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WizardHawk
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UW @ Stanford
7pm pacific
ESPN
The battle of two 4-0 teams. Both ranked and both with big expectations. The pressure is probably much higher on Stanford as they are a top 5 team at home with more BSC aspirations than what UW should realistically be expected to obtain. The weather is expected to be clear and warm with little to no winds.
UW hasn't had a test this big, but have had more tests than Stanford to this point. UW had big wins over Boise State, Illinois, and Arizona, but none of those are on this level. Stanford totally dominated ASU, but their other games haven't had any type of challenge.
UW has won on a balance of much improved passing and the relentless rushing of the nations top RB coming into this week. Price has had time and the new uptempo offense has gone much better than anticipated. UW's defense is among the national leaders in scoring and several other categories as well, but Hogan will be the best QB they have seen thus far.
Forget about everything you thought you knew about Stanford's game. Instead of their dominating power I running game they are now running a much more high flying spread passing attack that has their QB dropping back into more shotgun formations. Against ASU they burned the devils with 6 deep passes and it was the deep pass that put WSU in the early hole last week. You can no longer look at just stuffing the box with your jumbo package and key on the run. Doing so is a guaranteed big play waiting to happen. The only good news is they still run the Power I as well as the shotgun spread so you have a chance to change your personnel to match their sets. So far UW has done a very good job of playing their version of the prevent defense where they allow teams to get their 3-5 yard plays in an effort to prevent any home runs. Against Arizona they only allowed two plays longer than 13 yards and one was a bad play call by Wilcox and the other was a blown assignment on a wheel route to Carey. They did also allow a long pass in the Illinois game that happened on a blown coverage. So can UW keep up this type of defense and take away the long bombs that Hogan has used to kill other teams so far? Or will this offense be so much ahead of what they have faced that we see it exposed?
On defense Stanford has the best front 7 UW will have faced thus far, and probably the best they will see all year. They run a lot of x stunts in passing situations and have created all sorts of problems for the teams they have faced to this point. UW does have the most experienced line they have had in a very long time, but the blocking of the backs and TE's and Price's ability to move out of the pocket and still make smart plays will be a huge key to winning this game. Sankey will probably still get his yards, but Stanford's defense is built around pressure and creating turnovers and that will be the story of this offense. Can Price deal with that pressure and not turn it over. They have a couple of just sick cover guys that love to go for the ball including one that has feasted on picks going to screens. This game will be entirely on Price's shoulders and the blocking.
On paper at a neutral site you might go either way. As impressive as their win was against ASU Stanford really hasn't been pushed by a defense that plays well in the secondary and UW will give them the biggest test so far. UW's new offense has done really well in the second half of every game they have played, but have started off very slow in the first halves and haven't faced a defense with anything near as much talent up front as Stanford.
This isn't a neutral site game and UW hasn't been very good on the road. Even in the Illinois game they didn't play as sharp as they were in the other games. UW has not beat a top 10 team on the road since the 'whammy in miami' back in '94. The last big road game was beaing then #18 USC in Sark's second year, but that was with Jake Locker who played much better on the road than Keith Price has up to this point. Price's best game away from Seattle was the Alamo bowl against RGIII, but he has no signature win vs any team in a hostile environment.
If UW has any chance of winning Price must play as well as he has been at home and his receivers must step up and play well in the scramble situations they will face often. You also must have solid play in the secondary and not allow any long bombs to destroy your day. Let them get the short yards and force them into long drives. You simply won't win if you can't cover deep.
Add all this up and UW does have a chance to win. I'd put it at maybe a 40% they pull it out. If they played the game 10 times they win 4. The reality is Stanford is too solid top to bottom to make the kind of mistakes you would need and UW's road woes are too high of a risk to bet the house on them to win. I don't see this as a blow out game either way. I honestly would be surprised to see either team win by more than 10 and would not be surprised to see UW win, but I'm not picking them.
7pm pacific
ESPN
The battle of two 4-0 teams. Both ranked and both with big expectations. The pressure is probably much higher on Stanford as they are a top 5 team at home with more BSC aspirations than what UW should realistically be expected to obtain. The weather is expected to be clear and warm with little to no winds.
UW hasn't had a test this big, but have had more tests than Stanford to this point. UW had big wins over Boise State, Illinois, and Arizona, but none of those are on this level. Stanford totally dominated ASU, but their other games haven't had any type of challenge.
UW has won on a balance of much improved passing and the relentless rushing of the nations top RB coming into this week. Price has had time and the new uptempo offense has gone much better than anticipated. UW's defense is among the national leaders in scoring and several other categories as well, but Hogan will be the best QB they have seen thus far.
Forget about everything you thought you knew about Stanford's game. Instead of their dominating power I running game they are now running a much more high flying spread passing attack that has their QB dropping back into more shotgun formations. Against ASU they burned the devils with 6 deep passes and it was the deep pass that put WSU in the early hole last week. You can no longer look at just stuffing the box with your jumbo package and key on the run. Doing so is a guaranteed big play waiting to happen. The only good news is they still run the Power I as well as the shotgun spread so you have a chance to change your personnel to match their sets. So far UW has done a very good job of playing their version of the prevent defense where they allow teams to get their 3-5 yard plays in an effort to prevent any home runs. Against Arizona they only allowed two plays longer than 13 yards and one was a bad play call by Wilcox and the other was a blown assignment on a wheel route to Carey. They did also allow a long pass in the Illinois game that happened on a blown coverage. So can UW keep up this type of defense and take away the long bombs that Hogan has used to kill other teams so far? Or will this offense be so much ahead of what they have faced that we see it exposed?
On defense Stanford has the best front 7 UW will have faced thus far, and probably the best they will see all year. They run a lot of x stunts in passing situations and have created all sorts of problems for the teams they have faced to this point. UW does have the most experienced line they have had in a very long time, but the blocking of the backs and TE's and Price's ability to move out of the pocket and still make smart plays will be a huge key to winning this game. Sankey will probably still get his yards, but Stanford's defense is built around pressure and creating turnovers and that will be the story of this offense. Can Price deal with that pressure and not turn it over. They have a couple of just sick cover guys that love to go for the ball including one that has feasted on picks going to screens. This game will be entirely on Price's shoulders and the blocking.
On paper at a neutral site you might go either way. As impressive as their win was against ASU Stanford really hasn't been pushed by a defense that plays well in the secondary and UW will give them the biggest test so far. UW's new offense has done really well in the second half of every game they have played, but have started off very slow in the first halves and haven't faced a defense with anything near as much talent up front as Stanford.
This isn't a neutral site game and UW hasn't been very good on the road. Even in the Illinois game they didn't play as sharp as they were in the other games. UW has not beat a top 10 team on the road since the 'whammy in miami' back in '94. The last big road game was beaing then #18 USC in Sark's second year, but that was with Jake Locker who played much better on the road than Keith Price has up to this point. Price's best game away from Seattle was the Alamo bowl against RGIII, but he has no signature win vs any team in a hostile environment.
If UW has any chance of winning Price must play as well as he has been at home and his receivers must step up and play well in the scramble situations they will face often. You also must have solid play in the secondary and not allow any long bombs to destroy your day. Let them get the short yards and force them into long drives. You simply won't win if you can't cover deep.
Add all this up and UW does have a chance to win. I'd put it at maybe a 40% they pull it out. If they played the game 10 times they win 4. The reality is Stanford is too solid top to bottom to make the kind of mistakes you would need and UW's road woes are too high of a risk to bet the house on them to win. I don't see this as a blow out game either way. I honestly would be surprised to see either team win by more than 10 and would not be surprised to see UW win, but I'm not picking them.
