Stanford has won three Pac-12 titles in the past four seasons, but for the Cardinal to win it again, they probably cant afford another conference loss.The 15th-ranked Cardinal, in the midst of a brutal stretch of the season, are coming off a 44-6 loss at Washington, their worst defeat in coach David Shaws six-year tenure. Stanford (3-1 overall, 2-1 Pac-12) will try to pick up the pieces against Washington State on Saturday at Stanford Stadium, beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET.Shaw said there will be no panic.I will be in the minority, but its the fourth game, and were 3-1, he said. Well get attacked like were 0-12 already. Were not going to give up on ourselves. Others might. Thats fine. Were not going to get too low.Washington State (2-2, 1-0) comes in on a high. The Cougars defeated visiting Oregon 51-33, rolling up 651 total yards, including 280 on the ground, their most in a conference game since 2005.WSU head coach Mike Leach, who usually works with the quarterbacks and receivers during practice, recently has been spending more time with the offensive line. The running game, fueled by a trio of tailbacks -- James Williams, Gerard Wicks and James Morrow -- has gained 508 yards on 65 carries in the past two games.The offensive line did a really good job, Leach said about the Oregon game. They are quality backs, but we are bigger than we have been, and now they are starting to play a little better together than they were early on.Stanford is the team in this matchup better known for its big offensive line and star running backs. But junior running back Christian McCaffrey, the 2015 Heisman runner-up, managed just 49 yards on 12 carries against Washington, his lowest output since a 2014 game against California.Quarterback Ryan Burns has been efficient, completing 50 of 79 passes for 546 yards, with four touchdowns and two interceptions. But he was held to 151 passing yards last week and was sacked six times.We didnt play well. We didnt block well. We couldnt run the ball. We couldnt pass protect and we couldnt complete passes with any consistency, particularly the first two and a half quarters, Shaw said. Just not the style of football that we can play and not as well as we can play.Stanford, the preseason Pac-12 favorite in a league media poll, opened conference play with victories over USC and at UCLA before the Washington game. Now comes Washington State, a game at Notre Dame and then a home game vs. Colorado, which entered the AP poll this week for the first time since 2005.The Cardinal are dealing with a few key injuries, notably starting cornerbacks Quenton Meeks and Alijah Holder, who each missed the loss to Washington. Shaw said Tuesday that both are likely to miss Saturdays game.Holder leads the team with five pass break-ups. Meeks twice intercepted Washington State quarterback Luke Falk in last seasons 30-28 Stanford victory in Pullman, Wash.Alameen Murphy and Terrence Alexander started in their place last week and will be busy if they get the call against Washington States Air Raid passing attack. WSU is tied for first nationally with Texas Tech for the most passing attempts per game -- 53.75.Falk, fourth in the country in passing at 373.8 yards per game, completed 36 of 48 passes for 371 yards without an interception against Oregon. Senior wide receiver Gabe Marks ranks sixth nationally with 9.0 catches per game and has 29 career touchdown receptions.Theyre running the ball with good efficiency, Shaw said. Combined with their pass attack, theyre very tough to stop.Stanford has won eight in a row over the Cougars, matching its longest winning streak in the series. Cardinal kicker Conrad Ukropina, who has made all six of his field goal attempts this season, was the hero of last seasons game. Ukropina hit three field goals, including the go-ahead 19-yarder with less than two minutes remaining.This area could be an edge to Stanford, as WSU place-kicker Erik Powell has missed all four of his field goal attempts this season (two were blocked) after a season in which he was just 5 of 10. He missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of last years game against Stanford that would have given the Cougars the victory.We should have won last year, Leach said of the Stanford game. Thats our own fault. 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The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club.Sebastian Vettel was the surprise pacesetter in second practice for the Mexican GP ahead of Mercedes Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton set laps 0.004 and 0.013 seconds shy of Vettels early benchmark but was unable to dislodge the Ferrari from the top of the timesheets.Ferrari havent won a race in over a year and had only previously headed a Friday timsheet this season at the Chinese GP in April. We had a very good day, Vettel told Sky F1. Lewiss lap didnt look particularly good so I think he has more in the pocket, so tomorrow we need to be realistic.But perhaps more significantly world championship leader Nico Rosberg, who will secure the title if he wins this weekend and Hamilton finishes 10th or lower, struggled and was almost half a second slower than Vettel and Hamilton on his qualifying simulation.Earlier in Practice One, Rosberg had been nearly eight tenths slower than his Mercedes team-mate and championship rival when they both ran on medium tyres and Hamilton was fastest from Vettel. This years event is only the second Mexican GP staged since the race returned to the calendar twelve months ago after a 20-year absence.The track is feeling better than it did last year and I feel a lot more comfortable in the car than I did the first time we came to this circuit, said Hamilton.Rosberg narrowly avoided hitting the wall when he ran wide during his first Practice Two supersoft lap but had already been slower than both Vettel and Hamilton in the first sector.We have a lot of homework to do tonight, the German admitted. Ferrari seemed very quick, so they will be a big threat.Mexican GP talking pointsThe session saw a large divergence on tyre strategy as the field grappled with the tricky Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. Although featuring a series of long straights, the tracks corners are almost invariably slow, a configuration which appears to have at once both highlighted the weakness of the Red Bull package and nullified its aerodynamic strength.Having emerged as Mercedes closest rivals since the summer break, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen lacked the pace of both the Silver Arrows and Ferrari and ended the day just fifth and seventh respectively, split by the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. The lap time of the Renault-bound Hulkenberg was all the more impressive for being set on soft tyres and nearly a second better than the best effort of his team-mate Sergio Perez.On an afternoon to forget for the two Mexicans in the field, Perez was just 15th while compatriot Esteban Gutierrez, fighting to keep his seat at Haas for 2017, was last. For McLaren, still aiming to end the year as the fourth-fastest team, Fernando Alonso just snuck into the top 10, ttwo places ahead of Jenson Button.dddddddddddd The Formula 1 Gossip column All the latest rumour and speculation in the paddock Mexican GP Practice Two timesheet1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:19.702. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, + 0.0043. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, + 0.4354. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, + 0.4695. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, + 0.6586. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, + 0.7847. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, + 0.8298. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, + 0.8399. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1.18410. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, + 1.21311. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, + 1.40312. Jenson Button, McLaren, + 1.40813. Felipe Massa, Williams, + 1.53614. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, + 1.65215. Sergio Perez, Force India, + 1.78916. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, + 1.99517. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, + 2.19018. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, + 2.20719. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, + 2.24720. Romain Grosjean, Haas, + 2.31521. Esteban Ocon, Manor, + 2.50822. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, + 2.618* All times set on supersoft tyres except for Hulkenberg and Perez on softs. Alex Zanardi talks to Marc Priestley about his life changing accident. Watch the full version this weekend during our Mexican GP coverage on Sky Sports F1. Can Lewis Hamilton keep his title dreams alive? Watch the Mexican GP live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday, the race begins at 7pm; Watch the whole race weekend with a NOW TV week pass - £10.99, no contract Also See: The Formula 1 Gossip column Whens the Mexican GP on Sky F1? Talking points for the Mexican GP Get a Sky Sports weekend pass ' ' '