The Monday Morning Wash

Monday morning has rolled around again, and Husky fans are pretty morose after watching another game we had a chance to win, turn into another disappointing loss.

One of our long time readers who was at the game shared these thoughts, and I thought it would be interesting to start off the morning answering them in a space that would give me enough room.

Nice job Prrbrrr!

1. Was Meamber right?

(Yes, the Husky defense is not aligned correctly, and they are not making correct reads. UCLA obviously scouted and exploited it again this week.)

2. Once again, Baer makes an average team look All American. The starting QB practices only 4 days this year and torches you. The walk on RS Fr never played a snap replacement comes in and you overstack the box? Morons. You can cheat up a little, but my gosh.

(UW didn't go after Cowan from the get go, that allowed him to gain confidence. The over stack, goal line defense was an obvious coaching error. Not something you do when you have a tired defense going against rested RB's.)

3. We are trying to recruit Kavario Middleton as a TE, but would you come to an offense which threw 1 pass to a TE in 2 games, even though UCLA was giving us that play.

(UCLA gave us the play because they knew we wouldn't take it. I don't think it effects Kavario, it just shows we need better TE's. Kitd's look for opportunity to play immediately, UW has that in spades. The overall talent is actually getting better, but it is young, and we need more of it.)

4. Did you notice that the replacement guard for UCLA's Tevaga jumped off early at least 3 times in first half. DO we exploit that, no! Two 100 yard rushers in a game, especially when you have the RS walkon.

(That guard had lots of experience as a backup, he blocked decently even though he jumped a lot. Giving up big plays is the reason they rushed well, Baer was right take out the big plays and the defense did ok. I think the biggest factor was fatigue.)

5. Jake Locker is the real deal, but he is young. TL is trying to hit home runs with him, look at what UCLA did with Cowan, short outs to get the confidence in. JL is at the stage where he still locks on, and is barely able to get past his primary. Put him in a position to succeed.

(The middle was open all night, so dragging TE's across 10 yards deep, and sneaking out your FB's would have been high percentage calls. UCLA plays a very physical man defense, so they jam our WR's at the line of scrimmage which negated the type of quick outs we were giving UCLA by providing the 10 yard cushion. Locker came out cold, and looked like a deer in the headlights, so it isn't all TL.)

6.The staff talked about Ellis, and Goodwin (to stretch the field) but just talk. Our long threat is Russo, too slow to get separation. Reese is an enigma, poor concentration on routines but always one spectacular.

(They don't use a lot of players, they don't rotate or substitute well to keep players fresh. Russo probably does the best job of any player on the team with the skill he has.)

7. 3rd and 1, two fullbacks, too slow. Rankin needs to be relegated to KOR and maybe slotback where he can be in space. As for the RB coach, 3 yrs to coach it out of him or replace him and neither has happened. Solution replace RB coach Miles.

(Rankin should be returning kicks, no doubt about it. The FB's look like FB's. I don't see a lot of progress under Miles, and he is a so so recruiter.)

8. Davenport is an upgrade, not much McDowell, hope we haven't ruined his psyche ala Roc and Massey.

(McDowell will be fine, and has performed well in my opinion. A healthy Davenport is a much better choice.)

9. Special teams were very special this game in the negative. It is past time to suggest to an old friend(s) its time to retire with dignity, some people don't get it.

(I agree on that one even though I like him as a recruiter. I would never hire a former head coach as an assistant.)

10. Our OL is below average. DL was vastly overrated in preseason. LBs have already been I.D.'ed.

(The OL is young, and needs more talent. It is a position that takes five full years to upgrade. I think the DL is fine, they don't get any help from the people behind them, and if they stay on the field too long they get tired. I think the LB corp shows a lot of talent, but as Meamber said, they are not being properly prepared to make the correct reads. When you are out of position it is tough to make plays. They are also a little small.)

11. I would not give TW the 5th year. The kids are willing and trying, but the coaching both strategical (game plans) and tactically (lack of adjustments) are poor.

(Usually the fifth year is a gift, just like the fifth year for a scholarship athlete. When you make coaching changes it is usually a given that you buy out the last year of the contract. To be fair, this is only the start of year three, and the best most of us thought they would do is be 2-3 after the USC game. the thing that burns most people is we could have been 4-0 going into USC.)

12. I think our best hope is to show some improvement to hopefully recruit well enough to let the new regime (tba Dec2008) a solid foundation. It is time to to discretely identify candidates, no more retreads, find the next Urban Meyer, Jeff Tedford. It can be done.

