The 16th ranked Stanford Cardinal traveled to Seattle to face it’s Pac 12 rival the Washington Huskies in a hard fought battle with the Cardinal winning 20-13.
It wasn’t a dominating performance by the Cardinal as it was a 13-13 game with 4:31 left to play.
Stanford’s first points of the game came on the first possession. Ty Montgomery ran back the opening kickoff 62 yards down to the Huskies 35-yard line. The drive stalled and kicker Jordan Williamson put one threw the uprights from 35 yards away to give Stanford the early lead 3-0. Williamson added a 32-yard field goal in the second quarter making it 13-6 Cardinal.
Ty Montgomery had a productive day with 3 carries for 38 yards and 4 receptions for 29 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown coming on a short sideline pass where he put his head down and powered over a couple of Huskie defenders for the score.
Devon Cajuste was the Cardinal leading receiver with 4 receptions for 59 yards.
Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan had a rough day with two second half turnovers. Hogan had a ball picked off by the Huskies when Marcus Peters intercepted a pass in the third quarter that he returned for no gain at the Washington 39. Hogan’s second turnover was a fumble in a critical part of the fourth quarter at the Huskies 12-yard line. The Huskies did not score off either of the turnovers due to a strong Cardinal defense.
The Huskies decided to run a fake punt with 7:37 remaining in the game. It was 4th and 9 on the Stanford 49-yard line when Washington direct snapped the ball to Shaq Thompson. Stanford stopped him for no gain and it set up the Cardinal with great field position.
Washington forced a punt and received the ball trailing 20-13 at their own 48-yard line with 1:49 left in the game. But the drive would ultimately stall out on Stanford’s 36 with Huskie quarterback Cyler Miles running for five yards on fourth and 18 with 0:11 remaining. Stanford ran out the clock after the defensive stand for the victory.
Notes
Hogan finished the game 17-of-26 for 178 yards with one touchdown and an interception. He made up for the turnovers in the 4th quarter with a 5-yard touchdown run with 4:29 remaining in the game. The go-ahead touchdown made it 20-13 late in the fourth quarter. Hogan finished with 14 carries for 53 yards and what would be the winning touchdown with 4:29 remaining in the game.
Sacramento’s Shaq Thompson out of Grant High School forced two fumbles for Washington and ran back a 32-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the second quarter. Thompson plays both ways for the Huskies.
Stanfords’ defense started this season with questions on how it would replace it’s respected defensive coordinator Derek Mason who left to be the head coach at Vanderbilt.
Nobody’s Wondering Anymore
The Cardinal (3-1, 1-1 Pac 12) already had two shutouts entering Saturday’s game at Washington (4-1, 0-1 Pac 12). Before todays game Stanford lead the country in scoring defense, allowing just 4.3 points a game. That total is now 6.5 points allowed per game. Stanford’s defense is shutting down opponents with a physical and disciplined approach and the result was another strong showing today against Washington.