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Inside The Numbers: Washington Edition!

TwistNHook — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:17:50 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

Can the Washington Husky defense get to Kevin Riley after shutting out Washington State in the Apple Cup?

Here we go. Last regular season game. Last regular season Inside The Numbers. Gonna be a hard fought battle against UW tomorrow. Can Cal pull it out? After the fold, we take a look at the Washington numbers on both offense and defense. We all know they nearly beat LSU and did beat USC early in the year. But its been months since then. How is UW doing and what can we expect from them tomorrow? GO BEARS!

After the jump, Avi and I breakdown the numbers, pass and rushing O and D.

TwistNHook: First up, the University of Jake Lockers:

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	11	373	211	56.6	2552	11	18	124.07	51	111	56	23
1st Half	11	187	109	58.3	1372	6	9	129.38	51	61	32	12
2nd Half/OT	11	186	102	54.8	1180	5	9	118.72	47	50	24	11
1st Quarter	11	83	50	60.2	612	4	3	124.46	51	28	12	4
2nd Quarter	11	104	59	56.7	760	2	6	133.31	50	33	20	8
3rd Quarter	11	84	48	57.1	579	3	4	123.61	47	22	12	6
4th Quarter	11	99	54	54.5	601	2	5	118.18	39	28	12	5

Well, let's see here. This is OK, but not great. 56% completion rate is not good, it's actually roughly what Riley is doing. 124 Rating is again, not that good. Hes averaging about 232 yards a game in the air, which again is not terrible, but not great. What I see here is a passing attack that could prove dangerous, but also could be pedestrian. And that's the advanced analysis you've come to expect from the California Golden Blogs!

Avinash: At first glance, Jake doesn't look like someone we should worry about. Locker is 81st in the country in completion percentage, T-70th in YPA, and 73rd in passer rating. It makes it sound like we're going up against Carl Bonnell.

However, there is one particular stat that should concern Cal fans: 3rd down. Locker has the fifth best passer rating of any QB in the country on 3rd down (17th in the country in passer rating), and he's converted over 50% of his 3rd down passing plays, putting him right up there with Canfield as one of the best passers in passing situations. He converts 64% of his 3rd and 4-6 situations, nearly 40% of his 3rd and 7-9 situations, and (the most impressive number of all) over 40% of his 3rd and 10+ situations.

A lot of this I think also has to do with Locker's running ability--he's picked up 15 of 39 first downs on 3rd down runs. Although his numbers are a far cry from his fantastic 2007 numbers on the ground, defenses have to respect that ability, so it probably gives him better looks down the field. Sarkisian seems to have made sure he runs with the ball less than expected and trust his arm to throw, and it's paid off. Considering Cal struggled with Luck last week scrambling for yardage, we can expect similar issues with Locker.

Bears fans should not feel safe in any situation. Cal's defense has played very well the past two weeks, but they're going to have to kick it up a notch to prevent getting burned by Locker on 3rd down (the Bears gave up nearly a 46% conversion rate on 3rd down in the month of November). There's a reason NFL GMs are drooling over Locker right now. His ability to complete passes on obvious passing down, his ability to scramble and create plays, a strong ability to throw deep...all of those things are very tantalizing.

TwistNHook: Now, let's look at the rushing stats:

Situation	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Long	1st	10+	20+
All Plays	11	351	1491	4.25	10	56	87	57	13
1st Half	11	173	698	4.03	4	56	41	24	8
2nd Half/OT	11	178	793	4.46	6	41	46	33	5
1st Quarter	11	89	387	4.35	4	56	22	12	4
2nd Quarter	11	84	311	3.70	0	34	19	12	4
3rd Quarter	11	78	324	4.15	3	41	19	17	2
4th Quarter	11	99	478	4.83	3	24	27	16	3

Well, their rushing offense seems pretty good. Not amazingly great, but 4.25 yards isn't that bad. Kind of like their passing offense, it's not great, but it's not terrible.

Of course, they do have a great rushing QB, but that number is dragged down, because a lot of his runs don't always end so well. Here are the individual stats:

	Name	Yr	Pos	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Att/G	Yards/G
1	Chris Polk	FR	RB	11	204	1019	5.00	4	18.55	92.64
2	Jake Locker	JR	QB	11	98	311	3.17	5	8.91	28.27

Chris Polk is their main RB and is looking pretty good there. Not a lot of TDs, but he does average almost 100 yards a game. 5 yards a carry, flat, is pretty impressive. Locker averages about 30 yards a game running. I feel like our Run D can do fairly well against this team. It has shut down some pretty impressive RBs, like Quizz. And was able to somewhat contain Gerhart. Their Rush O seems fairly good, but, even on the road, I like our Run D in this situation.

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD
09/05/09	15 LSU	Turf	L 23-31	21	90	4.29	0
09/12/09	Idaho	Turf	W 42-23	19	80	4.21	1
09/19/09	20 Southern California	Turf	W 16-13	25	71	2.84	0
09/26/09	@ 23 Stanford	Grass	L 14-34	19	75	3.95	0
10/03/09	@ Notre Dame	Grass	L 30-37	22	136	6.18	0
10/10/09	Arizona	Turf	W 36-33	9	34	3.78	0
10/17/09	@ Arizona St.	Grass	L 17-24	12	51	4.25	1
10/24/09	7 Oregon	Turf	L 19-43	18	104	5.78	1
11/07/09	@ UCLA	Grass	L 23-24	15	132	8.80	0
11/14/09	@ 13 Oregon St.	Turf	L 21-48	19	116	6.11	0
11/28/09	Washington St.	Turf	W 30-0	25	130	5.20	1

Avinash: Not to mention he's peaking. Four straight hundred yard games, including three against quality defenses (okay, Oregon and UCLA aren't really stout against the run anymore, but still, 116 yards on Oregon State, 8.8 ypc in the Rose Bowl? Might be something to look out for). Not to mention his running style reminds you a lot of the type of backs that could give our sloppy tacklers problems.

"He’s got plenty of upside. He’s a guy who is still learning," UW head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "But the one thing he has is physical and mental toughness. The ability that when things aren’t always blocked great, he fights through it. He continues to fight."

We’ve seen that from Polk all season: the way he puts his head down and pushes his small-but-explosive frame forward; the way he manages to get those extra couple of yards, even with a mass of defenders blocking his way. Heck, on one play Saturday it looked like Polk tripped and fell over a WSU lineman, but he still managed three yards.

"He hasn’t had a bunch of runs where it’s just big gaping holes and he’s running for yards," Sarkisian said. "He’s earning his yards. I think the next step for him is his ability to play at the second level, in the open field once he clears the line of scrimmage, and his creativity with his running style."

Really, Polk shouldn't be underestimated. It seems he has that ability like Vereen to slip off of tacklers and keep on going. Him, Quizz, James, Vereen...boy, talk about running backs it'll be hard for defenses to bring down next season.

TwistNHook: Well, you've made me look like an idiot yet again Avi. Let's move on from the rushing attack and take a moment to glance askew at the Passing D:

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	11	331	214	64.7	2673	8	15	142.62	77	116	65	24
1st Half	11	182	116	63.7	1437	3	7	139.46	67	62	32	13
2nd Half/OT	11	149	98	65.8	1236	5	8	146.46	77	54	33	11
1st Quarter	11	82	60	73.2	650	1	2	145.37	56	29	13	6
2nd Quarter	11	100	56	56.0	787	2	5	134.61	67	33	19	7
3rd Quarter	11	73	50	68.5	664	3	4	154.76	77	26	18	5
4th Quarter	10	75	47	62.7	550	2	4	136.54	50	27	14	6

Me likee. You might remember that the Stanford D, which was fairly generous for Riley, was giving up roughly 63% of the pass attempts against it. UW is even worse at nearly 65% of the pass attempts. Riley is completing roughly 56% of his attempts, so if he is at 65% during this game, it should end VERY well for Cal. They actually allow 73% completion rating in the first quarter, so I think it is imperative for Cal to jump out to a big lead, hopefully using the reinvigorated pass attack.

142 QB rating against, again, is a very positive number for Cal. Looking at this, I feel like Riley can build on the momentum from the Big Game where he seemed to be playing with a lot of confidence. Notice also that they only have 8 interceptions to 15 TDs given up.

By comparison, note Cal's passing D:

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	11	393	243	61.8	2835	10	14	129.09	80	121	65	27

This is a pass D that has been MUCH maligned this year. People have complained endlessly about its ineffectiveness. And, let's be honest, it has not be at the level many Cal fans anticipated it would be at the start of the year. The numbers are admittedly not great in some situations, but, save for the yards given up (surprise!), it is better across the board than this UW passing D.

