Take a whiff. Smell that. Yeah, smells like Pacific-10 Conference title hopes doesn’t it? And when Stanford and Washington square off in Seattle, it will smell a lot more.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
No. 10 Stanford (5-1 overall, 4-1 Pac-10), led by newly emerged quarterback Chris Lewis, travels to Husky Stadium in hopes of dashing No. 11 Washington’s (6-1, 4-1) title hopes. But it will be tough for either team to gain an edge before the game starts.
Stanford features the strong armed Lewis and a core of talented receivers in Ryan Wells, Luke Powell and the mammoth 6-foot-7 Teyo Johnson. However, it is the Cardinal running game that has done the most damage. At 193 yards per game on the ground, Stanford is third in the conference and has scored 15 touchdowns. That number includes the four touchdowns scored by Kerry Carter two weeks ago against the Ducks.
Senior Brian Allen has also been effective for Stanford this year.
“In Brian’s case, we knew that when we recruited him that he was a tremendous worker and a very tough young man that placed very high standards on himself,” Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham said. “With that being said, it is no wonder that over the course of the year he has continued to improve and get better.”
On the other side, Washington seems to be the forgotten team of the Pac-10’s elite. But they should be far from forgotten.
Behind a talented one-two quarterback combination of Cody Pickett and Taylor Barton, the Huskies have jumped out to the second best pass offense in the conference at 289.3 yards per game. Neither has been impressive of late, but Pickett’s 58.6 completion percentage is tops in the Pac-10. He suffered a shoulder injury earlier this year, but that has not stopped his ability to lead the Washington offense.
“We are really excited about Cody,” Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We think Cody has got all the things that you look for in a quarterback. The team will walk down any alley with Cody because of the way he’s fighting to participate and fighting to be in the game even though he is in obvious discomfort. It’s kind of a neat thing to watch unfold. Fortunately he’s able to pull it off and make all kinds of big plays. We are going to need him in a big way this weekend.”
The game is not televised, but check the radio waves because this one is going to be a dandy.