huskies don’t have any apparent new injuries, though Petersen wouldn’t say if they did. Defensive lineman Jaylen Johnson made his 2016 debut last week after missing the first three games due to injury, and redshirt freshman cornerback Austin Joyner returned, too.
5. Your Friday commute.
If you’re attending the game, plan to get to the stadium earlier than normal, if possible, because 70,000 people attending an event in Seattle at 6 p.m. on a Friday will make for some excruciating travel times.
If you’d prefer not to drive, Uber is offering 50 percent off all rides that begin or end near campus between the hours of 3:30 p.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday.
Due to the game being played on a Friday, regular Metro park-and-ride bus routes and neighborhood service will not be available (though information about a different shuttle service can be found at UWShuttle2016.com, with registration closing at 11:59 p.m. Friday. A “UW Link” Metro shuttle will operate between the University Link station and Campus Parkway, with service every seven-and-a-half minutes both ways.
Link light rail might be your best option, if you can swing it.
The News Tribune’s Christian Caple contributed to this story.
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