This Week in Stanford Football History: Pittsburgh Week

“Throwback Thursday”

October 30, 1982: Stanford 43, #1 Washington 31

It was a dark, rainy and wind-swept day, 43 years ago this week, as the #1-ranked and heavily-favored Washington Huskies mushed into town with their unblemished 7-0 record to take on third-year head coach Paul Wiggin’s (and talented offensive coordinator Jim Fassel's) record-setting Stanford Cardinal, an offensive powerhouse featuring leading Heisman Trophy candidate John Elway, a senior in his raw, youthful, incomparable magnificence. Without question, Elway (#7) was the “big man on campus”, but it was going to take a huge overall team effort to get over on the halitosis-harboring Huskies that afternoon!

The 1982 marketing slogan was “Stanford Football: More Than A Passing Fancy” and there had indeed been some reasonable offensive balance, but the Cardinal was just 4-3, having engineered outstanding road wins over Purdue in West Lafayette, IN and Ohio State in Columbus, OH, but also losing at home to San Jose State, where John’s father Jack Elway was the Spartans’ head coach, on the road at Arizona State, and at home to the Trojans of USC.

UW came into the contest at 7-0 and was ranked #1 in the UPI, #2 in the AP poll. Their star running back, Jacques Robinson, who had played at nearby San Jose High, had been named the Most Valuable Player of the 1982 Rose Bowl. The Huskies had won 17 of the 19 games since Robinson had arrived at Montlake. The game was nationally televised on ABC, with an ideal 12:50pm start time, in front of 53,871 excited fans at Stanford Stadium. On this occasion, Robinson would not disappoint, running for 132 yards on 28 carries and scoring two touchdowns. 

Cardinal confidence was running high with the anticipated return of versatile running back Vincent White after “VW” had badly bruised his shoulder the week before in a win against WSU. White was a huge part of the Elway offense and would finish the year tied for second in the nation with 68 pass receptions, but on this day, he would rush just eight times for 56 yards, with senior Mike Dotterer getting most of the workload. Heading into the game, Coach Wiggin was not even planning on using White on punt returns.

We won’t go play-by-play here, but there were some major highlights. WR Steve Brown caught a 35-yard TD strike from Elway, his only catch of the game, to get to 7-7.  FB Kaulana Park had a great day blocking. Helter-skelter back Dotterer would contribute 106 yards on 20 carries and another 46 receiving yards on four carries with two touchdowns, including a sensational 46-yard score! The Stanford defense repeatedly came through in the clutch, with four different Stanford players grabbing interceptions!

The game’s biggest play came from one of the smallest players on the field. To understand and appreciate how truly epic 5’7” Vincent White's memorable 76-yard punt return was, you would have to watch the film. The Washington punter launched a beauty, but he clearly outkicked his coverage. White had been instructed to fair catch the ball, but the long-distance punt opened up White’s field of vision… and #22 decided to improvise. Fielding the ball cleanly at the Cardinal 24 yard-line, his first step was like a ballroom dance move! Or was it more like judo, when you let the other guy’s momentum cause the initial miss? Perhaps it was most like an accomplished bullfighter, who side-steps the snarling beast as the crowd yells “Ole!” Never in my memory have so many opposing players who appeared to be in a perfect position to make a tackle, failed even to get a hand on our fleet-footed punt returner. White’s spectacular touchdown came with just 5:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, effectively putting the game on ice after 30 unanswered points from the Cardinal!

Depending on which source one uses, outside linebacker and one-man wrecking crew Garin Veris had between 12 and 14 tackles and three, or arguably four, sacks. Veris received a game ball for that exceptional effort. TE Chris Dressel (106 yards on six catches) and OG Chris Rose received game balls on offense and White got a game ball for his late-game special teams heroics.

Once again, Stanford has stepped up as the designated destroyer of Dawg dreams! The demoralizing defeat may have cost the Huskies at least an outside shot at the mythical national championship, although they would finish 10-2 after a painful 24-20 upset loss to the Washington State Cougars in the Apple Cup rivalry game in Pullman at the end of the regular season.  Pound paws, pooches!

Interview w/ RB Vincent White [1979-82]