Stanback emerges as top QB
SEATTLE – Isaiah Stanback stood his ground last season when Washington’s coaches pressured him to move to wide receiver to help out the talent-thin Huskies.
He told then-head coach Keith Gilbertson that he was recruited as a quarterback and he didn’t want to switch.
“My conscience was telling me to hold out and I did,” he said. “All I wanted was the opportunity. If they gave me that equal opportunity and I messed it up, it was on me.”
On a 1-10 Washington team in 2004, Stanback started one game at quarterback, a 38-0 loss to Southern California before a crowd of 72,855 fans in Los Angeles. He won’t forget that nightmare experience. He was 3 for 16 for 27 yards.
A year later under new coach Tyrone Willingham, the Huskies program is still struggling to right itself, but Stanback, a junior from Seattle’s Garfield High School, has emerged as a productive Pacific-10 Conference quarterback.
After making only one start and completing just 34 percent of his passes last season, Stanback has started Washington’s first five games and ranks 27th in the NCAA in total offense with 271.4 yards per game.
Against Notre Dame in Seattle in Washington’s fourth game, he passed for a career-high 353 yards in a 36-17 loss.
Junior linebacker Scott White applauded Stanback’s belief in himself.
“He’s so tough and resilient that he’s come back through all the negativity and all the bad things people said about him,” White said.
While the Huskies are off to a 1-4 start and are 0-2 in the Pac-10 to run their conference losing streak to 10 games, Stanback has been solid at quarterback. He’s averaging 245.8 yards passing per game, completing 81 of 143 passes – 56.6 percent – for four touchdowns, with three interceptions.
Against No. 12 UCLA, Stanback almost led his team to a major upset until the Huskies gave up a touchdown in the final 68 seconds in a 21-17 loss.
“I’ve been very, very pleased with the play we’ve received from Isaiah,” Willingham said. “I think he’s dedicated himself to being a good quarterback and I think so far he’s moving in that direction. I think he has a chance to be very special.”
In addition to his passing production this season, he’s the Huskies’ second-best rusher with 128 yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries.
At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Stanback ran track for the Huskies last spring and posted times of 6.89 seconds at 60 meters and 10.93 in the 100.
Huskies await spread
If there’s a fad in college football, it’s the spread offense. It’s been developing for a while, and Utah and then-coach Urban Meyer made it all the rage last year, putting up big numbers and vaulting the Utes into an unlikely spot in the BCS picture.
The offense takes some of the principles of the option offense but puts greater emphasis on the passing game than the typical offense. It often puts the quarterback in the shotgun, spreads its receivers out wider and makes the defense defend a greater portion of the field.
This week, Washington will gets its first real look at the spread when it travels to Autzen Stadium to take on No. 20 Oregon at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The Ducks are in their first real year of running their version of the spread under new offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, and the numbers tell the story.
Oregon ranks ninth in the nation in passing offense (326.2 yards a game), 14th in total offense (473.5) and 24th in scoring (35 ppg).
The offense is designed to get as many players involved as possible, and makes it harder to develop stars, but there’s always one or two who emerge and that’s been the case with the Ducks. Senior quarterback Kellen Clemens is having the best year of his career, ranking eighth in the nation in total offense (330 yards a game) and 20th in pass efficiency (147.9), and receiver Demetrius Williams is ninth in the country in receiving yards per game (113.3).
“I haven’t seen much of it,” Willingham said of the spread. “There’s some interesting things that they’re doing. Coach Crowton has done a marvelous job of blending that in, the spread, and still using his rushing attack.”