Impressions from Saturday Night

A few impressions from last nights game in Tempe.

The crowd was dressed almost entirely in ASU yellow/gold t-shirts and the sight of it was both intimidating, and nauseous. The crowd was pretty civil, and well behaved, in fact my wife remarked that everyone was nice. I think the place is way too crowded, and while it is a good natured crowd, they don't manage traffic well. The traffic is terrible getting into the stadium area, and parking is really not marked at all which makes it tough if you aren't an insider.

Great place to watch the game, not a bad seat in the house.

I was disappointed that some Husky fans started a Go Huskies chant during the national anthem, nice way to show absolutely no class.

Mill Street is fun, and crowded.

The Husky rooting section was as sparse as I have seen in years. Hard to believe how many people have stopped following the team on the road. I have seen close to ten thousand Husky fans on the road at times.

Locker's TD run right up the middle on a draw was a thing of beauty.

The goal line stop of Carpenter which supposedly ended the first half was just crushing. Our defense looked like they would take it to him the rest of the game. Carpenter was talking trash all night and almost got into fights with our players every time he was hit. I like Rudy, I think the kid is a competitor.

The first half was tremendous, and I really thought the Huskies were going to win the game at that point. We were just knocking the crap out of Rudy Carpenter, and Torrain had left the game.

The third quarter was just a nightmare from beginning to end. I don't really have any answer for it. ASU just came out and shut down our offense, and our defense gave up big plays. You have to wonder if conditioning is a problem with the defense. On offense ASU simply has UW figured out, and Lappano had absolutely nothing to counter with.

I thought our defense played well in the first half. The long TD runs in the second half were the result of excellent cutback moves which took advantage of the Huskies over pursuing, being out of position, and lacking Safety support. All those plays were initially stopped if arm tackles hadn't been missed at the line of scrimmage. We aren't talking huge holes, we are talking tired lineman, and linebackers missing tackles. Once again conditioning comes to mind since all this happens in the third quarter.

Erickson and his coaches knew exactly what type of adjustments were needed to open the second half and they made them. Our coaches made no adjustments that worked, and that put the team on it's heals the entire second half.

One third quarter series was just marred by repeated penalties, that and the Locker fumble set the tone for the second half.

Rankin had a nice night running the ball, and returning kickoffs.

The Huskies have been outscored 56-0 in the third quarter over the last five games....ouch.

Johnnie Kirton is not a good looking TE at all, and he doesn't look like he is in shape. Gottleib had some nice grabs tonight, and looked the part. Kirton needs a position change, or early graduation, he isn't helping.

Our receivers don't run great routes, and they don't get much separation which really doesn't matter since Locker was off target the entire second half.

Locker only completed 33% of his passes last night after starting the game very well, you can't win with a percentage like that.

I thought our running game was fine, but I strongly question the substitution pattern of the running backs in the third quarter, it had little rhyme, or reason. It was totally disruptive, and I have no idea what the coaches were trying to accomplish.

Well, off to the pool for a little sunshine.