Stanford expects tough crowd, inclement weather at Washington State

However, in the midst of a turbulent season in the Pac-12, Leach has engineered a turnaround: He has steadied Washington State and given his team a chance to prove it is a contender again.

This Saturday, Stanford will either advance or be eliminated. But as dirt was being poured on the Cougars and the Cardinal, both have risen from the dead, setting the stage for a Halloween clash in Pullman with first place in the Pac-12 North riding on the outcome.

Raise your hand if you had Washington State ahead of Oregon and California at the end of October… yep – crickets.

Cardinal offensive lineman Josh Garnett made the highlight reel with a de-cleating block of Washington corner Jojo McIntosh on a pass play early in the second quarter. Oh, and a win on Saturday would give the Cougars a little thing called “bowl eligibility”, too. They are in the top 30 in total yards allowed and points allowed and have the ability to generate clutch turnovers when they really need it. They’ve been exposed at times, but when the offense is rolling, this defense has more than enough to keep teams from lighting it up.

Another case of I don’t know which game they will win, but the Cougars will win at least one more game to get to bowl eligibility. WSU has averaged 121.3 rushing yards-per-game in the last three games and surpassed the century mark in rushing yards in three straight for the first time since 2010. Luke Falk is the latest Air Raid quarterback to benefit from Wazzu’s passing obsession. Falk has completed almost 73 percent of his passes for over 2,800 yards and 26 touchdowns… in seven games. Combine this with just four interceptions, and one can see why Washington State’s offense has taken off.

In Leach’s three-plus seasons at Washington State, the Cougars have run the ball 912 times and thrown 2,545 passes. He’s succeeding, but within an imbalanced structure.

Stanford comes into this game as a 12-point road favorite, thanks to an offensive resurgence of its own.

They’re starting to think something remarkable is happening at Stanford, where the Cardinal is riding a six-game winning streak and rolling over the opposition. The Cardinal won their last four games by an average of 23.5 points; they have been steamrolling opponents. In their next contest this upcoming weekend, it would appear that the Cardinal should roll over Washington State, but the Cougars are actually a team somewhat on the rise. He hasn’t played since the win at USC in Week 3 but is not expected to take a medical redshirt. “We have to bring our best each week because everyone else is going to bring their “A” game”.

Shittu has a secret weapon for staying rested, though, and it’s the Cardinal offense.

“These two offenses have come a very long way, and now they’ll try to outscore each other in what could become a shootout cut from “#Pac12AfterDark” cloth.

The key to this game could lie in a strength-versus-strength matchup. We’ve seen a few big gains against the secondary and lots of yardage given up in blowout losses.

I am tempted to put Cal here, but I have a feeling the Bears might only win one more game from here and might not be as big of even a local draw as it might seem, especially with a prominent program like USC available.