Avinash:

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Yards/Att	Int	TD	Rating
09/05/09	15 LSU	Turf	L 23-31	19	11	57.9	172	9.1	0	3	186.05
09/12/09	Idaho	Turf	W 42-23	40	26	65.0	349	8.7	1	0	133.29
09/19/09	20 Southern California	Turf	W 16-13	22	13	59.1	110	5.0	1	0	92.00
09/26/09	@ 23 Stanford	Grass	L 14-34	14	7	50.0	103	7.4	0	0	111.80
10/03/09	@ Notre Dame	Grass	L 30-37	31	23	74.2	422	13.6	1	2	203.38
10/10/09	Arizona	Turf	W 36-33	53	39	73.6	384	7.2	2	1	133.13
10/17/09	@ Arizona St.	Grass	L 17-24	36	22	61.1	295	8.2	0	2	148.27
10/24/09	7 Oregon	Turf	L 19-43	22	14	63.6	157	7.1	0	1	138.58
11/07/09	@ UCLA	Grass	L 23-24	31	23	74.2	371	12.0	2	2	183.11
11/14/09	@ 13 Oregon St.	Turf	L 21-48	31	22	71.0	194	6.3	0	4	166.12
11/28/09	Washington St.	Turf	W 30-0	32	14	43.8	116	3.6	1	0	67.95
	Totals			331	214	64.7	2673	8.1	8	15	142.62

No sugarcoating this--these are really bad numbers. Allowing 70% completion rate to four quarterbacks is kind of excusable, considering Foles, Canfield and Clausen are three of the most accurate in the country...but Kevin Prince? Really? Other than knocking around Wazzu's quarterbacks around, they haven't had a great performance since the Furd game...the one where Gerhart rolled over them like the marvelous white stallion he is.

Based on the tenor of their defensive coordinator, Nick Holt likes his players to play aggressive. However, they lack the personnel to play in attack mode the entire way; they just don't have the ability to handle good quarterbacks or even semi-competent quarterbacks and it leads to big big plays. They eventually lead to lapses, ending up with situations like this.

Kevin Riley has had good games this year, had clutch performances this year. A good performance against the Huskies could go a long way towards getting ready for the bowl game against Oklahoma or BYU/Utah (our likely bowl opponents). Consistency is all we want from him now as he wraps up his junior year.

TwistNHook: And now, finally, let's take a look at the UW Rushing D. What does that look like?

Situation	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Long	1st	10+	20+
All Plays	11	367	1705	4.65	17	75	87	56	20
1st Half	11	177	835	4.72	7	60	41	29	11
2nd Half/OT	11	190	870	4.58	10	75	46	27	9
1st Quarter	11	80	438	5.48	5	60	18	13	8
2nd Quarter	11	97	397	4.09	2	42	23	16	3
3rd Quarter	11	102	463	4.54	6	75	25	15	4
4th Quarter	11	87	406	4.67	3	56	21	12	5

It looks OK. Not great, like ASU's 2.5 a carry against. But not redick bad. Of course, notice that the worst section is in the first quarter, so hopefully we can jump out to a large lead based on the solid running game. Cal is coming off of its best running game in a long long time (and that's saying a lot considering how amazing our running game has been). However, it appears that stud OLineman Matt Summers-Gavin is not going to play. This is unfortunate, because he appeared to be a catalyst for the running game when he returned against Arizona and Stanford. So, it is a mixture of bad and good news. UW seems to have a rush D that Cal could handle. However, we said the same thing against OSU and had major trouble without MSG.

Avinash: Let's not underrate these guys here. Mason Foster and Donald Butler are both great tacklers, can definitely cause the Bears problems if they struggle blocking.

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD
09/05/09	15 LSU	Turf	L 23-31	29	149	5.14	0
09/12/09	Idaho	Turf	W 42-23	23	63	2.74	2
09/19/09	20 Southern California	Turf	W 16-13	33	250	7.58	1
09/26/09	@ 23 Stanford	Grass	L 14-34	51	321	6.29	3
10/03/09	@ Notre Dame	Grass	L 30-37	29	108	3.72	1
10/10/09	Arizona	Turf	W 36-33	30	77	2.57	2
10/17/09	@ Arizona St.	Grass	L 17-24	27	169	6.26	1
10/24/09	7 Oregon	Turf	L 19-43	40	259	6.48	4
11/07/09	@ UCLA	Grass	L 23-24	40	84	2.10	1
11/14/09	@ 13 Oregon St.	Turf	L 21-48	37	178	4.81	2
11/28/09	Washington St.	Turf	W 30-0	28	47	1.68	0
	Totals			367	1705	4.65	17

You can see the performance of this defense depends heavily on the running games they face. Toby Gerhart apparently obliterated them, as did the USC running corps, as did the James/Masoli/Barner trio, and so did...Arizona State? Other than that though, these guys have done alright shutting running games down.

With Best, I'd feel a lot more confident in establishing our run game--in open space he'd just outrun half these guys. Without him though, it becomes a little bit more interesting. Although I like Vereen a lot, it's still asking a lot for a guy who ran the ball 43 times two weeks ago to replicate that performance. I don't want him slugging in the trenches--we need the offensive line and our fullbacks/tight ends to block and open space for him to outrun this defense.

Also there's a few interesting numbers that stand out, like who's leading the conference in forced fumbles...

	Name	Team	Yr	Pos	G	Fumbles Forced	Fumbles Forced/G
1	Mason Foster	Washington	JR	LB	11	5	0.45
2	Daniel Te'o-Nesheim	Washington	SR	DL	11	3	0.27
2	Donald Butler	Washington	SR	LB	11	3	0.27

The Huskies have forced 15 fumbles (2nd in the conference to the Trojans) and have the three leaders in the conference in Foster, Te'o and Butler. And they got only ONE of those against Wazzu (4 against USC and UCLA, 3 against Oregon State, 2 against Arizona State). Vereen will hopefully be able to protect the ball, but what about the youthful Deboskie-Johnson (who will almost certainly see more carries)? Ball control will be key for our running backs in keeping the offense going.

There's a lot to worry about. We're far away from punching our tickets to El Paso. We've got a tough ball game Saturday and no Jahvid Best to break it open.

Poll

How is Cal going to do against UW?

Big victory

73 votes

Close victory

105 votes

Close loss

5 votes

Big loss

4 votes

187 votes | Poll has closed

Exploiting the Huskies Defense

JConant — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:13:55 -0000

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

Oregon tight end Ed Dickson is one of several offensive threats the UW Huskies will have to defend. Chip Kelly's offense can attack any point on the field, making it difficult for a defense to load up to stop the run.

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Expecting another cakewalk Saturday? I'm not.

The Huskies should show up with a lot of emotion. They're back home by the lake - where they've played pretty well - after a stinging loss at Tempe. The Dawgs still have plenty to play for. It's an opportunity to get even at 4-4 heading into a bye week. It's an opportunity to keep a season afloat. It's yet another opportunity to make a statement about the resurrection of a program that had fallen to unbelievable lows.

Jared's post yesterday detailed what the Ducks need to do on defense. It's entirely possible that Oregon's defense will hold the Huskies well below their season averages. On the other hand, I think it's more likely that Oregon's offense will have to put up some points to lock up this road win. And I don't expect those points to come as easily as they did last year. Here's why:

Let's not kid ourselves, many of the UW defensive stats are not good. The Huskies are 9th among Pac-10 teams for scoring, at 27.9 per game. They're 9th in rushing defense at 162 a game, 8th in pass defense at 262 per game, 8th in opponents 3rd down conversion percentage. Now stop laughing for a minute and consider this... Washington is giving up 11 fewer points per game than they did last year. They're giving up 80 fewer rushing yards and 50 fewer passing yards.

Three Huskies linebackers - Donald Butler, Mason Foster and E.J. Savannah - are in the top 15 for tackles. That's about where the good news ends for Washington.

Much has been said about Washington's red zone prowess.

Washington does lead the conference with opponents converting only 35% of their trips into the red zone into touchdowns. Holding opponents to field goals more times than not has kept the Huskies close in their most of their games. There is something to be said for that. Problem is, no Pac-10 team allows more red zone visits (34 in seven games = nearly 5 visits per game) than the Huskies. Only WSU is even close to UW in that respect.

One Husky fan here on ATQ this week suggested the Dawgs might stack the box against Oregon and stuff the run in the red zone. Let 'em. In the red zone this season, the Huskies have given up TD runs of 4, 6, 7, 1, 9, 1, 12, 1 and 1. They've also given up six offensive TDs from outside 30 yards. It's not like Oregon is going to get shut out against Washington if they don't cross the 20.

