Washington’s 17-13 Upset of Stanford Causes Conference Confusion

Sept 27, 2012; Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies wide receiver Kasen Williams (2) stiff-arms away from Stanford Cardinal defender Usua Amanam (15) during the second quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-US PRESSWIRE

It seems every week there is another game that doesn’t go as planned in the Pac-12. It’s a trend that seems to happen every year and keeps the national voters convinced that the conference is not as good as they seem. It’s a conceived “weakness” that the teams in this conference can’t seem to take control of their own destiny, because they can be beat on any given weekend. It’s never quite clear whether or not that’s a good analysis, but here we go again.

Stanford had rocketed to #8 in the country after their upset of mighty USC, but then they met Washington on a Thursday night in Seattle. To make matters worse for the Cardinal, there’s been some good “voodoo” at Century Link this week, what with the Seahawks getting their Monday night win on their “controversial” last play and everything. So yeah, it was a trap all along. But still, nobody really expected this. But here’s the thing, the Cardinal replaced so many play-makers, including the #1 Qb in the country with a guy that isn’t really great at anything in particular, so they are vulnerable to anybody.

I knew this was coming. Not necessarily from the Huskies, but from at least a couple teams along the way. Stanford is solid defensively and they are built on power, so they’ll give themselves a chance to win every game, but they’re also the type of team that could conceivably keep every team they face in the game to the end. So now, where do the voters put them? There current ranking was clearly too high, but they are still a good talented team. The bigger issue for the conference is the perceived drop from a top conference power to a lower tier, top conference. And another good question is, how good is Washington, exactly and how high will they be ranked when they drop a game that they “shouldn’t”? It’s all just so confusing. I guess we won’t know anything till the weekend is over and then the next week comes around.

Here’s to hoping that Wazzu can catch some of the “home team” magic that’s going on at C-Link this week. Can you imagine the fallout of the Ducks going down the the Cougs? But hey, let’s be real, it would just be another normal day in the Pac.