Friday, August 31, 2007

Wow

Wow is all I can say after this one. Washington just dominated tonight! This is Syracuse, so you have to temper the enthusiasm a little bit, but last year we would have had problems with these guys. Tonight's win makes you think that these Huskies have the ability to do something this year against a very tough schedule.

Jake Locker is a real difference maker, and may have had the best debut of any RS frosh that I have ever seen. After getting over some jitters, and bad field position he just took over this game in a way we haven't seen since Tui was leading us. Locker didn't look at all like a RS, he looked like a polished veteran out there, and the scary thing is he is only going to get better. this kid is going to lead us back to a Rose Bowl before he leaves.

I thought our two frosh DB's played as well as any DB's we have had the last five years. they covered well, went for the ball, and had a tremendous debut. McDowell, and Williams were glued to the players they were covering. It wasn't like they were covering chopped liver either, the Syracuse receivers have some talent.

The defense came up with seven sacks, and did it without blitzing for the majority of the evening, that's huge.

How nice was it to see Paul Homer pick up some tough yards tonight? short yardage didn't seem to be a problem for the Dawg's as it has been in the past.

Louis Rankin was on, and the Huskies amassed 300 yards in rushing! Louis looked smooth, and only danced on one play. Brandon Johnson looks like a player, and scored his first TD tonight!

Our receivers were sure handed all night, and after a couple of early Jake overthrows pulled down everything in sight.

How about special teams? Perkins, and particularly Ballman were stellar all night, and Johnson did a nice job returning kickoffs. Anthony Russo did exactly what he was supposed to do, and that was catch the ball on punts and not turn it over. We still need work on coverages, and I didn't think guys flew around enough, but this was a decent start with a lot of positives to build on.

The 30-point margin of victory was the largest win of the Willingham era. The last time UW beat someone as bad was the 42-10 win over Oregon in 2003.

This was a great way to open the season, and get ready to face a much better club in husky Stadium next week in Boise State. The Bronco's looked good earlier this week, but that was Weber State. Expect a competitive game, but UW has the horses to wear these guys down and open the season 2-0.

Well that's it for tonight since it is midnight out here, but it was great, savor it Husky fans. That light at the end of the tunnel is no longer a freight train!

1 comment:

hairofthedawg said...

That was a pleasure to listen and chat too! The team kept me awake for sure and then put them away early so I could crash.

A lot of accolades passed around after this game, but to me the most important piece to our puzzle was probably McDowell. Williams too, but it's very nice to know that Vonzell can do that well against some pretty good opposition. We're still thin, but there's a glimmer of light now instead of a huge question mark!