[JJJ]

Stanford  lost three straight games, won two in a row (including an upset of Washington), and then lost last Thursday to UCLA for the first time in 12 meetings.

Arizona opened the season with a shocking loss at Hawaii, won four straight, and then gave up 91 points to Washington and USC in its last two games.

These will be the biggest factors:
WHO’S THE QB
Stanford’s offense was sluggish under quarterbacks K.J. Costello and Davis Mills. It was catatonic under third-stringer Jack West, who was forced into action against UCLA and managed just three points until garbage time.
Mills is definitely out Saturday, but Costello’s thumb has healed enough that he was able to split time with West in practice this week. The redshirt junior’s availability – Shaw said Wednesday that Costello was between questionable and probable – may be the biggest key to the outcome.
Costello is 53 of 94 for 471 yards and two TDs in two-plus games this season – far from last year’s output, when he finished with the second-most passing yards in school history, but enough to keep the Cardinal in the game.

West looked overwhelmed against the Bruins, going 15 of 32 for 143 yards and being sacked seven times. If Costello can’t go, Stanford is hoping its redshirt freshman gained a lot from his first experience.
CONTROLLING TATE
Arizona also faces uncertainty at quarterback. Senior Khalil Tate was benched early in third quarter last week against USC after being sacked six times and throwing for just 47 yards.
Still, Tate remains the starter as Arizona heads to The Farm. He threw for 404 yards against Colorado three weeks ago and ran for 129 yards against Texas Tech four weeks ago.
Stanford faced a similar dual-threat quarterback last week against UCLA, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw for 192 yards and ran for 66 yards, accounting for three touchdowns, in the 34-16 win.
“I’m happy that we faced an athletic QB that could run last week,” Stanford senior linebacker Casey Toohill said. “That was the fastest QB we faced all season, and now we’ll probably face a faster one. That was really helpful to get that taste in our mouth, understand where our breakdowns happened so we can do better this week.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/25/s...hos-at-qb/

[JJJ]

Stanford  lost three straight games, won two in a row (including an upset of Washington), and then lost last Thursday to UCLA for the first time in 12 meetings.

Arizona opened the season with a shocking loss at Hawaii, won four straight, and then gave up 91 points to Washington and USC in its last two games.

These will be the biggest factors:
WHO’S THE QB
Stanford’s offense was sluggish under quarterbacks K.J. Costello and Davis Mills. It was catatonic under third-stringer Jack West, who was forced into action against UCLA and managed just three points until garbage time.
Mills is definitely out Saturday, but Costello’s thumb has healed enough that he was able to split time with West in practice this week. The redshirt junior’s availability – Shaw said Wednesday that Costello was between questionable and probable – may be the biggest key to the outcome.
Costello is 53 of 94 for 471 yards and two TDs in two-plus games this season – far from last year’s output, when he finished with the second-most passing yards in school history, but enough to keep the Cardinal in the game.

West looked overwhelmed against the Bruins, going 15 of 32 for 143 yards and being sacked seven times. If Costello can’t go, Stanford is hoping its redshirt freshman gained a lot from his first experience.
CONTROLLING TATE
Arizona also faces uncertainty at quarterback. Senior Khalil Tate was benched early in third quarter last week against USC after being sacked six times and throwing for just 47 yards.
Still, Tate remains the starter as Arizona heads to The Farm. He threw for 404 yards against Colorado three weeks ago and ran for 129 yards against Texas Tech four weeks ago.
Stanford faced a similar dual-threat quarterback last week against UCLA, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw for 192 yards and ran for 66 yards, accounting for three touchdowns, in the 34-16 win.
“I’m happy that we faced an athletic QB that could run last week,” Stanford senior linebacker Casey Toohill said. “That was the fastest QB we faced all season, and now we’ll probably face a faster one. That was really helpful to get that taste in our mouth, understand where our breakdowns happened so we can do better this week.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/25/s...hos-at-qb/