(Jim Mora Jr. is the obvious next head coach in waiting. Most of the big money guys firmly are in his court. That being said, Don Coryell was in that position in 1969, and it never happened. 2007 was always going to be a major rebuilding year, so the emphasis for Ty is too have a very good 2008, and bring in a strong class this Winter.)

12. Lastly a funny quote from the RB by a UW fan as he was leaving that stinkeroo, "we want Gilby".

(This was a Gilby type game, poor game day coaching, poor scouting, and preparation...stinkeroo is an apt description.

I think Willingham agrees with you. "The coaches have to help them. We have to get them in the perfect position. And then we've got to get the execution.")

13. As for me, life goes on, the RB/UCLA jinx continues, and I have decided on Baer after actually giving his scheme deep thought. This game only added more coaches to the list. JD Williams and maybe Bagget are the only ones that should be retained if at all. TW is not CEO, friendship has clouded his bottom line.

(They aren't getting it done, and they are not giving their team the best chance to win. UCLA, and Ohio State were very beatable, but they won because they made second half adjustments, the UW staff hasn't shown they can do that.)

14. Sorry for a too lengthy rant, but I had to get it off, this after a cooling off. Noticed you went off both here and at Dman too, so we can both be excused.

(I did go off, and have to admit that I had quite a few during the game. I broke my own rule, don't post immediately after the game with a buzz. I sheepishly took a look at what I wrote the next day and couldn't find much I disagreed with.)

Pac Ten Round Up

USC didn't have any problem with Washington State, and I don't think they are going to lose a single game this year. they are excellent on both sides of the ball. LSU, and USC will meet for all the marbles in January. The Trojans take on UW in Husky Stadium this week, and it is going to be very ugly. UW's goal should be to protect it's players from injury.

Oregon State came out and hit ASU in the mouth, but Sean Canfield continues to destroy this team as he has five interceptions which basically handed ASU the win. ASU is a very good team at this point. OSU should have won this one, but you cannot beat anyone when you turn the ball over. Stop the OSU rushing game, make Canfield throw it, and you win the game. OSU takes on UCLA this week. The Sun Devils take on Stanford. Watch OSU rebound and slap the Bruins around because they can play defense, but offensively they have to eliminate the mistakes.

California got a late scare from Arizona, but still won handily. Arizona's defense which was supposed to be a strong point isn't doing it. California can score on anyone, but their defense is going to lose them a few games this year. Cal has Oregon next week, more on that below.

Oregon is in the same boat as Cal, but their offense may be in better shape right now. Oregon allowed the plucky Stanford Cardinal 31 points, and the Cards actually led at the half. Like Cal, Oregon's defense is going to lose them a few games this year. Stanford has ASU next week.

Oregon has it's first huge game of the year with Cal at home coming up this week. I am going to take Oregon in this showdown. I think the Ducks offense is playing better than Cal's right now, and will be able to outscore the Bears in a game that should go over 100 combined points.

The Weekly Poll Question

Last we asked?

Will Washington beat UCLA?

Yes 31% (29 votes)
No 9% (8 votes)
Washington will win by two or more TD's 57% (53 votes)
UCLA will win by two or more TD's. 3% (3 votes)

The overwhelming majority thought we would beat them by two TD's which was probably fueled by Ben Olson going down with a concussion.

This week we ask:

Do you have confidence in the UW coaching staff?

I am certainly not going to waste your time asking of we can beat USC. The last six quarters have been attrocious from a coaching perspective in my opinion. I think our coaches frankly hurt us in the second half the last two games. I think the gameplan going in against UCLA was plain lousy. Was it just an off week, or are you losing confidence in the coaching staff?

Pac Ten Power Ratings

1. USC....Nobody in the conference has the balance of the Trojans. (Rising)
2. California....Defense is Achilles heal. (Holding)
3. Oregon....Showdown with Cal this week. (Holding)
4. ASU....Nice win over Oregon State. (Rising)
5. UCLA...Good win over UW, but not firing on all cylinders. (Holding)
6. Washington....Terrible performance against UCLA. (Falling)
7. Oregon State....QB position is killing them. (Falling)
8. Washington St....Did you expect them to beat USC? (Holding)
9. Stanford....Nice job against Oregon. (Rising)
10. Arizona....Stoops not getting it done. (Falling)