Washington Huskies: Grades in Stanford Loss

In what will more than likely be the most lopsided loss of the season, the Washington Huskies fell to the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal 65-21 in Palo Alto, CA.

The offense held its own, putting up 21 points and 430 yards of offense on one of the stoutest defenses in the Pac-12, but the defense was much, much worse.

The Huskies find themselves out of college football’s top-25 polls in both the writers and coaches after a brief stint last week.

Run Offense: A-

The best part of the game for the Huskies was Chris Polk and the Husky run offense.

On the day, Polk rushed for 144 yards on 15 carries for a 9.4 yards per carry average.

Polk also was able to take two of his runs for scores, and the Cardinal had no answer for the ground attack.

Another to keep in mind, the Cardinal run defense ranked No. 2 in all of college football in yards allowed on the ground.

I tip my hat to Chris Polk and the offensive linemen.

Pass Offense: B-

Considering the depth of Stanford’s defense, a B-minus is nothing to be ashamed of.

Quarterback Keith Price completed 23-of-36 passes for 247 yards a touchdown and interception.

The offense was able to move the ball because of the threat to pass the ball, opening up the run game, which was so successful.

Backup quarterback Nick Montana made a brief appearance in the game, completing 1-of-2 passes for 11 yards with an interception.

Pass Defense: C-

Andrew Luck and the Stanford offense seemed methodical on offense, easily moving the ball on the ground and through the air.

On the day, Luck completed 16-of-21 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns.

There were a couple of opportunities for the Huskies to pick off a pass, but the defensive backs were unable to come up with the interception.

The pass defense wasn’t good, but they were certainly better than the run defense.

Run Defense: F

Most know Stanford’s offense for Andrew Luck and the great aerial attack the Cardinal uses, but it was the ground attack that killed the Huskies. This was easily the worst performance by the run defense all season long.

Nearly three Cardinal backs had 100 yards on the game with Stephan Taylor recording 138 on 10 carries with a touchdown, Tyler Gaffney with 117 on nine carries with a touchdown and Anthony Wilkerson with 93 yards on 14 carries.

The Cardinal as a team rushed for 446 yards with five touchdowns and an incredible 10.1 yards per carry average.