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Huskies played not to lose, instead of playing to win
Hardcore_Husky
Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 304 
Huskies played not to lose, instead of playing to win
A golden opportunity was lost yesterday, and fault lies with coaches as
much as players
Comments
"USC QB Sam Darnold completed 83.3% of his passes that traveled 10 yards or further. UW's Jake Browning only completed 33% of those, and his throws missed his receivers entirely 56% of the time. Darnold only missed completely 8% of the time (ESPN Stats and Info)."
Idiocy.
That was a game that screamed for a rush game and short throws but we're too impatient for that; or Smith is.
We're out of the playoffs and maybe that's good considering how our lines got owned.
We've been playing not to lose for a while. I watch about as much Penn State as I do Washington. PSU couldn't complete a comeback against Pitt and then a few weeks later got just destroyed by Michigan. They had injuries too including linebackers. Their QB was not playing well, especially in the passing game.
I don't know exactly what happened, but their QB is a ton better and their defense has improved as well. They found a way to beat Urban. It look a ton of luck (blocked FGs for TDs can't be a part of a gameplan) but they played loose with nothing to lose. Yesterday they were in a dogfight all game and couldn't run the ball (two starting tackles hurt and the LT replacement got hurt during the game) but kept feeding Saquon Barkley the rock and eventually broke through in the 4th. Barkley had 33 carries for 60 yards. Even when they were down they knew they could still do it. The QB wasn't pouting about 2 INTs. We have been nothing but front runners this year. We can handle pressure in a tie game. Get down by a score late or by 2 scores earlier? We shit ourselves. Penn State, down on the road by 10 in the 3rd, missing o-linemen, found a way to battle back. And it's not like PSU is some veteran team that's been there before.
USC has gotten better. WSU has gotten better. I suppose it is natural for teams that lose early to improve but I would like to know what areas of the team are better today than in September. Taylor Rapp?
The offense is definitely regressing; that little fake zone read turned option pitch that was introduced for Stanford hasn't shown up again. That was a nice new wrinkle. What new wrinkles have we found since?
I had faith in Pete and still do. But I'm blown away at how bad we were yesterday. I realize we had many missed opportunities (missed open deep balls, the blocked FG) that if we hit on the game is likely different. But Pete has been a hugely successful big game coach in the past. We were the complete opposite of that yesterday. He's also had to coach an undefeated team again a dreck schedule and keep them focused and he's done it before. Maybe he can't handle the pressure when not every single team is complete dreck and a few of them have a pulse or are equals.
After that no momentum and Browning sacking himself the rest of the game.