Saturday, October 14, 2006

Jake Locker era starting a year early?

In the aftermath of a disappointing upset loss to Oregon State the Huskies are now pondering a future without Isaiah Stanback at the helm. As we saw with Carl Bonnell today at the helm, it might mean not winning the two more games required to get eligible for a bowl game if they play him. As much as everyone hates to admit it is time for Jake Locker to make his debut a year early after studying under Lappano for the past three months.

We all hope Isaiah is ok, but if he is going to be out an extended period of time you will see Jake Locker behind the ball next week against California. Did I just say that? Wouldn't that be sacrificing the lamb to the lions after the way our OL was eaten up this week? Stay tuned for word on Isaiah's latest injury, lets hope it was just a twisted ankle and a bump on the head. As you saw today life without IS is not something we want to see this year. I am sure this topic will have a lot of legs this week.

It's early after the game, but a big impression I have is Washington didn't play nearly as fast as they did against USC. We were never able to establish a tempo on either side of the ball. Not sure if that was the coaches fault, the players, or IS who kept overthrowing all day, or his receivers who couldn't bail him out by holding on. We just never established a rhythm, or went with what is working. The whole day was like putting a square peg in a round hole. Lappano probably called his worst game since he has been at Washington. Why he didn't let Kenny run the ball when he was hot, and we only needed a TD to put us up by 10 is hard to fathom. We just let this get away from us. You keep the underdog in and this stuff happens.

Here are the burning questions we have this evening.

1. Will IS be able return this week or even this season?

2. Are Bonnell, and Durocher capable of leading the team in his absence?

3. Will Ty take the redshirt off of Locker this week?

What do you guys think?

4 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

Yeah, the game sucked. I also hope Isaiah's ok but can't help but wonder if he should have been playing in the first place. I wish I could have seen it to figure out what percentage of effectiveness he was playing at. Over the radio, it didn't come across as a positive value.

This leads into your burning questions...was playing IS at half speed less of a risk than CB at full? I don't know where IS was at the start of the game, but things didn't improve at all when Carl stepped in. It surprises me, but as far as I could tell the team had thrown in the towel by that point so I'm not sure Carl got a fair shake.

I haven't seen anything in the news that definitively tells me whether IS will be back or not.

I know that I disagreed with you initially in the chat room about Locker and deep down I really want him to redshirt, but 500-miledawg's post struck a chord with me. If it's necessary that Bonnell plays, give him a shot. I'm not sure Cal is the team I'd like to judge his suitability for the role of QB with but life isn't always fair. In answer to question two...a resounding "I don't know". I didn't expect IS to do as well as he's done up to this point either.

Third question...I can understand completely the temptation to take off the redshirt, but I don't think he'll do it....yet. I think Coach W will put the onus on the rest of the team to overcome the obstacle of IS being down, if indeed he is down. I think he'll give CB and JD the opportunity to step up and use the situation to inspire the team to get their...become focused. I don't know the big picture inside of Coach W's head, but I don't think it included a bowl game this season until our early success surprised everyone. I think he'll keep the forest in mind over the trees and play the season out with what he already has.

Unknown said...

Tough loss in more ways than one. I hope IS comes back for you guys. Hope you guys put up a better fight than my Ducks did against Cal...

John Berkowitz said...

I didn't think he was too hindered by the injury mobility wise. His throwing motion was obviously off since he was ovethrowing his receivers all day, and that is simply a matter of set up, feet planting, and follow through. Thes are all things that can be hindered by playing beat up.

Was IS playing at half speed...NO

Carl never had a chance because of the rush/situation type of thing he was placed into. One thing I did notice is he wasn't accurate, didn't have great arm strength, and wasn't nearly as fast as IS.

Did they throw in the towel? On offense perhaps because OSU kept giving them back the ball at midfield. We still had our chances.

I think with a healthy IS in there we may have come back for the win. 14 minutes without him really limited our options.

Locker?

Well only the coaches know if he gives the team the best chance to win. If he does, he will play, it is as simple as that, no way the staff flushes this season down the toilet.

Is Cal the type of game you want to break in a freshman at? No way, and you might want to put that off for a week because even with IS I don't think we will play well against Cal. Once again, the coaches know who can do what, and who is capable of what. Bonnell deserves his shot, after that comes Locker if need be.

Tui first played against Nebraska on the road as a frosh, so don't discount a frosh QB.

Hopefully CB is able to do the job so we can save Jake for the future, but remember this, the future is now for UW. We have a big recruiting year coming up!

What is on Ty's head?

It has been Rose Bowl since day one. Any coach that doesn't set a goal like that each season won't be around very long.

John Berkowitz said...

Michael thanks for your kind comments! I hope we can give Cal a game, but once they get rolling they are tough to stop.