Friday, July 21, 2006

Game Three Fresno State

Fresno State comes to Seattle for the Huskies third game of the year. The Bulldogs are always tough, and Pat Hill will have them up to the task of beating a Pac Ten opponent. This is one of those games Washington has to win to get to a bowl in 2006.

Fresno as usual will field a competitive team that is more than capable of playing with most Pac Ten opponent's. Who can forget last years game with USC that almost knocked the Trojans out of the national championship game? These guys aren't Oklahoma, but they can play up to the level of most opponents.

This years Fresno squad will be led by an inexperienced QB who will be picked once practice starts in August. Expect the young QB to be having some growing pains early in the year.
Dwayne Wright return from a year off due to a knee injury to run the ball. WR Paul Williams is the primary big play threat and has really good size.

Offensively the Bulldogs are going to be green, and have some question marks so that is going to give the Husky defense the opportunity to shine at home.

On defense the Bulldogs also lack experience going into 2006 after graduating excellent talent. This isn't going to be Fresno's year to make a drive for a BCS bid, but they should be one of the top three teams in the WAC.

Washington should beat Fresno St

Washington should be able to beat these guys at home, just like we should have beaten Air Force last year. This is a game that will probably be decided in the 4th quarter.

You have to give the advantage on offense to UW being who is being led by a senior QB. In addition to that UW has a lot more experience at the skill positions. The OL of course needs to make time for the skill players.

Defensively we should be able to control the line of scrimmage. Holding on to the ball of course is crucial in games like this, t/o margin often rests with the victor. Look for Kenny James, and Louis Rankin to get their yards against the Bulldogs. IS will get a lot more time to throw against the FSU defense, look for him to have a big game in Husky Stadium.

This is the type of game Ty needs to win to start building a little excitement in Seattle. Fresno has built a strong program, but this years team won't be one of their best. Washington should win. A victory here will be a major springboard leading into the conference season with UCLA, and Arizona up next. This is a three game string of winnable games, if Washington wants to go bowling it all starts here.

Washington 31 Fresno State 24 (2-1)

7 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

Already deleting comments? Is it spam, or just dumbasses?

As far as this game goes, damn, this is hard without knowing how the first two went. If the team played hard(win or lose) against Oklahoma and beat SJS handily, the crowd should be back. Because this game could be dangerous, a good, passionate crowd could do wonders.

I like your score except I think our D will be better than that. 27-13.

How many games do you make it back to see on average?

John Berkowitz said...

It is spam, somebody comes by and drops anonymous links for gambling from time to time. No biggie.

It is really hard predicting the outcome, in fact it is nothing more than an optimistic guess, but I think we beat Fresno on paper.

In past years I would see around five-six games in person but it has dropped the last couple of years. The team was so bad that it wasn't worth the investment to fly out more than once, or twice per year.

I like road games best for some reason, always fun to visit new stadiums.

This year will be tough with the wedding, the honeymoon, and a new house happening at the same time.

I did buy XM radio so no matter where I am I can tune the games in.

hairofthedawg said...

I've only seen two games. Wasn't impressed with the stadium other than the view. I got tickets online that were way at the top of the left section and the stairs sucked. I saw two older people trip and fall and since I had done some pregame drinking, was careful after that. I went to a few hockey games at UA which were fun because Hooters' girls were serving food and drinks and I knew a few of them fairly well, but most of my time has been spent overseas since I've had the money to do things like make special trips for games.

I've got 'hawks tickets so that kind of determines my travel priorities for now.

Are you building or buying?

I know, or imagine, what you mean about the away games, at with classy fans. The few that have ventured over from OK have been pretty cool and I think the visit would be a good one. Maybe a post rating the fans of various places you've visited?

cheers

John Berkowitz said...

We are building on a golf course northwest of Chicago about 35 minutes from O'Hare. It is a pretty fun process so far, and we haven't run into any problems which is nice.

I could do a post rating the places I have been to watch a game.

Right now I live with in walking or biking distance of Northwestern, so I try to take in a game or two there a year. They usually start early, and I have plenty of time to go back and watch the Huskies.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully, we don't get too beat up by Oklahoma, or lose any key players to injury (IS,KJ,JWF). If we come in healthy, then I agree with you on a dawg victory. Hope Baer sends the blitz packages we have been so sadly missing since Lambo left, realize its a gamble and sometimes you get burnt, (Wheatley in 93 RB) but at least you die trying. I really hated Tim Hundley's bend but don't break (better known as 3rd and long and give them a first down), boy did we make some average QBs look all world the past few years. With a rookie QB at FSU, we better send somebody every down.

John Berkowitz said...

We are going to see a much more aggressive defense this year. We saw a little of Baer's philosophy as the season went on, and I really liked it. The only thing that was holding them back last year was depth in the secondary. They simply didn't have enough kids left to run all the looks they wanted, this year will be different.

The defense is going to surprise quite a few people nationally this year.

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