From a talent and scheme perspective, this year's match-up of Oregon's O versus Washington's D is not so different from last season when Oregon won 44-10. Oregon comes in with questions at QB. Washington's defense is suspect. Oregon's offense has speed, everywhere. Washington has a few talented individuals on D, but overall that unit is not speedy or physical. All the coaching in the world doesn't change the fact that when your defense is a step slow, plays out of position, doesn't shed blocks and blows coverages, you give up a lot of big plays. Remember - six TDs of more than 30 yards this year, including pass plays covering 67, 50, 45, 39 and 32 yards.

Oregon leads the conference with 203 rushing yards per game and is last in passing yards. So the Huskies will load up against LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner, right? Not necessarily. Oregon will dictate otherwise by putting at least three receivers on the field, plus Ed Dickson at tight end. That could force UW to play a lot of nickle. The Huskies did that at times last year in Eugene and the Ducks not only ran at will, they also ran screen plays that resulted in big plays when UW defenders failed to make one-on-one plays in open space. Earlier this season, against LSU's spread, the Huskies we're fairly stout when they could sit in a 4-3 formation. When LSU dictated the Huskies utilize a 3-4 or nickle coverage, the boys from down south were fairly dominant. Expect the Ducks to follow LSU's lead.

I don't condone the exploitation of dawgs, but...

With more speed and talent, Oregon doesn't have to do a lot more than run its offense and avoid turnovers. Patience is key. Crisp execution is key. Zone-read option against a 6-man front. Effective. Play-action with misdirection and quick bubble screens. Effective. Why? Because no matter what alignment they're in, a defense cannot cheat against Oregon's offensive scheme. Opposing defenders have to defend the entire field against the Ducks. Because Oregon is a run-first team, all seven or eight DBs and LBs have to watch the action in the backfield. They cannot simply follow the offensive flow or overplay the weak side or strong side of Oregon's formation. Do so, or try to cheat as the QB is making his option read, and the ball will be going the other way. That's why so often we see an opponent's defense flat-footed, out of position and out-manned at the point of attack. Chip Kelly's offense allows the entire width of the field as a possible point of attack. When the Kelly spread is rockin', it is exploitation of a defense's weak points at its finest.

Recall the Terrence Scott screen pass TD last year. Let the d-line bust up field, a quick pass to Scott on the outside. Another WR cuts down the CB who is covering Scott, now there's a speedster on the edge with the ball and two blockers (a TE and a pulling lineman) against two remaining defenders. Three on two...it's just not fair! The lineman makes his block, Scott cuts back against the other defender, who ran himself out of position, and it's a sprint to the end zone.

The Huskies are improved. However, it takes a special defense to disrupt Oregon's offense. Or, it takes the Ducks shooting themselves in the foot over and over. We haven't seen the latter since the second half of the Purdue game. Whatever defensive game plan UW tries to throw at Kelly, Helfrich and Greatwood, Oregon's offensive gurus will have a response becoming of two weeks of preparation. Count on it.

Emotions will be high on the Huskies sideline, and it's worth recognizing that the Dawgs have gained the most valuable skill of all this season: they believe they can win. That alone gives them a legit shot to win any game in Seattle. Expect a tight contest for at least a half, then expect Oregon's talent, speed, offensive scheme and adjustments to win out over emotion in the end.

Grading The Game

John Berkowitz — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:31:05 -0000

More photos » by Matt York - AP

about 1 month ago: Arizona State's William Sutton (90) and James Brooks (34) celebrate their team's win over Washington during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009 in Tempe, Ariz. Arizona State won 24-17. (AP Photo/Matt York)

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Quarterback

I can find little to fault Jake Locker for since he had Sun Devils climbing over him all night. As usual he put his team in a position to win the game. The interception in the end zone in the first half has to go down as a killer though. That took points off the board that could have eventually won the game. 22-38 passes for 279 yards and some nice runs equal another yeoman night for the junior from Ferndale.

Grade B plus

Running Back

Washington had difficulty getting things going on the ground but they did manage to put up the same types of total that Georgia and Oregon State who beat the Devils did. Chris Polk sat our more than usual because of his shoulder. Fogerson did an OK job but there is a wide gap between the two players. They work better in tandem. Polk's injury could nag him all season.

Grade C plus

Wide Receivers

Devin Aguilar had the game of his career last night with seven catches for 154 yards, Johnson and Kearse also had solid nights. Kavario Middleton was taken out of the game by the ASU rush. UW used the TE for blocking last night and not receiving.

Grade B plus

Offensive Line

To say they were overwhelmed last night was not an understatement. They played hard all evening but were physically overmatched by ASU. If you look at the overall numbers you realize that they still helped UW produce enough yards to win this game. That is the definition of an adequate line.

Grade C minus.

Defensive Line

I thought these guys played pretty well last night. Sure there were a few long runs but you can't put that completely on the defensive line. Linebackers and DB's out of alignment in addition to poor tackling were as much to blame for those plays than anything else. Alameda Ta'amu actually had his best day as a Husky. Daniel Teo Nesheim and Darion Jones both had great plays out on the ends. Fans need to realize that last night the major problems were behind these guys.

Grade B

Linebackers

This wasn't a great game for the linebackers. Too many missed tackles resulted from blown assignments, poor pursuit angles, and being out of position. As usual you had the great effort but the end result wasn't quite there. Mason Foster continues to play well...however last night this unit seemed to not be as united and disciplined as before. The temperature down on the field had to be a factor too.

Grade C

Defensive Backs

Not a pretty game was it. The Huskies allowed Danny Sullivan to complete 22 out of 36 passes for 295 yards without an interception. 50 of those yards came on the last ASU play of the game. That was the back breaker. There was a lot of things to take advantage of last night. ASU's top receivers weren't anything close to full strength. Williams limped most of the game and played at 3/4 speed. McGaha who was recovering from the flu wasn't much better but saved his best for the last play. Danny Sullivan had all the time he needed most of the night. No way did he deserve to complete that high of a percentage of his passes. So many wounded ducks being caught out there last night that could have been knocked down or intercepted with better coverage. The season ending injury to Justin Glenn has hurt this team. UW has a big hole to fill at safety. This was not Nate Williams finest hour.

Grade D minus

Special Teams

They weren't that special. A punt fumbled by Johri Fogerson robbed UW a chance to build momentum in the second half. It didn't end up costing UW any points but it took away a burst of momentum that appeared to be going UW's way. Folk missed a FG after being iced twice by Erickson. It looked like the laces were turned the wrong way on that one. To his credit he hit the FG before he was iced but the officials questionably ruled that the TO was called right before the snap. Will Mahan's last punt contributed to the loss by giving ASU much better field position than it should have. Perhaps you mark that against the coaches because it looked like a Chinese fire drill out there in the last stages of the game. Perhaps a timeout to settle things down was in order.

Grade D plus

Coaching

The Huskies are 3-4 and realistically with some better play calling they could or should be 5-2. You can always blame the ref's for the ND loss even though the play calling was a bit questionable. Last night you can put it firmly on the coaching staff for not managing the game well at all during the final two minutes. Mark this down for what it was...the Husky coaching staff wasn't prepared well for this type of scenario.

The sideline penalties need to end. Nick Holt needs to show some restraint and discipline on the sidelines. I love the enthusiasm but I have never seen a more penalized coaching staff in all my years of watching Pac 10 football. These guys are better than this and they need to get a handle on it.

Keep in mind that this is a young smart staff that will not keep making the same mistakes. This isn't Ty Willingham at the helm. Give the coaches the credit they deserve for taking over an 0-12 team and putting them in a position to win each week. A lot of this is some and mirrors going on...only an influx of talent which happens to be coming this off season will completely turn everything around.

That being said it is pretty hard to give these guys a pass tonight. They got sucked in early by Erickson thugish head game. In the end they blew the game by not being as prepared as well as they should have.

Grade D

Sun Devils shock UW with last second win

John Berkowitz — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:05:03 -0000

This was one of the uglier slug fests I have seen in quite some time. Washington didn't play very well tonight but they were in a position to win the game or at least take it to overtime. Chalk this one up as a loss for the coaching staff. The lack of any semblance of clock management on the next to last UW possesion was the killer which gave ASU one last Hail Mary shot at the end zone. ASU made the most of it as Danny Sullivan connected with an uncontested Chris McGaha in the end zone for a 50 yard TD catch with five seconds left to pull out the win.

I hate to question the coaches but when you call two straight running plays as time is running out why do you then call a pass which if it isn't completed gives the ball back to ASU with good field position? Why not run out the clock deep in your territory and take it to overtime? That is exactly what they did and you have to mark it down as a major brain cramp for Steve Sarkisian. It was a fatal an unneccesary gamble which cost Washington the game.

