TERRY MOSHER
Now we know who is king of the beasts in college football and who one of the pretenders is. That much was evident Saturday night when the powerful and efficient Standard Cardinal acted like the big brother with star status to the little kid brother – Washington – that wishes he was like his big brother.
Don’t get me wrong: Washington under second-year coach Chris Petersen is on the right path. It’s just that the Huskies have a long ways to go down that path before they become the big brother. But Saturday night “big brother” put his large hand on the head of “little brother” and smiled lovingly as little brother swung away with both hands, hitting nothing but air. Little brother has the right stuff. He just has to grow up before he joins in with the big boys.
Then Big brother patted his little brother on the butt and told him to run along and go home.
If we didn’t know what was going to happen Saturday night, we should have gotten a clue from Stanford coach David Shaw as he stood along the sidelines in the early going of the game, holding a play chart in his hands. Shaw looked very calm and pleased and had a big smile on his face as his Cardinal began to dismantle a game but overmatched Husky team that swung away with all its might but kept hitting thin air.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a team like the Cardinal with so many weapons and so many different formations – three tight ends!!! – and an offensive line that is as good as any I have seen this college football season.
Then, as if the Cardinal needed a difference maker, there was the difference maker – super sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey, son of six-foot-five Ed McCaffrey, who also played at Stanford and then 13 years in the NFL as a wide receiver with the New York Giants, 49ers and with the Denver Broncos. Ed McCaffrey won three Super Bowl rings, the first with the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX in a win over the Chargers and then back-to-back with the Broncos in Super Bowls XXXII (Packers) and XXXIII (Falcons).
Ed McCaffrey and wife Lisa have four athletic sons – besides Christian, there is Max, a senior wide receiver with Duke, Dylan a junior quarterback and Luke, a freshman quarterback, both with Valor Christian High School in Colorado.
Christian McCaffrey had 300 all-purpose yards against the Huskies – 109 rushing yards, 112 yards on receptions and 79 yards on three kickoff returns. He rushed for one touchdown and had a 50-yard TD reception that completely fooled the Huskies.
The six-foot, 200-pound McCaffrey now has 1,818 all-purpose yards through seven games and is in the Heisman Trophy talk. Last night the best talk came from Shaw after the game.
Shaw told reporters, “I’m at the point where I don’t know what else I can say other than watch him, just watch him. He’s so quick, so explosive. The little guy never gets tired. He gets pounded, he gets hit, he gets blown up on a kickoff return and we want to sub him and take him out to see if he’s OK and he comes over with a smile on his face.”
Washington has the makings of its own difference maker in freshman Myles Gaskin, who played high school at O’Dea. Gaskin rushed for 108 yards, the third consecutive 100-yard game for the “little Guy.” Gaskin is five-foot-nine and 190 pounds, but is as shifty as a thief in the night.
Not only were the Huskies overmatched by big brother, but they played the game without their talented freshman quarterback Jake Browning who was sidelined with a sore shoulder hurt the previous week in a loss to Oregon. K.J. Carta-Samuels, a red-shirt freshman, got the start at QB and was like a deer caught in headlights the first half before he settled down some in the second half.
It appears to me that Stanford is the class of the Pac-12. They were ranked at No. 10 by national polls coming into Saturday and with USC demolishing previously unbeaten Utah, which was ranked No. 3, the Cardinal will likely moved up in the polls this week.
We on the west side of this state get used to having the top football team in the state almost every year, but not this year. The young Huskies will be really good at some point, but right now Washington State is probably the state’s top team. The Cougars have a potent offense with Luke Falk at the controls and the Air Raid offense of coach Mike Leach took down Arizona Saturday.
Now the Cougars will be featured in the biggest in-state game of year. This Saturday – Halloween ‑ the Cougars get to face McCaffrey and the Cardinal in a 7:30 game at Martin Stadium and we will see who gets the trick and who gets the treat.
This game may be for all the marbles in the Pac-10 North and we will see if the big brother (Stanford) can retain its king of the hill status against Falk and the Air Raid. For sure, it will be interesting.
As for the little brother, the Huskies get to host an angry Arizona team at 8 p.m. on Halloween. Browning is expected to be ready for the game, so that will help them. But this game, too, will be interesting because the 3-5 Huskies have a tough schedule ahead and if they want to get bowl eligible they will need to win three of their last five games.
So we will see.
In the meantime, I’m going to go watch some NFL football today (Sunday) and this week research some more columns for the Kitsap Sun. So be good as we bear down on November.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.