Dawgs Travel To Face Cardinal For Friday Night Game

Friday, November 10

Stanford, CA

7:30 PM

University of Washington

Stanford

November 06, 2017 | Football

Full UW Notes w/Depth

THE GAME: The Washington football team (8-1 overall, 5-1 Pac-12) plays its final road game of the 2017 season as the Huskies travel to face Stanford (6-3, 5-2) Friday night. The game will air live on FOX Sports 1 and kicks off at 7:30 p.m. PT. The UW, fresh off of a 38-3 win over Oregon, moved up to No. 9 in the latest AP top 25 and No. 8 in the coaches' poll while Stanford, which lost at WSU last Saturday, dropped out of both rankings, though the Cardinal received votes in each. Following the Stanford game, the Dawgs close out the regular season at home vs. Utah (Nov. 18) and Washington State (Nov. 25).

QUICK SLANTS: The UW is 23-3 over its last 26 games ... the UW hasn't allowed more than 28 points in a game since the 2015 Heart of Dallas Bowl (a 44-31 win over Southern Miss), a span of 23 games ... Washington leads the nation in total defense (240.9 ypg) and is No. 2 in scoring defense (11.1 ppg), No. 3 in pass defense (149.8 ypg) and No. 6 in rush defense (91.1) ... according to the NCAA, UW's remaining schedule is 18th-toughest in the nation (out of 131 FBS teams) ... UW's Dante Pettis broke the NCAA career record for punt return TDs with his ninth, a 64-yarder vs. Oregon ... it was also his fourth of the season and, on that return, he became the Pac-12's all-time leader in punt return yardage ... Pettis is one of only seven FBS players with multiple punt return TDs this year and the only one with more than two ... he leads the nation in punt returns with a 21.7-yard average ... nine games into his junior season, Jake Browning has tied the UW career record with his 75th touchdown pass ... he's also third in UW history in passing yards (8,292) and completions (634) ... UW entered the year with 32 players on the roster who had started at least one game ... since then, eight more (LB Ben Burr-Kirven; DBs Jordan Miller, Myles Bryant, Byron Murphy and Austin Joyner; WR Jordan Chin; TE Hunter Bryant and OL Luke Wattenberg) have started a game for the Dawgs, meaning that 40 different current Huskies have started a game ... Washington's defense has allowed eight touchdowns in nine games (UW opponents have also scored three defensive TDs) ... the Huskies haven't allowed a rush of over 29 yards or a pass longer than 36 this year ... in the Oregon game alone, the UW offense had rushes of 34 and 58 yards and receptions for 46 and 47 yards ... the UW is the only FBS team in the nation that hasn't allowed a 40-yard play while the Huskies have nine such plays on offense (plus five more on kick & punt returns).

TELEVISION: The UW-Stanford game will air live to a national audience on FOX Sports 1 with Justin Kutcher (play-by-play), Mark Helfrich (analyst) and Petros Papadakis (analyst) on the call.

RADIO: The Washington IMG College Network, with its flagship station KOMO AM-1000 and FM-97.7, will carry the live broadcast of every football game on 17 Northwest radio stations. Longtime play-by-play man Bob Rondeau and color analyst Damon Huard are joined by sideline reporter Elise Woodward. The home broadcast of the game will also air on Sirius (84) and XM (84) satellite radio. Compass Media Networks will also air a nationally-syndicated broadcast.

RETURNS ON FIRE: Since the arrival of coach Chris Petersen and his staff prior to the 2014 season, Washington has had five kickoff returns for touchdowns (four by John Ross and one by Keishawn Bierria) and nine punt returns for TDs (all by Dante Pettis, good for the NCAA record). Ross actually had five career TDs, but his first came in the 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl, the last game before the start of the Petersen era. Even if you include that Ross TD, you have to back 16 seasons before you count the previous five Husky kick return TDs, and 23 seasons to count the last eight punt returns. Ja'Warren Hooker returned a kick for a score in 1997. Then, from 1998 to 2033, the Huskies had five: Ross in 2013, Louis Rankin in 2007, Roc Alexander in 2001, Paul Arnold in 1999 and Touré Butler in 1998. As for punt returns, Beno Bryant had three punt return TDs in 1990, and another in 1991. Since then, over 26 seasons (1991-2013), the Huskies had just six more: Jesse Callier in 2011, Chris Stevens in 2006, Charles Frederick in 2003 and (2001), Joe Jarzynka in 1998), and Dave Janoski in 1996 – and two of those (Callier & Stevens) were on blocked punts, so not "traditional" punt returns. What's more? Since Petersen's arrival, the Huskies haven't allowed a single punt or kick return for a score.

