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Stanford's Kevin Hogan dealing with mystery injury

Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan is injured; that much is known. The severity of the injury or even the specifics of the body part that hurts -- well, Cardinal coach David Shaw won't say.

Shaw did say Hogan seemed likely to play Friday when Stanford hosts to Washington State.

Hogan (6-foot-4, 225 pounds), a junior, suffered some sort of injury on his leg in last week's loss to Notre Dame. Whether it was to his knee, ankle, foot, whatever -- Stanford isn't saying.

"All things point toward him hopefully being ready (for Friday)," Shaw told reporters Tuesday. "We were aware of it. There was no fear of further injury. He still had full range of motion. He still had full strength. After you play the game, it gets really sore, and that's where he is. But we feel good about him being ready."

Hogan did not practice Monday and was limited in practice Tuesday. Junior Evan Crower would start if Hogan can't play.

"Honestly, as I've said the last two years, Evan Crower has been ready to play," Shaw told reporters. "Evan Crower could start for a lot of teams. He knows where he is, he knows his role. ... If it came to it, we have confidence that Evan can go out there and play."

Crower (6-5, 216) has played in two games this season, routs of FCS foe UC Davis and of Army, and six in his career. He was 8-of-13 for 95 yards and a TD through the air against Davis but did not throw a pass against Army.

Stanford has struggled on offense, mainly because it cannot get its rushing attack on track. Hogan actually leads the team with 41 carries, though Remound Wright is the leading rusher. And Hogan hasn't been that productive in the passing game. He has thrown eight touchdown passes, but seven of those came in the wins over UC Davis and Army. In three games against Power Five opponents, he has one TD and three interceptions; he also has just one outing this season in which he threw for more than 216 yards (285 against USC). He has thrown for fewer than 200 in each of the past two games, a win over Washington and the loss to Notre Dame.

Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.