The No. 8 Stanford Cardinal and 2-1 Washington Huskies come off byes to greet each other at CenturyLink Field in Seattle this Thursday. During Week 3 3-0, 1-0 SU stunned No. 13 Southern California 21-14 while UW walloped 1-2 Portland State 52-13.

The Cardinal shutout the 3-1, 1-1 Trojans during the second half to grab their fourth straight win in the head-to-head series. It was the first time Stanford's ever won four successive games against USC and it was due to junior quarterback Josh Nunes playing senior Matt Barkley to a virtual tie.

Both QBs had two picks, but Nunes had the game's only two touchdowns through the air hooking up with junior tight end Zach Ertz and senior running back Stepfan Taylor who also ran in for a score drom 59 yards out midway through the first period. The other key element led the Cardinal to the upset was even more telling with SU outrushing the Trojans 202-to-26.

A week before the Huskies were in full flight in an easy win over the Pilots Washington was suffocated at No. 3 Louisiana State 41-3. The Huskies could only muster three points on junior placekicker Travis Coons' 34-yard field goal.

Junior QB Keith Price completed 17-of-36 passes for 157 yards and one interception against the 4-0, 1-0 Tigers. UW just managed 183 yards total while shielding 437 yards to LSU.

The Huskies would love to shake up the Pacific-12 Conference North Standings with a win over the Cardinal who submarined Washington 65-21 in Stanford last season. The Huskies were mauled 41-0 by the Cardinal the last time SU visited Seattle. UW has lost four straight during the series and has not won in Seattle since Sept. 27, 2003.

The Cardinal were 5-0 last year on the road including a thrilling triple overtime win at Southern Cal. Stanford won their four other away games by an average of about four TDs. Meanwhile the Huskies were 6-1 at home just tumbling 34-17 to No. 2 Oregon last season. Washington's Seattle wins came by three, eight twice, 11, 17 and 28 points. The Huskies are hungry, but unfortuately for UW I see the Cardinal stuffing them in a rather convincing road victory.