Post-Game Saturday Night Thoughts

Hardcore_Husky

Post-Game Saturday Night Thoughts

Derek Johnson gives some late-night thoughts in the wake of Washington's 31-17 win over Utah State.

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TierbsHsotBoobs

Washington played today? I already forgot that game.

GrundleStiltzkin

Muttzen

Derek Johnson said:

During the recent off-season, the prevailing talk was how Washington lost four high draft choices on defense and losing them would deplete the team's competitive chances this season.

I stated on our message boards that if Chris Petersen was the coach we think he is, then we'd see improvement in surprising areas. It stood to reason the Huskies could be a 7-5 team with very young players being taught by good coaches.

Three games into the '15 campaign, we're seeing it. Pure freshman Jake Browning looked like a stud in today's 31-17 win over Utah State. He possessed great field awareness and excellent touch on his passes. Several players are emerging too, like Keishawn Bierria, Myles Gaskin, Azeem Victor, Trey Adams and others. A rippling roster of talented underclassmen bodes well for the future. That defense sometimes looks so athletic and aggressive that echoes of the old days are there.

For years now, the Husky Half Brains have joked about the famous Kim Grinolds Eye Test. And we've joked about the possibly apocryphal "They look like Ohio State, Groz", utterance by Hugh Millen to Dave Grosby on KJR just prior to the 0-12 season of 2008*.

But damn it anyway, this year's Huskies really do pass the eye test. Players look more physical, solid, quicker and faster than this team has looked in years.

The Pac-12 schedule will present many pitfalls. Today's non-existent running game against Utah State signals a red flag for difficult times ahead. And when (not if, but when) the time comes that a battered Jake Browning is pulled from a game to be replaced by Magna-Carta or The Wild Swede, all bets are off. Dennis DeYoung will be on suicide watch on the Hardcore Husky OFFICIAL Game Thread.

But the Huskies are finally in good hands with Chris Petersen. He can recruit with the big boys, he can build a team properly starting with the lines, and he brooks no bullshit with the media.

Will the Huskies be able to knock off Sark's USC Trojans? I'm suddenly looking forward to that early October game in LA.



* Flagged for listening to KJR

Agree.

Muttzen

I'm looking forward to all games this year. We have as good of a shot to beat ASU, Oregon, USC, Stanford, as we have had in years, even if we will be significant underdoogs.

RoadDawg55

Today was really good. I was pleased with everything today except for the cutesy stuff. Even then, it was already 31-10 when it really hurt us. Maybe the colossal fuck up means we never have to see it again. The way Browning threw the ball was boner inducing. I even have to reluctantly give Smith props for the way he utilized Dwayne Washington and Daniels. This offense isn't loaded with talent, but there are some guys who can make plays.

And I know the OL wasn't great today, but you can tell by looking at them that the young guys will be good. You know they will get better and better while the upperclassmen will never amount to anything special.

Defense has multiple studs. The best part is even the lightly recruited, lesser known guys like McIntosh, Gardenhire, etc look like good players. The Constantine/Lawyer subbing in always costs us a score every game, but maybe it's worth it to keep the starters fresh. I still don't like giving up easy points though.

SpoogeDawg

Millen said wut in 20008? Wjw

GrundleStiltzkin

There is something up with these personnel rotations that has nothing to do with keeping guys fresh. I'm not sure all of them are situational either. Almost seems like coaches are using these as extended fall camp.

RoadDawg55

GrundleStiltzkin said:

There is something up with these personnel rotations that has nothing to do with keeping guys fresh. I'm not sure all of them are situational either. Almost seems like coaches are using these as extended fall camp.

I think they like to play a lot of guys to get guys to buy in and stay involved. It sounds good in theory, but it's annoying watching the opponent move the ball whenever the two back up MLB's are in. They are taking out Victor who is one of the best players on the team.

Tequilla

RoadDawg55 said:

GrundleStiltzkin said:

There is something up with these personnel rotations that has nothing to do with keeping guys fresh. I'm not sure all of them are situational either. Almost seems like coaches are using these as extended fall camp.

I think they like to play a lot of guys to get guys to buy in and stay involved. It sounds good in theory, but it's annoying watching the opponent move the ball whenever the two back up MLB's are in. They are taking out Victor who is one of the best players on the team.

Out of conference games ... part of the process of shaping your team and figuring out who your war daddies are going to be come conference time.

The time to experiment with stuff like the Wild Swede is now not next week or some other time during conference play.

I get that at times it can be frustrating. But at the same time, getting the backups, etc. added game reps not only aide in their development, help provide more energy for better reps from your best players, but help in overall team morale as everybody feels like they are contributing to the outcome.

The alternative is what you see from Seven where he relies on half the roster and relegates the rest to towel waving and lawnmower starting on the sideline. When injuries eventually happen the players are ill prepared and the long term losing streak starts.

There's no question in my mind that if we played Boise even now, we'd probably beat them. I'm sure we'd love to go back and replay that game. But the other luxury that Petersen has now that he never had at Boise is that the whole concept of style points doesn't matter so much now. Win games in the PAC and as long as you win, the rest takes care of itself.

Fire_Marshall_Bill

Tequilla said:

RoadDawg55 said:

GrundleStiltzkin said:

There is something up with these personnel rotations that has nothing to do with keeping guys fresh. I'm not sure all of them are situational either. Almost seems like coaches are using these as extended fall camp.

I think they like to play a lot of guys to get guys to buy in and stay involved. It sounds good in theory, but it's annoying watching the opponent move the ball whenever the two back up MLB's are in. They are taking out Victor who is one of the best players on the team.

Out of conference games ... part of the process of shaping your team and figuring out who your war daddies are going to be come conference time.

The time to experiment with stuff like the Wild Swede is now not next week or some other time during conference play.

I get that at times it can be frustrating. But at the same time, getting the backups, etc. added game reps not only aide in their development, help provide more energy for better reps from your best players, but help in overall team morale as everybody feels like they are contributing to the outcome.

The alternative is what you see from Seven where he relies on half the roster and relegates the rest to towel waving and lawnmower starting on the sideline. When injuries eventually happen the players are ill prepared and the long term losing streak starts.

There's no question in my mind that if we played Boise even now, we'd probably beat them. I'm sure we'd love to go back and replay that game. But the other luxury that Petersen has now that he never had at Boise is that the whole concept of style points doesn't matter so much now. Win games in the PAC and as long as you win, the rest takes care of itself.

Lindquist sucks. How the hell he and Cyler were ever four stars is beyond me. The packages are FS. They aren't working. Smith wouldn't give up though.

Pros do the same thing. They'll put in stupid plays and packages because it worked a few times, but well after d coordinators have caught on. Think of the Wildcat in like 2010.

phineas

Suddenly looking forward to the usc game? That's the only game I've picked the Dawgs winning all year. That game is set up perfect for sark to blow

jecornel

They still subbed like crazy during conference play last year, but Pete hated that team and season anyway.

For some reason they are into that lawyer Constantine combo. It's just not good.

RaceBannon

I don't get to see the Huskies play shit teams on a shit network. So to me they're still the team that looks like shit against good teams.

TierbsHsotBoobs

RaceBannon said:

I don't get to see the Huskies play shit teams on a shit network. So to me they're still the team that looks like shit against good teams.

But they play Cal next week.






Oh.