Washington went into last Saturday’s matchup with Stanford playing some of their best football. They hammered Hawaii and passed their first road test with a 45-19 win at BYU. UW followed that win over a then ranked USC team – 28-14. It appeared everything was starting to click for a defense that returned just two starters from a season ago.

The Huskies were favored by over two touchdowns heading into last Saturday’s game at the Farm. This was a Stanford team that was without starting quarterback K.J. Costello, All-American left tackle Walker Little, and missing many key offensive lineman. This was also a Stanford team that lost to USC, UCF, and Oregon by a combined margin of 111-53. Simply put, Stanford is not a good football team. Washington was supposed to end their drought of losing at Stanford. Their last win their was 2007. And it should’ve been an easy win. The Huskies had the advantage at almost every position on the field.

But once again on the road, the Huskies looked unprepared and were out played by a lesser Stanford squad. The game was really not close. After the Huskies scored a touchdown on their opening drive it looked like they would cruise. But it was Stanford that cruised. The Cardinal had the ball for 39 minutes of the game as the Huskies defense surrendered 482 yards of total offense. Stanford’s most total yards of offense coming into that game, a week one win over Northwestern – accumulating 365 yards.

The loss looked so much like the 2017 loss when Stanford beat the Huskies 30-22 – rushing for nearly 200 yards and controlling the ball for over 36 minutes. But that was a Stanford team that had Bryce Love at running back and a good offensive line.

To make matters worse, UW’s offense looked lost against a Stanford team that had surrendered 45 points to USC and UCF. The Huskies had just 294 yards of total offense. What was must baffling was going away from the run game. Richard Newton ran the ball 10 times for 64 yards before getting injured. Salvon Ahmed had just six carries for 28 yards. As a team the Huskies had just 88 yards rushing. And in the fourth quarter, UW had zero rushing attempts. Instead quarterback Jacob Eason attempted 16 passes – completing just four.

What’s really alarming is the fact that UW seems unprepared in road games. Since 2016, UW is 22-2 at home. But in neutral sight games they are 2-4. In true road games, UW is 12-5 during that span. But since 2017, UW is just 7-5 on the road with three of those losses coming as double-digit favorites.

So is it time to panic if you’re a Husky fan? UW started off last season 6-3 before ripping off four straight wins and winning the conference title. So the short answer to the question is no it’s not time to panic. But there is reason to be very concerned. This is a very young defense and for many reasons the offense is very inconsistent.

Washington at this point has to win out to have any hope at repeating as Pac-12 Champions. The Huskies have a great coaching staff. But this staff must do a better job at getting this team prepared and making in game adjustments. There’s no excuse, especially for the loss at Stanford.

So if you’re a Huskies fan, hang in there. There’s obvious major concerns but maybe playing a one game playoff each week will get the best out of this team. Time will tell.