Huskies gearing up to slow down Stanford RB Toby Gerhart

At a school known for its groundbreaking, mind-expanding academics, the Stanford football team desires to keep it as simple as A-B-C.

Run right, run left, run middle, usually with Toby Gerhart carrying the ball.

Other than Oregon, no Pac-10 team is getting more of a percentage of its offense from its rushing attack than Stanford, which comes to Seattle for a pivotal game against Washington on Saturday night at Husky Stadium.

Oregon is accumulating 55 percent of its yards on the ground with Stanford at 52 percent. Every other Pac-10 team is getting more yards passing than rushing (UW has 600 yards passing to 315 rushing).

But while Oregon operates the new-age, spread-option offense, the Cardinal gets most of its yards out of a more traditional two-back attack.

"We wanted to establish our running game this year," said Gerhart, the team's sophomore tailback. "The last couple of years, we really haven't had a great running game. But this year, we wanted to come out and have the mindset and attitude as an offense to come out and run the ball."

It's a mindset beginning to set in as the Cardinal is averaging 149.5 yards per game, which would be the best since 2001 (Tyrone Willingham's final year on The Farm, when the Cardinal led the conference at 201.1 yards per game).

And while it's always dangerous to read too much into early season statistics, the Cardinal has played two Pac-10 teams already (Oregon State and Arizona State), averaging 175 yards in those contests.

The key has been Gerhart, a burly 6-foot-1, 228-pounder whose career was in question a year ago.

Gerhart rushed for 140 yards in three quarters last year in the second game of the season against San Jose State before tearing the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

"For me, I didn't feel like there was any doubt I'd be back," he said. "But I know for a while there was speculation as to whether I'd be able to play again, or come back in the same shape. A couple of doctors I talked to at first said I'd never be as good as I once was or I'd be a couple of steps slower. I think that just motivated me to get back stronger and faster. I think it's turned out well."

In fact, Gerhart — who didn't have surgery, preferring to let the injury heal itself — is third in the Pac-10 in rushing with 407 yards, an average of 5.7 yards per carry. He gained 147 yards on 19 carries against Oregon State in the opener and had 148 in last week's 23-10 win over San Jose State, a team that two weeks previous held Nebraska to 99 yards on 30 carries in Lincoln.

"What was really impressive against us was he made a couple of long runs and showed his speed," said OSU coach Mike Riley. "He's got very good feet, and then in the open field he can run. I was impressed with his toughness. They did a nice job in that game of feeding him the ball and being patient with the run."

Gerhart spends his springs playing outfield for the Stanford baseball team. Having a chance to play both sports was a key part of his decision to attend Stanford, said Gerhart. He also seriously considered UCLA after setting the California High School career rushing record with 9,622 yards, third all-time nationally, just ahead of Emmitt Smith.

Other than Gerhart, the Cardinal has struggled to mount a consistent offense this season. Enough so that the job of quarterback Tavita Pritchard was thought in danger before last week's game. But Pritchard, a graduate of Clover Park High School, went the entire way against San Jose State, operating a fairly conservative game plan that featured only one completion longer than 25 yards.

Given UW's struggles stopping the run the past few years — the Huskies have allowed 222.3 yards per game on the ground this season — Stanford's game plan for Saturday seems pretty obvious.

But the Huskies think they might be better prepared after facing some big backs this year, notably BYU's Harvey Unga and Fui Vagapuna.

"We just have to run and try to attack them before you get hit," said UW safety Nate Williams. "Those BYU backs were some of the bigger backs we've ever played, and for the most part we tackled well that week. ... So we'll be ready."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com