First look at Stanford

This should be a pretty good game this Saturday. You have two teams that are close to the same level battling it out to keep alive for bowl consideration.

The (2-2) Cardinal started the season with a promising win over Oregon State. They weren't very competitive in the next two games against Arizona State, and TCU who were both in the the top 25 at that time. Last week they ralled from ten points behind to beat a stubborn San Jose State squad.

Washington is one of the games the Card's have circled as a win this season to keep their slim bowl hopes alive. They travel next week to Notre Dame and a win on the road at UW should give them hopes of competing with the rebuilding Irish. If they can win those two games chances are they can pick up a couple of other wins against UCLA, and WSU which would qualify them for a bowl in Harbaugh's second year.

The (0-3) Huskies are at the brink of program extinction going into this game. Everyone knows that UW has played the toughest schedule in the nation over the past three weeks, but things are lightening up starting with Stanford. Willingham needs to go at least 3-1 during this stretch to keep UW bowl hopes alive. A loss this Saturday will likely signal the end of the Willingham regime.

On paper Washington should beat the Cardinal. UW's defense has faced three of the nations best offenses to start the season and the struggling Tree offense will be a welcome change for Washington to go up against. Tavita Pritchard is a good leader but he is struggling mechanically. Washington needs to get some pressure on him to force him into mistakes. Pritchard, who went to HS at Clover Park, dream is to beat UW in Husky Stadium. The passing game hasn't really clicked for the Cardinal this year so getting off to an early lead and getting them to throw the ball is usually a formula for success.

Toby Gephardt is the type of load at running back that Washington has struggled with this year. The 230 lb running back has the potential to break some tackles. UW needs to tackle better if they are going to bring this truck down near the line of scrimmage. Stanford runs the ball two thirds of the time so you need to be able to stop the run.

Offensively even though Washington has struggled they should be able to move the ball better against the Cardinal. This isn't Oklahoma they are going up against even though the Tree defense has some young studs. Washington needs to get some seperation going in the passing game because Stanford's pass defense has let opponents complete 66% of the passes they have thrown this year. If Locker is going to complete 60% of his passes in a game this year you would think this would be the one.

Jim Harbaugh is a good young coach who knows how to get the most out of his kids. He is going up against a UW coaching staff that hasn't been able to get their team to finish well over the past four years. If Stanford is still around in the fourth quarter Washington fans may not like the result at the end of the game.

This is a game that is going to identify which direction these two teams are headed in a down year in the Pac 10. One will emerge with bowl hopes and the other one may spend the rest of the year in the cellar.