BCS Rankings 2011: Why Stanford Cardinal Must Blow out the Washington Huskies

Stanford has a lot going for them.

They have a Heisman front-runner at quarterback and are largely the same team that went 12-1 in regular season play and beat Virginia Tech 40-12 in the Orange Bowl last year.

However, they haven't been seriously tested in any of their six wins. Why haven't they been tested?

Stanford is clearly a very good team—they just haven't beaten anyone with any kind of credibility. So, despite the fact that they are 6-0 and have beaten their opponents by an average of nearly 35 points, they stand at No. 8 in the BCS poll.

This week gives the Cardinal their first real test in the Washington Huskies. Washington is 5-1, with their only loss coming against a very solid Nebraska team. Washington's performance thus far has been good enough to make them the No. 25 team in the country.

Washington shouldn't be much of a match for Stanford. The Cardinal offense is a machine that shouldn't have a problem putting up a lot of points against a defense that has had a hard time keeping opponents out of the end zone.

What Stanford has to do is keep Washington out of the end zone as much as possible. This is the Cardinal's first real chance to make a statement to the voters by smashing a quality opponent such as the Huskies.

Another group the Cardinal need to prove themselves to are their opponents in the second half of the season. Their schedule is a back-loaded one that includes USC, Oregon and Notre Dame.

This matchup against Washington is Stanford's chance to move up in the rankings before that stretch of games.

The bottom line is that if the winner of the LSU vs. Alabama and Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State games win the rest of their contests, those two teams will meet in the National Championship game.

Stanford needs to get itself into position to be the first team in if that doesn't happen—which starts with a blowout home win against Washington.