Cardinal title hopes depend on Huskies
Stanford’s 17- 14 victory in the Big Game on Saturday night eliminated Washington from the Pac- 12 title chase. Now the Cardinal are hoping the Huskies do them a big favor.
Washington State travels to Seattle on Saturday with a chance to clinch its first Pac- 12 North championship. But if the No. 15 Huskies beat the No. 14 Cougars in the Apple Cup, Stanford gets the division title and the matchup with No. 11 USC in the conference title game in Santa Clara on Dec. 1.
“I’ve got some friends on the ( Washington) team,” Stanford quarterback K. J. Costello said, “so we’ll sit back and watch them next week, and hopefully they take care of business.” Sit back? Not exactly. While the Apple Cup is happening, the No. 20 Cardinal ( 8- 3, 7- 2 Pac- 12) will be playing No. 9 Notre Dame ( 9- 2) at the
same time. Both games were given 5 p. m. kickoffs, the Stanford game on ABC and the Apple Cup on Fox.
“I’m sure we’ll be scoreboard watching to a certain degree,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said. Almost in the next breath, he said, the Irish “are going to get our full attention.”
The status of Bryce Love’s tender right ankle will be foremost in the Cardinal’s minds as they get set for the Irish. Love, limited to 101 yards by Cal, lost his national rushing lead to San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny. Penny has 1,824 yards to Love’s 1,723, although Love still leads in yards per game ( 172.3).
Shaw said Love won’t play “if he is not functional. … If for some reason we think that it’s a potential danger for him down the road, then we won’t play him. I love this young man like he’s part of my family, so we’re going to make the smart decision for him physically.”
Love wasn’t available in the fourth quarter against Cal when the Cardinal nursed a three- point lead. They desperately needed a takeaway with Cal driving, and they got it when redshirt sophomore safety Ben Edwards intercepted a pass at his 6- yard line.
Edwards’ emergence over the past month has allowed Justin Reid to play all over the field, Shaw said. Reid, who had a season- high 10 tackles Saturday, even played cornerback against Cal when Alameen Murphy was hurt.
“Ben did a great job reading the quarterback’s eyes, seeing the post ( pattern) was what he was looking for and making a play on the ball,” Reid said.
After Edwards’ pick with 7: 25 left, the Bears did not get the ball back. Behind a resolute offensive line, Cameron Scarlett rushed 11 straight times for 49 yards, getting four first downs. The last, on the Cal 16- yard line with 2: 20 left, clinched the game.
Shaw said there was no discussion of kicking a field goal, which would have forced the Bears to score a touchdown to win. He wanted to win the game right there.
On the drive, he said, he told Scarlett, “‘ We’re going to leave you out there. Go win the game for us.’ And he ran hard, he ran physical, he broke tackles, he did exactly what we needed him to do.”