To make matters worse Washington was in the wrong defense for the last ASU play of the game. Husky defensive backs were at least ten yards away from Chris McGaha when he made that final TD grab. Nick Holt who was penalized for another 15 yard personal foul earlier in the game has a lot of explaing to do. This time he really can't blame it on the deficiencies of his current roster. Both Sark and Holt blew it when the game was on the line.

As I said earlier the game wasn't pretty. ASU was penalized nine times for 99 yards with eight of those penalties coming in the first half. Washington had a season high twelve penalties for 124 yards. The Huskies turned the ball over three times. One was a game ending interception as Locker threw it for grabs from 60 yards out. An earlier interception stopped a Husky drive in the red zone. Johri Fogerson fumbled a punt in the second half just when it seemed Washington was about to pull away. Erik Folk missed a long FG try after being iced twice by Dennis Erickson.

This was a game that Washington should have won. The Huskies had the better offense at the end of the game and if it had gone to overtime chances are they would have pulled it out. We haven't heard from Sarkisian yet but I am very interested to hear his line of logic. I don't think you can explain this one away. It was an ugly loss that could have been avoided if cooler heads had prevailed on the Washington sideline.

Post Game Update

I listened to the past game show and Bob Rondeau asked all the right questions and Coach Sark gave all the right answers. The thing I really like about Sarkisian is he didn't make excuses and took immediate responsibility for the clock management on that last series.

"Hindsight is 20/20, but if I had to do it again, I would've run the ball," Sarkisian said of the third-and-one play. "That's on me. It eats at me because I felt like I could've managed the ballgame better," Sarkisian said. "I try to pride myself in doing that stuff, but I didn't do it tonight."

What is really hard to digest is Sarkisian called a pass on third and one deep in his own territory with all his timeouts remaining. All he had to do was hand the ball off or let Jake run to try to pull off the first down. If it didn't work time would have run out and the game would have gone to overtime.

Sark didn't play the percentages. If Washington took it to overtime the Huskies had a 70% or greater chance of winning this game. The ASU FG kicker was crippled with a leg injury last night. He was already 1-3 for the evening. The odds were firmly on UW's side with Locker at QB and a healthy Erik Folk.

On the miraculous Arizona State TD play Sark had these comments:

"We jumped a route, a crossing route, and left the middle of the field wide open."

When you look at that final play on film you see a series of broken assignments and a defense that was confused about what it was supposed to do on what should have been the last play before overtime.

ASU coach Dennis Erickson was as surprised as everyone else was in the stadium. The play he called was designed to go for 20 yards and to set up a FG shot. For some reason the entire middle of the field was left open. Chris McGaha made the catch but he was one of two Sun Devils left completely open down the middle on that play.

Don James used to make a list of every possible scenario that would happen in crucial moments during game six months before the season started. It was one of those things that made James a genius. He would often say after making a call that would contribute to winning a game in the last two minutes that the decision of what to do in that situation was made six months before. All he had to do was look at the clip board and the best call was there. It didn't work 100% of the time...nothing does...but he significantly beat the averages by a wide margin in his career by being more prepared in crucial situations than his opponents.

Sarkisian and Holt would be wise to contact James about that list.

This is a tough loss for the Washington Nation to take. It is even tougher for the coaches and players. The only thing left to do is put it behind them and prepare for Oregon. This can be the type of loss that breaks a teams spirit even though I am betting that this team and staff will bounce back from this hard lesson.

Jake Locker summed it up best after the game:

"It's not easy after a loss like this," said Locker. "We thought we were going into overtime, and it didn't work out. I don't know how many games I've seen it end like that."

Keep your head up Jake!

There is still a lot of football to be played.

Pac Ten Officials Lose Control of the Game

This was a typical Dennis Erickson type game. The Sun Devils came out with one purpose last night and that was to hit Washington in the mouth after that first TD drive. ASU created anarchy out on the field by committing eight penlties in the first half.

ASU middle linebacker Vontaze Burfict was called for three personal fouls in the first half. After a quick review of the film the officials could have called him for at least a couple more because he was punching players with closed fists after plays. Somehow the officials never picked that up. Burfict should have been ejected from the game in the first half.

With anarchy starting to reign on the field and ASU getting penalized all over the place the officials called a few makeup calls on Washington that were inexplicable. In particular a helmet to helmet penalty by Mason Foster which kept a drive alive which looked very clean upon review of the film. Coach Holt was then penalized another 15 on the same play for protesting the call and once again being out on the field. Washington had a season high twelve penalties for 124 yards.

A young Husky team and coaching staff were sucked in by the anitics of Erickson and his thugs. Once the penalties started flying the successful strategy took Washington out of its usual game plan.

Pac Ten Commissioner Lary Scott has to take a serious look at completely restructuring his staff of football officials at the end of the season. Every single game by every single group of Pac Ten officials seems to be a complete mess. Blown calls, lack of control, indecisiveness, and utter incomptence which penalizes all the teams in the conference seems to be the trademark of Pac Ten officiating.

Beating a Dead Horse

SoCalStites — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:33:17 -0000

Since the conclusion of the controversial Wildcat game in Washington many images have surfaced that supposedly prove that the ball hit the ground before bouncing up into the waiting arms of Mason Foster. For those who have not seen the "Immaculate Interception" as many Huskies fans are now calling it, here you go:

Now here is a close up on the play and I'll allow you to make your own opinion on the spot in which the ball bounced:

via i35.tinypic.com

Poll

Did the ball hit the ground or Delashaun Dean's foot?

Ground

59 votes

Foot

26 votes

85 votes | Poll has closed

Looking ahead to ASU

John Berkowitz — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:46:00 -0000

More photos » by Dean Hare - AP

2 months ago: Arizona State quarterback Danny Sullivan (15) passes to running back Cameron Marshall (not shown) for a touchdown during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game against Washington State, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash. Arizona State won 27-14. (AP Photo/Dean Hare)

Browse more photos »

Dennis Erickson is in his third season as head coach at ASU. He blew the Pac 10 away during his first season by putting together a squad that came close to competing for the league title. During his second-year with ASU in 2008, the team under-performed and fell to the league's second division. This season, despite a 3-2 record, the Sun Devils are still performing under the level one would expect of a Dennis Erickson team.

Most of the problems are on offense. Danny Sullivan isn't getting the job done at QB and the offensive line is among the weakest in the Pac 10. The same offensive woes that haunted ASU in 2008 are hitting again in '09, but are magnified because Sullivan isn't close to being the same type of QB as the departed Rudy Carpenter.

Fans in Tempe would like to see more of true frosh Brock Osweiler under center. He played three series last week against WSU, but didn't give any indication that he is ready yet, despite going 3-4 for 21 yards and a fumbled snap to his credit. Official word out of Tempe is that Sullivan will start again this week, with Osweiler continuing to wait in the wings. Expect Erickson to give the 6'8 frosh QB from Montana at least a few series this weekend.

Sullivan threw three interceptions against the Cougars last weekend. Husky fan ought to find this music to their ears, as the Cougar secondary doesn't exactly resemble that of USC. Turnovers are a big part of any win, and if the ASU offense turns it over six times to a team like Washington, it will be lights out Sun Devils. Expect Erickson to watch the UW vs. UA game film and concentrate on spreading Washington out with a high percentage short passing game.

The saving grace for the Sun Devils is a defensive front seven that is one of the very best in the conference. I wouldn't say that it is the best Washington has seen so far this year but these guys know how to put pressure on a QB. Jake Locker's speed will be needed in this one to avoid the pass rush that will be coming. Make no mistake about it. ASU has painted a big red X on Locker's chest and they will be blitzing.

The secondary is the weakest point of ASU's defense. Washington can pass on these guys all night if Locker has time and the Husky WR's get a little separation. In contrast, Arizona had a much tougher defense with likely the best defensive backfield UW will play for the rest of the season.

That said, ASU is no pushover. Washington isn't going to win this game by much. Playing in Tempe isn't easy if a decent crowd shows up to watch. The oddsmakers have installed ASU as a three point favorite, which has already inflated up to seven.

Washington didn't impress anyone against Arizona except the scoreboard. Arizona dominated this game; the only reason the Wildcat's lost was because they couldn't convert in the red zone, and for some strange reason Mike Stoops kept passing the ball with five minutes left in the game. It is nice to win one you shouldn't coming off the tails of losing one you shouldn't. You can't count on luck every week; Washington needs to play better on offense and special teams to beat ASU on the road.

An obvious key to winning the game is avoiding the turnovers and special teams miscues that almost buried the Huskies last week in the third quarter. Defensively, the Huskies need to take advantage of a sloppy team that makes a lot of mistakes. If WSU can force six errors the Huskies should be able to do something similar this weekend.

