Today's game in Palo Alto between the visiting No. 15 Washington Huskies and the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal could go a long way into determining not only who is going to win the Pac-12 North but also to which of these teams may emerge Pac-12 Champion with series intentions on competing for the National Championship.
In the game between the two teams last year the Huskies were able to hold the Cardinal to no offensive touchdowns as they won 17-13; since then the Cardinal have handed the quarterback position over to the speedy Kevin Hogan and they have been putting up over 40 points per game en route to a 4-0 record, according to ESPN.
"Kevin's mobility changes things," Stanford coach David Shaw told ESPN. "He allows us to be a much more diverse offense."
Wide receiver Ty Montgomery told ESPN that Hogan's mobility isn't the only thing that has changed in the Stanford offense; they now have the capability to make big plays, something that was lacking in their old offense.
"It's something that you need to be able to prove to a defense before they start to respect that," Montgomery said. "With the run game that we've shown in previous years, we haven't had that type of passing game."
It's going to be tough for the Cardinal to put up the points they have in their first four games against a punishing Huskies defense that is allowing a meager 10.8 points per game.
If Stanford is able to get to Washington's defense and create a shootout the Huskies should still be able to hang tough; they are averaging 574 yards per game, good enough for 4th in the nation. Quarterback Keith Price has already thrown for 1044 yards and 9 TDs with insane accuracy;, Price has a completion rate of 72.3 percent.
Washington has been struggling for years to regain the glory that they once had. The team that was once thought of as a powerhouse in the Pac-12 fell on hard years for quite some time but head coach Steve Sarkisian has the Huskies on the verge of returning to dominance in his fifth year in Seattle.
"I go into team meetings on Monday mornings now and I don't feel like I have to pump up the team or pump up the game," Sarkisian told ESPN. "I think we have a unique, quiet confidence about us. It's not arrogance. It's not that way at all. It's just a quiet confidence that I think our guys have a real sense of belief in one another."
The game starts at 10:30 p.m. ET. Live radio broadcast coverage of the game can be heard at the following link. A live stream of the game can be seen at the following link.
