The injuries continue to pile up at the worst possible times for Stanford. Facing the No. 1 passing offense in the country, the Cardinal will be without all-Pac 12 cornerback Paulson Adebo and will likely be without senior captain Malik Antoine at safety when Stanford visits Washington State Saturday (1:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
The Cardinal (4-5, 3-4 Pac-12) will also be shorthanded on offense, with Davis Mills getting the start at quarterback for injured K.J. Costello against the Cougars (4-5, 1-5), according to David Shaw.
Here are the biggest keys in a game that pits two teams that started in the AP Preseason Top 25 but now are battling to make a bowl game.
Mills, a redshirt sophomore, will make his fourth start of the season.
Cardinal coach David Shaw announced Friday that Costello had been ruled out against the Cougars. Costello took a big hit against Colorado last Saturday, and while he was able to finish the game he didn’t practice this week due to the undisclosed injury.
Stanford is 2-1 with Mills as the starter this season, with wins over Washington at home (23-13) and Oregon State on the road (31-28) and a loss at USC (45-2). He is 71 of 110 passing with five TDs, one INT and 890 yards, the most passing yards for any Stanford QB in his first three career starts since 2003.
Shaw said the playbook doesn’t change when Mills replaces Costello, and the Georgia native has gotten more comfortable with each start.
Top tight end Colby Parkinson had his best receiving game (89 yards against USC) and his only touchdown in games Mills started, while running back Cameron Scarlett averaged 108 yards rushing.
“You know what you’re getting with Wazzou,” junior tackle Foster Sarell line. “Their (linemen) are lighter but they move a lot, they stunt a lot, they have good juice and they kind of play with the chip on their shoulder. I feel like it’s a great challenge for us – you know we got some young guys in our line – but it’s be really fun to kind of deal with that movement and see how we can gash them and make some big plays.”
The Cougars are certainly vulnerable on defense – Washington State has lost five of its last six games, with opponents scoring at least 33 points in each of those five losses.
Washington State features the nation’s leading passing attack at 433.1 yards per game, 54 more than second-place LSU. Redshirt senior Anthony Gordon leads the country in passing yards (3,794), passing TDs (34) and total offense (425.4) in his first year as the starter.
The Cougars receiving corps features three players on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List (Brandon Arconado, Dezmon Patmon, Easop Winston Jr.), the most in the Pac-12 and the second-most in the country behind Alabama. Arconado has five 100-yard games and had 12 catches for 130 yards last week against Cal.
Despite all the pass attempts, Gordon has been sacked a conference-low 10 times in 486 dropbacks thanks to a talented line and an system predicated on getting the ball out quickly.
“It’s probably the most hectic preparation week in the whole season for the DBs specifically,” redshirt sophomore strong safety Stuart Head said. “I think we like to invite that challenge for ourselves. They always have the leading passer in the country under Mike Leach. They have a great group of receivers every year. I think we like that challenge and we know that we can affect the game in a positive way if we’re prepared and ready on Saturday.”
The challenge is compounded by Stanford’s injury situation. Both Antoine and Adebo, who has eight interceptions in the past two years, have started every game this season.
“If your eyes are disciplined and if we play sound defense and tackle well I think we can get the job done,” Head said. “That’s what we’ve done whenever we’ve beaten them.”
The Cougars have won three straight in the series and are 16-2 at home over the past three seasons.
Head, who suffered a shoulder injury in the spring and then sprained his MCL in the season opener against Northwestern, will be starting Saturday. But cornerback Zahran Manley, already one of 17 true freshmen to play this season, could become the 37th different Cardinal to start a game this season in place of Adebo.
Stanford has rotated through three quarterbacks because of injuries and seen four different true freshmen start on the offensive line. Linebackers have also been hit hard.
“It’s just it’s been one of those crazy years,” Shaw said. “I think we have 25 guys right now, almost a quarter of the team, missing significant time and there are only two of those injuries that are similar only two and they’re both foot injuries. But it’s one of the things we constantly look at between being as preventive as we can and at the same time making sure that our rehab process is one that is comprehensive enough so that we don’t have a reoccurrence of the same injury.”
