Washington Football: Huskies hold off Stanford’s late charge

3. KJ Costello will be big-time next year

All the focus around the Stanford offense going into the season was the return of Heisman runner-up Bryce Love, and deservedly so. But KJ Costello has been the man to keep the Cardinal moving this year with Love battling injuries.

For the fifth time this season, Costello surpassed the 300-yard mark in a loss to Washington, throwing for 347. He had a 381-yard performance earlier this year in a defeat vs. Utah, also eclipsing the mark against San Diego State, Oregon and Washington State.

The problem, though, is Stanford is just 2-3 when Costello throws for over 300 yards and 3-1 when he does not, with the lone loss during that trend coming to Notre Dame on the road.

Stanford is never going to be Washington State with its air raid offense, but if David Shaw can find a happy medium between Costello lighting up the sky and a ground attack, the Cardinal will be back to competing for the league title sooner rather than later.