I expect to see Jake Locker continue running the ball this week. ASU is very aggressive with its pass rush, setting up a lot of things for a guy as versatile as Jake. Whenever Jake steps up in the pocket or rolls out wide he has the ability to make people miss and take it to the house. If ASU overruns a play, Jake will make them pay.

Locker was responsible for 90% of the Washington offense against Arizona. That is never a good thing. Up to that game, the Huskies were able to get good balance from a strong running game. Tempo, injuries, coming from behind, and simple time of possession never allowed Washington to get that going last week. We have all seen what Chris Polk can do when he gets in a rhythm, but he will be going up against a very tough run defense this week. UW needs to establish the run early in this one to control the clock and keep the red X off the front of Locker's jersey.

What the heck is a Sun Devil anyway?

You would think that some inventive person at ASU just made it up, but a Sun Devil is actually a weather phenomenon many of you know as a whirlwind, or a dust devil without the dust. The mascot character, the much beloved Sparky, was drawn by the late Bert Anthony, a minion of Walt Disney. Rumor has it that Sparky was illustrated to resemble Disney, and if you look at them side by side it’s kind of creepy.

Torches and Pitchforks

Danny Sullivan threw the ball a whopping 58 times in the loss to Oregon State! He completed over 50% of his passes and ended up with over 300 passing yards.

Chris McGaha is Sullivan's main target. He caught a career high 15 balls against the Beavers.

Dennis Erickson was knocked unconscious during a play on the ASU sideline lat week against WSU. He felt pretty woozy but was able to keep coaching once he took a few minutes to recover.

The ASU defense held WSU to minus 54 rushing yards on 32 attempts!

Arizona State committed six turnovers and botched two extra points against WSU.

The ASU defense sacked WSU a total of 12 times on Saturday which is only three short of the NCAA record of 15.

Kyle Williams is another ASU receiver to keep an eye on. He grabbed 13 receptions against the Cougars. Williams had 211 all-purpose yards: 126 receiving, 53 rushing on a reverse and 32 on punt returns.

ASU is averaging 10.7 yards per reception which is third lowest in the Pac 10.

Only No. 3 Texas (46.2) is allowing fewer rushing yards per game than ASU (49.6).

Dennis Erickson played football at Montana State under a guy named Jim Sweeney whose grandson Nate Fellner may be the starting safety for Washington this week.

Kibbles and Bits

Mason Foster has been named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week.

Foster had 11 tackles in the Dawgs 36-33 victory over Arizona and, of course, keyed the victory with his 37-yard interception return for a touchdown that proved to be the winning score.

Johri Fogerson, Nate Williams, and D'Andre Goodwin are all expected to be back this week.

Cameron Elisara is back after suffering from stingers in last weeks game.

Chris Polk is fine to practice this week and will get the start at ASU.

Coach Steve Sarkisian said that Chris Polk will continue to receive kickoffs next week. "In a perfect world, you don't want your starting tailback returning kicks," Sarkisian said. "But no one else has seized the opportunity."

Jason Wells is expected to get his first playing time of the season this week. He hasn't played in a game in over two years because of injuries.

Nick Wood is the new starter at guard. Mykena Ikehara and Drew Schaeffer will be the primary backups.

The Huskies have the nation’s 106th-ranked defense out of 120 NCAA Division I-A teams, which is actually an improvement over last season. The key is scoring defense rather than total yards. The Husky defenses performance in the red zone has kept them within striking distance of each opponent they have played. In 30 trips into UW’s red zone, opponents have scored a mere 11 touchdowns this season.

Year to date NCAA schedule rankings:

UW .810, Georgia .808, Virgina Tech .763, Florida St. .704, Nobody else is even over .700

The Oregon is set for ABC at 12:30 a week from Saturday. The Huskies then will enjoy a much-needed bye week after the Oregon game.

Quote of the Week

"To me, luck is when preparation meets opportunity," Steve Sarkisian said at Monday's press conference.

Inside the Pac-10, Week 6: Big Plays

Avinash — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:00:41 -0000

In my mind, the three marquee conference matchups came down to those cliched big plays. Small individual moments helped decisively swing each of them one way or the other.

So I didn't take much from the results of these ones about how everyone stacks up, other than, "These last seven games for Cal are going to be real tough."

Washington 36, Arizona 33

Mike Stoops bewilders me. Every now and then his Wildcats lose a game they shouldn't. This is one of them. Although I hardly blame him for the defeat, he did make some questionable decisions down the stretch.

1) Kicking a field goal up 9 (two score game) facing a 4th and 3 at the 7 with 4:45 left. Here's the issue. You kick the field goal, you're up 12 (still only two scores, albeit two touchdowns). If you go for it and make the first down, you have the opportunity to go for the touchdown to make it a two touchdown, two two-point-conversion game to tie (or if you make it and go for two, it's a three possession game).

Even if you don't make it, you leave Jake Locker and the Huskies offense to go 93 yards for a touchdown that would only cut the lead to two, and they'd almost certainly need an onside kick or might've burned a timeout here and there. As it is, the Wildcats curiously poor kickoff team let a return go back to the 45 yard line, and it takes Locker 80 seconds to put them in the end zone and make it a one score game.

2) Coming out and passing on 1st down with 2:50 left. Why. WHY? WHY??? Even if you run three freaking dive plays with Nwoko, you burn those two timeouts Washington have. Worst case scenario, you give the Huskies about two minutes to go, needing to drive a likely 60-70 yards with no timeouts. Even with Locker back there that's a tall order.

Yeah, that was a terribly fluky play, but Arizona shouldn't have been throwing in the first place. While I'm not saying Stoops was the reason they lost (he wasn't), he probably could've made the final decision easier for his Wildcats to escape undefeated in the Pac-10, and likely a ranked team

As for the game itself? Great one, all the way around. Between that fantastic rocking Husky crowd, and Locker and Nick Foles tearing the defenses apart, it was a sweet West Coast shootout. Interestingly, the quarterbacks are a stark contrast in style and method. Locker had about a dozen great long throws that have become his trademark. Although he still struggles with anything intermediate (52% completion rate won't get it done most days), his play-making ability is unparalleled in the Pac-10 (who else can scamper for a 56 yard TD rush?) and keeps his Huskies in ballgames they would probably lose otherwise.

Foles, by contrast, is Willie Tuitama, version 2.0. 39 of 53??? Through his two starts in conference he's now averaging a 72% rate. Although the Huskies defense couldn't stop paraplegics from throwing on them (they were giving up a 63% completion rate and 9 passing yards per attempt BEFORE this game), that's mighty impressive.

It's safe to say a lot of Pac-10 quarterbacks are passing Kevin Riley by these past few weeks. What will be his response in LA?

Despite the clutch QB play from both sides, these offenses have huge weaknesses, notably in the run game. Running backs from both sides were able to combine for barely 100 yards, which just isn't enough to beat stingier defenses. Foles was able to guide the Wildcats down the field several times but the red zone offense stalled from there, settling for four field goals on seven tries. The Huskies scored their touchdowns by evading the red zone entirely, relying on Locker's arm to get them there.

While the Huskies can get by with Locker doing some of the pounding on the ground, I'm not sure what the Wildcats can do. They probably need Keola Antolin back, because neither Nic Grigsby nor Greg Nwoko were able to penetrate a Husky defense giving up 178 rushing yards a game and 5.4 rushing yards per carry. Next week's game hosting the Furd will be critical, with the loser pretty much out of the Pac-10 race (neither of those teams is sweeping the Oregon-Cal-USC trifecta).

Reactions to Arizona-Washington

John Berkowitz, UW Dawg Pound: "The Wildcats dominated time of possesion 39:19 to only 20:15 for Washington. The Wildcats outgained the Huskies 461 to 256 yards! Jake Locker was only 12-23 with one interception for a total of 140 yards. He did run for a season high of 92 yards. Jake was responsible for over 90% of the Washington offense tonight. What was key for Jake and Washington was a 56 yard TD run in the first quarter plus three TD passes and the pass for that important two point conversion."

Scott Cushing, Seattle PI: "All night long, and I mean ALL NIGHT LONG, Arizona ran that wide-receiver screen play. First to one side, then the other. Play after play after play. And why not? It kept working. Desmond Trufant broke it up once, but it worked to perfection every other time. It's almost as if Seattle was Zaire for one night; UW as Ali Arizona as Foreman and that screen pass was the rope-a-dope. I don't know how else to explain it. It's as if Holt and the defense were baiting Foles into throwing that one errant pass at just the wrong (or right) time because they knew that that the ball would bounce off of Delashaun Dean's heel right into Mason Foster's waiting arms and he would sprint untouched into the endzone. How else do you explain it? They must have known it would happen.