HUSKIES vs. CARDINAL HISTORY: Over 87 all-time meetings, Washington has just a one-game edge on the Cardinal, at 42-41-4 all-time. After winning eight straight vs. Stanford from 1959 to 1966, the Huskies lost 10 in a row from 1967 to 1976. Since that 1976 loss, Washington has gone 23-11 against the Cardinal. One of those 11 losses was a big upset in 1982 when the No. 2 Huskies fell to the Cardinal, 43-31, in Palo Alto. The second UW loss during that stretch came at Stanford in 1994, when the Cardinal upset 12th-ranked Washington, 46-28. More recently, the Cardinal beat the Huskies, 27-13, at Palo Alto in 2004. After no game in 2005, Stanford won its second straight over the UW in a 20-3 victory in 2006 at Husky Stadium. The Cardinal also won seven seasons ago in Seattle, 35-28, and in 2010 in Palo Alto (34-14). Six years ago, Stanford blanked the UW, 41-0, at Husky Stadium; and in 2011, the Cardinal won, 65-21, at Stanford. Last year, the Cardinal earned a 31-14 victory on in Palo Alto, while in 2014, the Cardinal won a defensive battle in Seattle, 20-13, as Kevin Hogan's five-yard run with 4:29 broke a 13-13 tie. In 2013, the Cardinal edged the Dawgs in a close game in Palo Alto, 31-28, with Washington's attempt to drive or a tie or the lead stalled at midifeld with 1:16 left on the clock. In 2012 on a Thursday night in Seattle, the Huskies edged the No. 8 Cardinal, 17-13, thanks to a 61-yard run from Bishop Sankey and a 35-yard TD catch from Kasen Williams. Prior to that, the most recent UW victory had come in 2007, when the Huskies rushed for a total of 388 yards in a 27-9 win over the Cardinal. Louis Rankin led the way with 255 yards on 36 carries. Last season, on a highly-charged Friday night at Husky Stadium, the 10th-ranked Dawgs beat the No. 7 Cardinal, 44-8. Jake Browning threw for two TD passes and Myles Gaskin ran for one more while the Cardinal ground game was held to just 29 yards, thanks in large part to eight sacks. Washington and Stanford first played one another in 1893 in a game that marked the first major college opponent for UW. That game, played in West Seattle, resulted in a 40-0 Stanford victory. There wouldn't be another matchup between the two schools until 1920, when the Cardinal nipped Washington, 3-0, in the last UW home game prior to the opening of Husky Stadium. After a 0-0 tie in 1921, the Huskies' first victory in the series came in 1922, 12-8 at Palo Alto.

HUSKIES vs. BAY AREA SCHOOLS: Washington has a combined, all-time record of 109-81-8 vs. opponents from the San Francisco Bay Area. Washington is 55-39-4 against Cal, 42-41-4 vs. Stanford, 10-0 vs. San Jose State, 1-1 vs. St. Mary's and 1-0 vs. Santa Clara. The Huskies haven't played Santa Clara since 1935 and St. Mary's since 1947. Since 1977, UW is 59-16-0 vs. Bay Area teams: 28-5 vs. Cal, 23-11 vs. Stanford and 8-0 vs. San Jose State.

THE PAC-12: Prior to the 2011 season, the Pac-10 Conference added Utah and Colorado to expand to the Pac-12. Washington, which along with California is one of two schools who have been in the conference since its founding in 1915, plays in the Pac-12 North, along with the other three Northwest schools (Oregon, OSU, WSU) and Stanford and California. Under current plans, each school will play all five division rivals, plus four of six teams in the other division each season. The first two seasons, the Huskies did not face UCLA or Arizona State. In 2013 and 14, the Huskies didn't face Utah or USC. In 2015 in 2016, neither UCLA nor Colorado are on the UW schedule, while the Huskies don't face USC and Arizona this year and next.

THE 100-YARD FACTOR: Since the 1947 season, Washington is 211-65-3 (.762) when a Husky player rushes for 100 yards in a game. The Huskies were 8-0 in such games last year, and are 4-0 in 2017.

HISTORY LESSON: Successfully rushing the football and winning go hand-in-hand for the Huskies. Since 1990, UW has rushed for 200 yards in a game 112 times. The Huskies' record stands at 96-16-1 (.854) in those contests. Since 1995, UW is 71-13-1 (.841) when rushing for 200 yards.