In this three-part series, A Blogger, Idiot takes you on the road as he follows the Washington Huskies football team on its ongoing quest to return to prominence.
PART 3: 10/22/2011 - #22 Washington at #7 Stanford
The deliberate unwinding of a season is different things to different football teams. For a select few, it is an upward crescendo, while to others, it is a series of ever-darkening trials. Most commonly, though, it is some combination of the good and bad - hope dashed one week, but back with even more fervor the next.
Washington's year was developing with promise. The Huskies rolled into the Bay Area this weekend with a 5-1 record, newly minted as a top 25 team in both major polls. None of those five wins came against particularly strong teams, though. Stanford, perhaps the elite program on the west coast this year, offered a stern test.
Saturday, October 22
Fellow alum Brian, who is based out of the Seattle area, arrived Friday night and acclimated to the hipster righteousness of San Francisco. The next morning, we eat breakfast in town, run into Spencer Hawes in Safeway*, and begin heading down 280 toward Palo Alto.
Late summer heat skims through oak and eucalyptus trees on Stanford's campus as the afternoon kickoff nears. Brian and I have a killer house party on the docket, and after that, the stadium tailgate scene. Many friends of the blog are on hand (including Paul and Theresia, front and center below).
About 90 minutes before kickoff, the UW team bus arrives, much to the excitement of the purple people all around.
First quarter - Stanford wins the toss and will receive the opening kickoff. I implore the defense to not give up a major play on first down, and am duly ignored as a wide receiver end-around goes for about 45 yards. Soon after, the Cardinal score a touchdown and it is quickly 7-0. All year, Washington has been terrible defensively on opening drives so few in the crowd are shocked. But against the potent Stanford offense, Washington will have to answer repeatedly. After the home team adds a field goal, UW running back Chris Polk breaks a long run for a score of his own. At the end of the first quarter, it's 10-7, Stanford ahead.
Second quarter - Washington needs everything to go right to have a shot at winning this game. The three biggest turning points of the game all happen this quarter, and all of them are negative for UW fans:
- Early in the quarter, with the score still 10-7, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck (maybe you've heard his name) throws an errant pass toward the end zone that a Husky defender should intercept. The ball clangs off his hands, though. The opportunity is missed, and Stanford scores a touchdown on an ensuing play to increase the margin to 17-7.
- UW and Polk answer back, though, and it's 17-14. The visitors' section is as loud as it will be all evening. But Stanford busts a long scoring run on its first play following the Husky touchdown and just like that, it is 24-14, and the energy and momentum are once again with the home team.
- The purple-clad defense is not showing any ability whatsoever to stop Luck and company, and it becomes more and more imperative that UW match the scoring pace or get blown out. With time in the quarter winding down, the Huskies are marching when quarterback Keith Price's pass is intercepted and returned for a touchdown.
Halftime arrives and the score has ballooned to 38-14.
Third quarter - Stanford plays with a physicality that is unmatched by most teams at the Division 1 level, a fact that helps them put away teams as games wear on. With the big lead already established, Stanford comes out and continues to just pound the ball right up the middle, daring Washington to do something about it.
...then the backups come in, still daring Washington to do something about it. Worry-turned-dejection for UW fans. 48-14 after three quarters.
Fourth quarter - The clock cannot roll quickly enough. UW adds a meaningless touchdown, while Stanford looks as though they would rather not run up the score but cannot help it either. The scoreboard shows a 65-21 beatdown when all is said and done.
Not much can be said about the lowly defensive effort put forth by the Dawgs. Luck, who will be the #1 pick in the NFL draft next spring, didn't have to do much. The Cardinal's power run game gained over 400 yards, a very putrid statistic for the people on its receiving end. Once the game got out of hand, Washington's offense became one-dimensional and Stanford defenders pinned their ears back and attacked Keith Price. Against an elite program, the Huskies were badly outclassed.** We'll see if they can pick up the pieces next week against an Arizona team that is better than their record suggests.
*...and then again that night back in San Francisco, at a birthday party. Come on, dude. Give us some space.
**Stanford's average margin of victory this year is somewhere around 30 points. And they bully good teams as well as bad; see last year's Orange Bowl, for instance.
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