I'm only half kidding, but it's amazing that they decided to, at that time, during that play, blow it up. They knew it was coming and smothered the play, confusing Foles, who had been nearly perfect all night, into making a terrible pass."

Bobby Stover, Arizona Daily Wildcat: "It was (the coaching staff’s) fault for leaving the option on," head coach Mike Stoops said. "Nick was doing what he was supposed to do and it just falls on us as coaches for make a tactical error late in the game...I’m disappointed we didn’t win but I’m not disappointed in the way our kids played tonight...We probably played good enough to win. It just came down to finishing and then that freak play. But that’s just part of college football and the swings of the game."

Oregon 24, UCLA 10

What the hell do I make of this game? Just like Oregon State-Washington, everything changed on one play.

The Bruins had a great chance to knock the Ducks off the pedestal and gagged it away. In terms of offense, it was Oregon 10, UCLA 3 (and even then, that Duck score came off a midfield fumble by Kevin Prince, so it's hard to say). Both sides had a mind-numbing pick-six, and Kevin Craft wasn't even involved.

The only bright spot on other side was the re-emergence of the Oregon run game. Redshirt freshmen LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner (who scored the kickoff return) could be supplanting Best and Vereen as the most potent Pac-10 running back duo. No offense to Blount, who is a physical horse, but he lacks the speed and agility of these two guys to make moves into the holes and cut in the spread offense. James continues to impress with the spinning and the juking, and Barner has pure velocity that can terrorize any defense he faces. Nate Costa wasn't really impressive, although he did make two nice throws on 3rd down on one second half drive, including the touchdown.

However, on defense? These guys are solid. Not sure what happened that morphed Nick Aliotti into Buddy Ryan, but his units are coming out firing. The pass rush schemes are sweet to watch--delayed blitzes with the linebacker looking like he's dropping into coverage, sending the corner from the side, sometimes pure manhandling one-on-one, etc. The UCLA offensive line was one step short, especially with Breahaut came in and Oregon sent pressure on every other play. And that goal-line stand in the first half changed the complexion of the game; Kevin Prince could never play loose enough with the Bruins either playing in a tight matchup or in comeback mode.

As for UCLA? They had a sixteen-play, eight minute drive that ended with Kai Forbath connecting on a 52 yard field goal. I'm guessing they'll be emphasizing ball control in beating Cal next week, since it doesn't seem the Bruins come by their points easily.

Kevin Prince started out the game okay and seemed to get in rhythm in the 2nd quarter against the zone defense, but had all sorts of trouble when his team fell behind, and Richard Brehaut didn't fare much better being thrown in there in the 4th quarter. The Bruins also could not run the ball, putting up around 70 yards on the ground, 22 of those by Prince. Norm Chow also had some quizzical playcalls--two successive QB sneaks at the 1 on 3rd and 4th and goal?

Logically, next week against Cal, they'll explode for 200 yards rushing, Prince will go out and complete 65 percent of his passes and he'll lead the Bruins to four scores. That's how the script goes with us this year, right?

Reactions to Oregon-UCLA

mdjohns4, Bruins Nation: "But it has become all too clear that Brehaut needs to play. If we have a quarterback making elementary mistakes (like Prince and Craft) why not have the highly recruited, Elite 11 camper that has been bred to be a quarterback learning from them when he makes them? The fact that our quarterbacks are relatively even in terms of effectiveness right now should show that the one with the potential to turn this offense into one that can make plays downfield needs to play. We don't need a "game manager." That is coach-speak for "he sucks too much to make plays himself". We've got a young team with raw talent and the potential to go to a bowl game this year, as well as prepare for the ensuing dynasty over the coming years. Coach, stick with Brehaut. Please?"

jtlight, Addicted to Quack: "I said earlier in the week that this game would tell us a lot about the Oregon defense. And, I think we saw exactly how good this defense can be. After letting the UCLA grind out a 9 first downs and 148 yards in the first half, the Oregon defense brought down the hammer in the second, scoring a touchdown, forcing 3 turnovers, and holding UCLA to 5 first downs and 73 on 2.35 yards per play. Besides one long drive in the first half, the Oregon defense did what it should have done: dominate the Bruins offense."

Chris Foster, LA Times: "[Norm Chow on the quarterbacks]: "I don't know, it's too early to call. I think Kevin Prince gives us the best chance to win. That's one man's opinion."...[Chow on the offensive struggles]: "We have a freshman at left tackle, three sophomores on the offensive line, a junior college transfer, a freshman at running back, a freshman at quarterback and two sophomores at wide receiver.""

John Hunt & Jeff Smith, the Oregonian: "Oregon's defense wasn't about to let this one get away. In these three conference games, the Ducks have yet to give up an honest touchdown. Now having outscored California, Washington State and UCLA by a combined 118-19 score, the two opponents' touchdowns have come on drives totaling one yard.

"I think people are starting to jump on the bandwagon," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. "They're as good a defense as I've seen in a long time.""

Oregon State 38, Furd 28

via a.espncdn.com (Image from Don Ryan, AP)

In the other two marquee matchups, it was about unexpected plays changing the complexion. In this game, it was a surprise play not being converted that made the difference.

First play from scrimmage, Andrew Luck executes a perfect playfake that the Beavers bite on, then throws it perfectly in stride to Chris Owusu. Owusu snares it, looks like he's about to break for the score...then looks ahead a step too early before securing it. Dropped pass, opportunity lost.

If that play converts, the crowd's deflated, the Furd are up 7-0, they can establish Gerhart more thoroughly, etc. etc... Instead? We get a virtual carbon copy of Oregon-Cal (with the caveat that Oregon State isn't quite as potent, and the Furd performed much better in rallying). Jacquizz Rodgers took the role of Jeremiah Masoli, accumulated 134 yards and 3 TDs on the first three drives, putting the Beavers up by 21. Goodnight to the Furd.

On defense Oregon State bottled up Gerhart with seven or eight in the box (rarely nine, they respected Luck's ability to pass). The Beavers always looked a step ahead in the pass coverage, forcing Luck into completing 40% of his passes, including 0% in the first quarter. These are growing pains for the freshman quarterback, although it seemed like he made a valiant comeback effort late. His defense didn't do him any favor, giving up 359 yards of total offense to the Rodgers brothers, including a backbreaking 16 play, 7 minute second half drive where the duo picked up the last 56 of the 80 yards.

So Oregon State's now 2-1 in the Pac-10, 2-0 in October, rolling toward a showdown with USC at the Coliseum in two weeks. Can Mike Riley and Quizz do it again?

Reactions to Furd-Oregon State

Jake Bertalotto, Building the Dam: "Danny Langsdorf brought the Oregon State rendition of the trendy Wildcat formation out of the lab Saturday afterno on. On it's debut play, it produced sophomore tailback Jacquizz Rodgers' longest rush of his OSU career-- a 61-yard scamper that set the Beavers up for their second touchdown of the game. Jacquizz would score four touchdowns on the afternoon and account for 271 yards of total offense-- almost certainly his best game since the Beavers downed USC last season."

Elliott Almond, San Jose Mercury News: "But more than anything, Stanford just couldn't recover from a devastating 21-0 deficit by the second quarter. Jacquizz Rodgers, who had been held to fewer than 100 yards rushing in the three previous outings, slipped underneath defenders in the middle, or wiggled out of the grasp of tacklers in the open field. He looked capable of breaking a big gain almost every time he touched the ball. "We weren't making tackles," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said."

Arizona State 27, Washington State 14

via a.espncdn.com (Image from Dean Hare, AP)

The Sun Devils fumbled the ball six times. They turned it over six times in total. Their starting quarterback Danny Sullivan got rotated in and out of the game with Brock Osweiler (only for a series though). And they still had a 20 point lead going into the 4th quarter, with the Cougars needing a 99 yard TD pass to cut it to the respectable two touchdown margin.

Key stat #1: -54 yards rushing for Wazzu. Key stat #2: Their punter was the leading rusher (on a fake punt for 15 yards).

Sigh. Is this what the Tom Holmoe era was like at Cal?

Reactions to Arizona State-Washington State

Grady, Coug Center: "In the end, this game played out the way most of us expected. Two anemic offenses and one stellar defense giving us an ugly game, but also a closer game than we're used to seeing. As one would expect, the stellar defense won out. ASU was too much to handle, with Vontaze Burfict, Mike Nixon, and co. dominating this game from the opening snap. The Cougs faced one of the best rushing defenses in the country, and boy did it show - between numerous tackles for losses, broken plays and sacks, the Cougars ended up with negative 54 yards rushing. Negative 54."

