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Pac-12 Hotline: Team Grades For 2021 Season
ChillyDawg
Member Posts: 1,469
Seattle Times (click for full article) https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/pac-12-football-team-by-team-grades-for-the-2021-season/
Washington
Record: 4-8/3-6
Grade: F
Comment: It’s impossible to imagine worse bookends to a season than a come-from-ahead loss to Montana in the first game and Washington State planting its flag in Husky Stadium in the final game. And yet there’s much more to assess. Like when Jimmy Lake whacked a player in the helmet, then shoved him from behind — all of which resulted in Lake’s suspension and eventual termination. Or when the Huskies mismanaged the quarterback situation, repeatedly. Or when they completed six-yard passes on third-and-10. Allegedly, Edgar Allan Poe was offered the script to UW’s season and deemed it too ghastly to publish.
Washington State
Record: 7-6/6-3
Grade: A-
Comment: The most memorable day of the season — Oct. 18, when Nick Rolovich was fired — didn’t define the Cougars. They carried on like nothing happened, embarrassed Washington in the Apple Cup and named Jake Dickert the permanent coach. The Sun Bowl can’t be spun as anything other than a bad loss, but it was a minor consideration. Bottom line: The Cougars lost three of their first four games, then lost their coach but finished one game back in the North. WSU has won more than seven games several times recently, but this was the most impressive season in ages that didn’t include Gardner Minshew.
Oregon
Record: 10-4/7-2
Grade: B-
Comment: Had you told us before the season that Oregon would win 10 games, beat Ohio State, spend weeks in the playoff hunt and take home the North title, the Hotline might have offered a grade in the A-/B+ range. But when the specifics are added to the calculation — the bad loss at Stanford and the no-shows against Utah — a slighter darker tint emerges for the final verdict. Injuries impacted the trajectory, as did Mario Cristobal’s wandering eye. But when Oregon got punched in the mouth in the game it absolutely had to win, Nov. 20 in Salt Lake City, the Ducks rolled over. And that single performance impacts our view of everything.
Washington
Record: 4-8/3-6
Grade: F
Comment: It’s impossible to imagine worse bookends to a season than a come-from-ahead loss to Montana in the first game and Washington State planting its flag in Husky Stadium in the final game. And yet there’s much more to assess. Like when Jimmy Lake whacked a player in the helmet, then shoved him from behind — all of which resulted in Lake’s suspension and eventual termination. Or when the Huskies mismanaged the quarterback situation, repeatedly. Or when they completed six-yard passes on third-and-10. Allegedly, Edgar Allan Poe was offered the script to UW’s season and deemed it too ghastly to publish.
Washington State
Record: 7-6/6-3
Grade: A-
Comment: The most memorable day of the season — Oct. 18, when Nick Rolovich was fired — didn’t define the Cougars. They carried on like nothing happened, embarrassed Washington in the Apple Cup and named Jake Dickert the permanent coach. The Sun Bowl can’t be spun as anything other than a bad loss, but it was a minor consideration. Bottom line: The Cougars lost three of their first four games, then lost their coach but finished one game back in the North. WSU has won more than seven games several times recently, but this was the most impressive season in ages that didn’t include Gardner Minshew.
Oregon
Record: 10-4/7-2
Grade: B-
Comment: Had you told us before the season that Oregon would win 10 games, beat Ohio State, spend weeks in the playoff hunt and take home the North title, the Hotline might have offered a grade in the A-/B+ range. But when the specifics are added to the calculation — the bad loss at Stanford and the no-shows against Utah — a slighter darker tint emerges for the final verdict. Injuries impacted the trajectory, as did Mario Cristobal’s wandering eye. But when Oregon got punched in the mouth in the game it absolutely had to win, Nov. 20 in Salt Lake City, the Ducks rolled over. And that single performance impacts our view of everything.