STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford isn’t quite used to being a commanding favorite. That just hasn’t been the case for the Cardinal in recent years.
Today against Washington State, Stanford is expected to win by 30 against a Cougars team that has given up 60-plus points in four of its five Pac-10 games — including the worst defeat in school history, 69-0 to Southern California in its last game two weeks ago.
“I think they’re really searching right now to find their identity and how to win games,” said Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard, whose uncle Jack Thompson was a star quarterback for the Cougars and cousin Tony is a tight end on the WSU team. “I’m sure people are asking what’s wrong. You can’t really put a finger on it, because if you could you’d win more.”
The Cardinal (4-4, 3-2) are unbeaten at 3-0 at home and have a four-game winning streak in Stanford Stadium dating to last season, and they know they need two more victories in their last four games to become bowl eligible in coach Jim Harbaugh’s second season. Yet Washington State has won the past four meetings — the previous three by a combined 61 points — at Stanford dating to 1999.
Both teams are coming off their bye weeks at a time when they each wanted to put their past games behind them. Stanford suffered a demoralizing 23-20 loss to UCLA on Oct. 18 and has had too much time to think about it, while the Cougars are still stinging from the blowout to the Trojans.
Everybody will be eager to get back on the field.
In fact, it could be freshman J.T. Levenseller’s first chance all season. The backup quarterback who was being held out as a redhshirt, will now get a chance to play down the stretch for Washington State (1-7, 0-5), starting Saturday.
Kevin Lopina will start, but coach Paul Wulff plans to also use Levenseller. He would be the fifth quarterback to play this season because the Cougars have been so beat up at the position.
Yet the defense will have to make plays and get off the field first. Wulff points to his team’s problems on offense for a good chunk of the points the Cougars have surrendered. Mistakes, turnovers, punts.
“We’ve tried to continue to work really hard and hold them accountable to be where they need to be exactly and play with a little bit more energy,” Wulff said. “Our defense has had their backs against the wall all year long because of our inability on offense to have a lot of success. We haven’t been strong enough against really good football teams to hold up.
“It is disappointing that we’ve lost some energy and confidence and faith in each other to step up and make plays. The offense will turn ball over or punt after a three-and-out and the defense doesn’t have enough fight in them to keep battling.”
The big task for the Cougars defense this week will be slowing down running back Toby Gerhart, who has five 100-yard rushing games this year. Gerhard needs 221 yards in the final four contests to reach 1,000 yards to become Stanford’s first player to do so since Tommy Vardell ran for a school-record 1,084 yards in 1991. Gerhart realizes reaching the milestone today would be a big day — especially if it’s raining as is expected this weekend.
“That’s my goal,” he said, chuckling. “The win’s more important than anything. That’d be nice.”
Harbaugh had his team focused on improving the passing game as well as pass defense during the bye week, getting more aggressive on both sides of the ball by running stronger routes and being more physical.
Cleaner play, period.
“The first thing is to understand the kind of team we are — a physical team,” Harbaugh said. “What the goal is, is zero turnovers, zero missed assignments, zero penalties. That’s thinking more as a football team.”
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