This past Thursday, the No. 25 Stanford Cardinal now 4-2 (1st Pac 12 North) beat the Washington State Cougars now 2-5 (5th Pac 12 North) as the Stanford Cardinal rebounded by slowing the Cougars offense and winning the game 34-17.
In this game the Cardinal offense struggled from time to time, but their defense slowed the Cougars air raid offense by slowing down QB Haliday and winning the game.
With the help of TE Taboada catching his 1st two 2014 touchdowns and the other TE Cotton, who also scored his 1st 2014 TD of the season, which helped the Cardinals rebound after last week’s loss to Notre Dame, and get back on track attempting to win a 3rd consecutive Big 12 Championship.
The statistics of the game were fairly close with the exception that the Cougars were negative in their offensive rushing yardage. The Cardinal had 20 1st downs with 477 total yards with 284 passing and 193 rushing and 1 turnover while possessing the ball for 31:50 minutes. The Cougars had 18 1st downs with 292 total yards, with 292 passing and a -26 yards rushing with 1 turnover and had the ball for 28:10 minutes of the game.
For the Cougars their QB Haliday completed 42 of his 69 passes for 292 yards for 2 touchdowns and was intercepted once. RBs Morrow & Wicks had 6 carries for 31 yards and Receivers Cracraft & Mayle had 20 receptions for a combined 178 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Stanford Cardinal QB Hogan completed 23 of his 35 passes for 284 yards and 3 touchdowns. RB’s Wright & Sanders had 21 carries for a combined 168 yards and Wright scored a TD while Receivers Montgomery & Rector had 9 receptions for 137 combined yards with no touchdowns.
The Cardinal defense was either lucky or they performed at their best as last week the Cougars QB Haliday passed for a new NCAA record of 734 yards as they held him to the 42 of 69 passes and only 292 yards while intercepting him once and sacking him some four times in the game, as Haliday was forced by the Cardinal defense to point as he explained, “We didn’t have time to complete downfield passes.” Now the Cougars have lost two consecutive games and their bowl chances now are very slim.
The Cougars brought the game close at 24-17 in the fourth quarter, but a FG of 34 yards by Williamson with 8:13, and a TD of 6 yards by RB Wright with 1:38 left in the 4th by the Cardinal clinched the win at 34-17.
The Cougars next game is on Oct.25th with No.10 Arizona Wildcats 5-0 (1st Pac 12 South). The Stanford Cardinal, play the No. 20 Arizona State Sun Devils 4-1 (2nd Pac 12 South), on the road on the 18th of October.
So football fans if you bet on college football at a online sportbook there is a lot of action forthcoming in the Pac 12 which has become a very interesting conference with a lot of competition these days.