Pitchfork Nation: "[Dennis Erickson] was nailed pretty good on the sideline by Gerell Robinson midway through the 3rd quarter. Originally, the ASU radio broadcast designated a WSU player had run into him. Tim Healey, Jeff Van Raaphorst and Doug Franz described the scene as Erickson laying on the sideline and then being directed to the bench by the team doctor. He got up and stood on the sideline for one play a few moments later, then retreated to the bench once again. However, in classic DE fashion, he basically told the doctors, in no better way, to screw off."

Only Cal fans care about these

Minnesota 35, Purdue 20

The Daily Gopher: "The Mulligan Offense still reared it's ugly head with some occasional plays called that made you scratch your head. But the offense committed just one penalty after the first quarter, the OL played their best game of the year and Adam Weber threw one pick but completed 4/6 with a touchdown run. He wasn't asked to do much (and he didnt') as the Gopher ground game really took over."

Wake Forest 42, Maryland 32

Testudo Times: "Outside of an 85-yard kickoff return from Torrey Smith and a minor emergence by Gary Douglas, there was basically nothing positive for Maryland. Sure, there was a slight comeback, but the game was well over at that point. Wake won 42-32, but the score isn't anywhere close to how one-sided this game was. Want to know how bad it was? Wake had 381 yards of offense...in the FIRST HALF. Maryland barely broke 100. They were on pace for 762 yards!"

Also a hilarious animated image of Debbie Yow (Maryland's AD) looking distressed on the sideline.

The Monday Morning Wash

John Berkowitz — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:36:03 -0000

More photos » by Drew Perine - AP

2 months ago: Washington fans swarm the field following Washington's 16-13 victory over Southern California, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in an NCAA college football game in Seattle. Lying on the turf is USC'S Stafon Johnson. (AP Photo/The News Tribune, Drew Perine

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Washington is in the unusual position of trying to avoid the same pitfalls that USC did last weekend in Seattle. The goal for the Huskies is to avoid a major letdown after pulling off one of the biggest wins in the schools history last week after a 16-13 win over the Trojans.

USC didn't have an emotional let down this past Saturday. They hit the field with a high level of intensity from the very first snap. What undid Troy was turnovers, penalties, and mental errors. Washington needs to avoid all of the above going forward because Stanford is very capable of beating the Huskies.

The bookmakers in Nevada have made Stanford a nine point favorite in this one. Obviously they aren't sold on Washington at this point and feel the Huskies will fold on the road against Stanford in the first road game of the year. This was one of the games we all circled in the pre-season as being winnable. In fact we circled it as a must win on the road to a possible 6-6 record and bowl qualification.

A little more is on the line this week because Washington's upset win actually put the Dawgs in the drivers seat to the Rose Bowl. You may snicker all you want but if you can beat USC you should be able to beat anyone. USC coach Pete Carroll actually commented after the game that Washington is capable of winnning every single game left on its schedule.

If you are facing your first road trip...Stanford is the place to do it. The Card's don't draw well despite being in a new stadium and having one of the brightest young coaches in the game. Washington fans will noticeably swell the crowd on Saturday night. Stanford is an easy road trip from Seattle for Husky fans and there are a lot of Washington alumni in the Bay Area.

The key for this week is to stay focused and forget what happened last week against USC. Washington isn't good enough to play through a let down type of situation. Washington isn't good enough to win making the type of mistakes USC did. The only way the Huskies win the majority of their games this season is to approach each game like it is their last.

What sets Washington apart from every team in the league is QB Jake Locker. No other QB in the league is close to his level of proficiency. He can throw for a high percentage and if they unleash him he can burn you for 100 additional yards on the ground. The goal for the first three weeks was just keeping him healthy for the rest of the season. Now that the gauntlet of LSU and USC has passed expect his mobility to become more of a factor as we face slower teams.

Coach Sarkisan has a rule about victories. Celebrate for twenty four hours then get back to business. This team will face a bunch of new distractions this week because the national media is going to be all over them. The coaches challenge this week is to minimize all those distractions and keep the team focused for Stanford.

I have watched every single Pac 10 team play at least once this season and I don't think there is a team out there we can't beat at this point. Now that we have that statement out of the way I also want to make the point that with the exception of Washington State there isn't a single team left on the schedule that can't beat us. For Washington to continue winning they need to stay healthy and keep a big chip on their shoulder. They need to focus like they did for LSU and USC every single week. Washington cannot afford to take anyone lightly.

Stanford is going to be a tough contest. The Cardinals are playing a physical brand of football and Harbaugh continues to upgrade the talent with top rated recruiting classes. Despite the toughness Stanford is too one dimensional on offense. If you can stop or slow their running game you should be able to beat them. They are also prone to turn the ball over so Washington needs to take advantage of that. The Tree committed four turnovers against SJSU.

Defensively the Tree is tough up front and they face a smash mouth offense every single day in practice. The weak link however is the secondary. A QB like Jake Locker has the ability to pick up quite a few yards in the air if he can avoid the pass rush.

Everyone in the media is declaring that Washington is back. If they can put together a win on the road against a tough and physical team that statement will have much more meaning.

.Pac 10 Round Up

California 35 Minnesota 21

Jahvid Best ran wild in the first half for three TD's and 114 yard then disapeared from the offense in the second half. He was back in the game for the fourth quarter and helped Cal vanquish the pesky Gopers with two more TD's. You have to wonder what Tedford was thinking in the second half. Hand it off to your Heisman candidate till they prove they can stop him!

Oregon 31 Utah 24

Some unknown guy named LaMichael James rushed for a career-high 152 yards and a touchdown. Oregon overcame four turnovers and an abysmal performance by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to beat the No. 18 Utes 31-24 which snapped the nation's longest winning streak. Masoli ran for two touchdowns, but had two fumbles and an interception in the second half that allowed Utah to rally from a 21-7 deficit to within 28-24 by the end of the third quarter.

Stanford 42 San Jose 17

This game was never in doubt as Stanford rushed out to an early lead and coasted the rest of the way. Chris Owusua opened the game with a 94-yard kickoff return and also caught a touchdown pass, Toby Gerhart ran for 113 yards and two TDs. Next up is Washington at home with the early and unexpected twist of championship implications.

WSU 30 SMU 27

Nico Grasu kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime as Washington State came back to beat Southern Methodist 30-27 on Saturday for their first win of the season. Southern Methodist led 24-7 in the third quarter and seemed to be cruising to victory. Then the WSU defense took control. Linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis picked off Mitchell at midfield and ran the ball back 52 yards for a touchdown late in the third. But the snap for the conversion was fumbled, and the Cougars trailed 24-13. That missed extra point would end up costing them a chance to win in regulation. Linebacker Myron Beck picked off a scrambling Mitchell and outran the Mustangs for a 67-yard touchdown that cut SMU's lead to 27-20 with 10:07 left. The Lobster hit a diving Jared Karstetter in the end zone with 28 seconds left. Grasu kicked the extra point to tie the game at 27-27. The Mustangs had 504 yards of offense, compared to 276 for WSU.

Cincinnati 28 Oregon State 17

Tony Pike led Cincinnati to a road victory against Oregon State.The senior quarterback completed 31 of 49 passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns. I thought the Beavers pass defense was suspect since game one and this game proved it. Pike hit Mardy Gilyard with an 18-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter to stop a second-half Oregon State comeback bid. The Bearcats (3-0) snapped Oregon State's streak of 26 straight nonconference victories at Reser Stadium, dating back to a 67-28 win over Northern Illinois on Nov. 16, 1996.

Iowa 27 Arizona 17

Freshman running back Adam Robinson rushed for a career-high 101 yards and two touchdowns. Iowa held Arizona to just eight first downs in a 27-17 victory Saturday. Nic Grigsby was held to only 75 yards rushing and that is how you beat Arizona. The Wildcats entered play with the nation's fifth-best rushing offense at 305.5 yards per game, but couldn't get the run or the pass going against an Iowa defense that took control of the game in the second half.

UCLA 23 Kansas State 9

Rick Neuheisel faced the challenge of beating the worst BCS team in the country this side of Washington State and SMU. He came out with a win despite the loss of his starting QB and the suspension of four key players for discipinary reasons. It wasn't pretty and the Bruins needed 10 fourth quarter points to ice the game. Freshman Johnathan Franklin rushed for a career-best 119 yards on 23 carries and Kai Forbath kicked three field goals without a miss for the Bruins. Kevin Craft completed 13 of 24 passes with one interception including a game-clinching 51-yard scoring pass to Terrence Austin with 6:18 left in the game. The Bruins have a much needed bye next week.

