Stanford vs. Washington final score: 3 things we learned from the Cardinal’s 20-13 victory

Here’s the thing about gambling: if it always worked, it wouldn’t be much of a gamble.

Chris Petersen, who made a living reaping the benefits of gutsy calls as the Boise State head coach, called a fake punt at midfield on 4th and 2 halfway through the fourth quarter. Stanford’s smothering defense snuffed it out, as it snuffed out most things on Saturday, and the Cardinal needed just 48 yards to drive for what would be the winning touchdown.

That touchdown came on a Kevin Hogan five-yard rush, and it was sweet redemption for the signal-caller, who had lost a fumble inside the Washington red zone on the previous drive. More on him in a bit.

The game stayed close in the second half—tied, actually, for the majority of it—thanks to this strip-and-score by Shaq Thompson with the help of some, shall we say... questionable refereeing.

Does that look like the play should have been blown dead? Maybe! Was it? Nope! Can they blow forward progress dead after the fact on review? Nope nope nope!

That play knotted the game at 13-13, and that tie persisted until Hogan’s scoring run with 4:29 left to play. Washington couldn’t muster a serious challenge after that, and here we are.

1. The real winner of this game: Oregon. This is a big win for Stanford, to be sure—there’s nothing like staying in the race in conference play. Oregon’s still got to be happy though, as the Cardinal didn’t look remotely capable of hanging with an elite team like the Ducks.

Oregon obviously would have preferred a Washington win. The more losses your rivals can get before they play you, the better, and regardless of the outcome of this game Washington is not a serious rival for the Pac-12 North—not the way Stanford is. So in that sense, Stanford benefits strictly by keeping pace with the Ducks. But in terms of looking like the great Stanford teams of recent history, that wasn’t there. In fact, let’s talk a little bit more about that.

2. Kevin Hogan is the ceiling. It’s awfully easy to get spoiled by a quarterback like Andrew Luck, and it’s awfully unfair for the guy who has to come after him to do so. That all said, Stanford is a program that’s harbored—and earned—the highest goals and expectations over the last few years, and that hasn’t changed.

However, it’s extremely difficult to attain those goals without an elite quarterback, and Hogan just didn’t look like that guy on Saturday. Sure, he deserves credit for leading the game-winning drive... but let’s not forget Washington gave him the ball in Husky territory after that fake punt. And Hogan wasn’t awful—he just owes the win to a defense that gave him opportunity after opportunity to get that go-ahead score without any consequence for his previous scoreless efforts. Hogan’s stat line was pedestrian—17/26 passing for 178 yards, a score and a pick, plus 14 rushes for 53 yards and the aforementioned TD and fumble—and his accuracy just wasn’t anything special, as pass after pass sailed away from (or bounced in front of) his receivers.

Stanford’s defense is why this team still has the potential to put together a great season. If the Cardinal doesn’t get there, you might want to look under center for why.

3. The honeymoons don’t last long in Seattle. The fake punt was deeply problematic and a major factor in Washington’s loss. The Husky fans were grousing long before the call, though, as Washington’s offense sputtered frequently amid some extremely conservative play-calling.

Now, of course Stanford’s defense deserves some credit for forcing Washington’s offense sideways, and nobody’s ever going to confuse Cyler Miles for a world-class gunslinger. But if there’s one way to make fans upset, it’s by doing a defense’s work for it and throttling down your own offense. It’s early in the regime, but make no mistake: Petersen’s got as much work to do as his players do right now.