Oct 10, 2014 07:00 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The Stanford Cardinal (25) may be on heightened when they host their high-flying Pac-12 rival Washington State Cougars Friday night.

Allowing a nation-best 8.6 points per game, Stanford's defense will be tested with Connor Halliday and game's best passing offense. With more than 3,000 yards and 26 touchdown strikes, Halliday and Washington State are averaging 523 passing yards per game, tops in the nation.

CLICK HERE to listen to the game live via TuneIn. Kickoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET in Stanford, Calif.

The Cardinal has been here before, having to rebound from a loss in Oct. against Notre Dame. Stanford has played in the last two Rose Bowl games, losing last year's and winning the one before that, but their remaining schedule this season is tough.

"New year, new team, but I think our previous experiences have to lend us some guidelines and have to teach us something," Stanford center Graham Shuler told the Associated Press Tuesday. "All those guys that came before us and have done all that they did playing, we've got to learn from those teams that Chase Thomas and Trent Murphy and all those guys led. But the climate's way different, the team's way different, but what hasn't changed is there's a Pac-12 title out there we're hunting."

Stanford is scheduled to play Arizona State, Oregon, Cal and UCLA all on the road, but hosting Washington State may not exactly be easy.

At 1-2 in the conference, Washington State is not entirely out of the made race for the title, but would do themselves a lot of good by pulling of an upset Friday night. The Cougars will have to keep putting points on the board early and as often as possible, forcing the Cardinal offense to keep up.

"They're fired up. They're energized," Stanford head football coach David Shaw said ahead of the game. "It's me reminding other people, 'Yeah, everybody jumped off the bandwagon last year, everybody jumped off the bandwagon two years ago, everybody jumped off the bandwagon three years ago when we lost to Oregon at home. Players don't jump off the bandwagon. Players don't live and die every week like other people do. Players play football."

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