The Monday Morning Wash

I have little time, and connectivity tonight so I thought I would briefly review the game and give you my impressions.

It is a tough loss, and like the five before was at the hand of a top ten talent level team. I think the fact that Washington was still in this game late in the fourth quarter despite giving up a near record amount of yardage is pretty amazing. Imagine just how we will do some day if we can build a defense.

Talking about defense it was one of the worst overall performances I have seen in quite some time despite the fact that we had a few good stands here and there. When ever you give up over 600 yards in total offense you deserve to lose, and lose big. Washington was simply outclassed by the best offense in the country. I can't say enough complimentary things about the Duck offense right now. Dixon is a wizard. Stewart reminds me of Corey Dillon, and the offensive line was just awesome. Did you see how big those guys were? Did you notice their lower bodies? these guys were Clydesdale's. The Huskies in comparison look small, and much less athletic.

Washington was simply not prepared for the Duck no huddle offense, from the onset players were wandering around the field trying to figure out how to lineup and having no idea of where the ball was going. Our DB's did a credible job, but the front seven was simply beaten most of the night. The Ducks seemed to get a three, or four yard push on every running play before the running back would patiently turn it up field for a large gain. That is what you call dominating the line of scrimmage.

Stewart saved one of his all time best for Husky Stadium, and you just have to shake your head when you realize a local talent like that never really gave the Huskies and consideration during recruiting. Northwest running backs like that come around once in a decade, and it is shame that he didn't stay home.

Despite the another loss I saw plenty of bright spots. Locker played much better this week, and he is indeed making progress and getting closer. Louis Rankin had another strong game, and he has breather life back into the kickoff return team. Special teams in general are improving each week. Receivers are still dropping too many balls, and the defense was just atrocious. We finally had a decent third quarter outscoring Oregon 14-7 to tie the game at 31.

I don't know what to say about the defense. They simply were out played, and had no idea where the ball was going last night. They didn't look like they came out fired up, and buy the last half of the fourth quarter they were barely standing. I really thought we were going to be better up front this year, but it just hasn't happened.

I think it comes down to this, we need better athletes, better conditioned athletes, and finally we need to do a much better job developing the athletes we do have.

What's Next

Next up for the Huskies are six winnable games. I think the Huskies will beat Arizona, Stanford, Washington State, and Hawaii. I think they will play close games with Oregon State, and California that could result in wins. Oregon State is starting to improve every week just like they did last year, and California is a team we can hang some points on.

The key right now for the 2-5 Huskies is to keep focus, get healthy, and not give up. There was always a chance this team would indeed be 2-5 at this point, and we have always known that how they finish, and not how they start would define this season. UW can still go to a bowl game if they beat the teams they are supposed to beat, and steal one from Oregon State, or California.

The key right now to turning this around is beating Arizona next weekend. IF the Huskies can pull it together to do that I think it will set a tone for the rest of the year. IF they lose next week, stick a fork in them because we aren't going anywhere.

Gameday Experience

It has been a couple years since I have been to a game in Husky Stadium. Last year I was married in the Fall, and the previous year I only saw them on the road. It had been three years since my last game in the stadium, and I was pretty surprised about what I saw even though I had heard the reports.

First of all it's boring, that's right boring. The game starts, and a good percentage of the fans are still in the parking lot. I went with a friend to the game in a large yacht, and was amazed at how small the Husky turnout on the water was. It looks like they have about half the boats that they used to outside the stadium.

It's the Oregon game for crying out loud, and the stadium isn't packed. Any Duck fan can get a ticket anywhere in the stadium they want to. We have lost our edge as a tough place to play in my opinion. I was at ASU last week and it was very intimidating, our crowd was absolutely docile in comparison. I never want us to be like ASU, or Oregon, but I don't want us to be like
Yale either.