Arizona State 38 Louisiana Monroe 14

Exhibition season continued for Dennis Erickson and his ASU Sun Devils in Tempe this weekend. Omar Bolden returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown, picked off a pass, and Arizona State routed Louisiana-Monroe 38-14 on Saturday night in a tuneup for its trip to Georgia. The Sun Devils have limited teams from the Big Sky and Sun Belt Conferences to a total of 17 points which makes me think maybe they should move down a level.

Pac 10 Power Ratings

1. California...The Bears win by 14 in a tough environment at Minnesota. The Gophers arent' that good and Cal is one dimensional with a questionable defense. The game was closer than the final score. Oregon will give us a better idea of how good the Bears are.

2. Southern California...Take away the three turnovers and USC beats Washington by around 17 points. USC may not lose another game all year but Saturday's loss shows what happens when you cough up the ball on the road.

3. Washington...Jake Locker is the best player in the league and until someone can stop him Washington will keep winning. Nick Holt's defense was masterful after a shaky first quarter. Imagine that...a Washington coach capable of making game day adjustments!

4. Stanford...The Cards put a USC type of beating on the Spartan's to rebound after the loss to Wake Forest. I thought this one would be a lot closer and it wasn't. Nice rebound game for Stanford. Tomey says it is the toughest Stanford team he has seen in thirty years.

5. Oregon State...Cincinnati will win the Big East this year and be in a major bowl. The Beavers on the other hand will recover and keep getting better. The OSU pass defense needs to tighten if they want to get anywhere this year.

6. UCLA...A 3-0 start and a victory at Tennessee gives these guys the benefit of the doubt, but SDSU is terrible and so is KSU. The Bruins struggled against both opponents and if Tennessee hadn't self destructed so terribly they wouldn't have beaten them. Rumors floating out of LA this week indicate that Neu and Chow aren't getting along well.

7. Arizona...Stoops and his team underperforms at Iowa. Nic Grigsby was held to 75 yards and that is how you stop the Wildcats. The lack of offense caught up to them in game three. Until the Wildcats prove they can throw the ball the box will be loaded to attack Grigsby. Iowa struggled with little Northern Iowa in its opener and had to block a FG at the end to win it. Bud Withers and Bob Condotta keep touting the Wildcats but I have never been able to buy in.

8. Arizona State...We will see what the Sun Devils are made of when they face Georgia next week. I will give them this...They are the best team in the Sunbelt and Big Sky so far this season. The fans in the Phoenix area have been ignoring the team this season. The stadium was only half full for the last two games. Maybe the honeymoon is over in year three.

9. Oregon...The Ducks are 2-1 which is a major achievement after the way they started the season. Utah was way over-rated and even struggled with SJSU last week. Purdue who the Ducks beat in the last seconds at home last week was pounded by Northern Illinois at home today. Put it up on the board as a win but the truth is the Ducks are still struggling on both sides of the ball. Masoli was terrible despite two TD runs.

10. Washington State...The Coug's rally to beat SMU in overtime. So they will end up 1-11 and not 0-12. This is not a well coached team. A victory however is a victory. A season with one win is better than a season with no wins. Knowing your not the worst college football team in the country has to be comforting.

Pac 10 Offensive Player of the Week

Jahvid Best rushed for 131 yards and a modern school-record five touchdowns to help the No. 8 Golden Bears vanquish a road curse in a 35-21 victory over scrappy Minnesota. I know most of you are going to ask this question: What about Jake Locker? Tough choice but five TD's tips it Jahvid's way big time!

Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Week

UW linebacker Donald Butler help hold the USC offense to only 13 points in the college football upset of the year so far. Butler was declared the NCAA defensive player of the week by the gang at Sports Center. The Walter Camp Foundation named him national defensive player of the week. He had one of the better performances I have ever seen from a Husky linebacker. Couldn't happen to a nicer fellah.

Washington Offensive Player of the Week

Jake Locker led UW to a 16-13 upset of USC. He was 21-35 on the day with no interceptions and had one rushing touchdown. Jake is going to have better weeks in the future because he won't face a better defense for the rest of the regular season. Give him a little more time to set up and some room to run and we just may see a challenge to Marques Tuiasosopo's 200-300 game!

Washington Defensive Player of the Week

Donald Butler had the best game of his career. Sark and Holt said Butler was the one of the guys on our team that could have started for SC last year. Looks like they really meant it. Mason Foster comes in with a very close second. He keeps getting better every game.

Media Quotables

Lets start it off with a few lines from Art Thiel's column in the PI

But there is no doubt that the Huskies, after 0-12, are again a serious college football team. There is even less question that they are in possession of the most majestic 1-0 conference lead in the history of ball by the lake. Didn't take long at all.

Bob Condotta of the Times beat his readers to the punch with the first quote quote. That is OK Bob because even I picked the Trojans by 7 points! Bob also adds a couple of wise words in a later entry about Washington moving from hunter to hunted status.

"The first grade goes to me, a big, fat F for thinking that the Huskies weren't ready to win a game like that yet."

"It's a heady climb for the Huskies, a year removed from an 0-12 season that's looking a little more unfathomable by the day, and the challenges now change for UW --- you go quickly from hunter to hunted in college football, especially with a history like Washington's. But those worries are for another day. For now, this is more proof of UW's re-entry to college football's center stage."

This in from ESPN's Ted Miller who hasn't been drinking any purple Kool-Aid up till now.

Washington is nobody's patsy: A corpse was rolled out of Husky Stadium on Saturday evening. It was Sucky Husky, who went 12-47 from 2004 until 2008. He's been on life support since Steve Sarkisian was hired and injected him with enthusiasm and hope, which proved deadly for Sucky Husky, who finally succumbed when Erik Folk's short field goal gave Washington a 16-13 victory over No. 3 USC. Suffice it to say, the funeral will be sparsely attended. Washington once was the top alternative to USC in the Pac-10. It was once a program that groused about playing in the Sun Bowl. In a few years, it feels certain that Husky fans will once again grouse about playing in the Sun Bowl.

This in from Jerry Brewer from the Seattle Times

In one game, they punctuated their rapid return to significance, altered conservative preseason predictions of four or five victories and, most likely, launched themselves into the Top 25 for the first time in six years. Oh, and they avenged a 56-love loss from last season.

Bill Plashke of the LA Times drilled Pete Carroll unmercifully and gave little credit to the Washington players. Bill used to write for either the Times or the PI...can't remember which. Too bad he wasn't up in Seattle during the Willingham years. We could have used him!

Don't blame this on the fact that USC was playing without starting quarterback Matt Barkley, because it still out-gained Washington.

Don't blame this on a defense that was missing star Taylor Mays, because it still held Washington to barely 200 yards before its final drive.

Like the man said, blame it on Pete. It has been written here for several years that Carroll is the best coach in college football, but for several hours Saturday he was inexplicably out-coached by a former pupil, Steve Sarkisian, while allowing his team to be outplayed by a former national joke.

Chris Dufrense of the LA Times pursues this angle.

"Nostradamus once predicted Washington and Washington State would undergo years of simultaneous toil and upheaval only to one day rise to win games on the same day -- but this soon? As usual, this is what always happens when you play the games. It was Payback Saturday, not so much for Florida and Texas, but for Washington -- a 56-0 loser to USC last year in the Coliseum."

Husky Quotes

"I believed that because everything they say has come true," said linebacker Mason Foster, who had a big game with three pass breakups. "From the off-season workouts, to practicing so hard, to now. They said, do this stuff well, and we'll win."

"I thought we had the talent to win last year. We just found ways to lose them," Locker said. "You saw the opposite of that today."

"I think the difference in this game was Jake," said USC coach Pete Carroll. "We kept him under wraps for a while, but when he had to have it, he made it. That's what a great player does."

"I will never forget this day," senior linebacker Donald Butler said. "I will tell my kids about this. I will tell my grandkids about this. Man, this is crazy."

"That's the difference this year. We expect to win," Butler said. "Believe! We all believed we would win."

"To have the moment when the crowd rushes the field, those are things you dream about as a kid -- never mind as a coach -- when you're laying in bed at night throwing the ball in the air," said Steve Sarkisian.

"I don't think this was Jake's best night," Sarkisian said, "but when we needed him, he made plays. He found a way to stay in the game."

Previewing the Washington Game

ASUBoyd — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:06:37 -0000

Showdown in the Emerald City. Let me begin by saying that if ASU loses this game - and they very well might - I will have to think that big changes will be coming for the team. Coaching, personnel, everything.

With that out of the way, lets take a look at the game. ASU (2-6) travels to Washington (0-8) to play at one of the most beautiful stadiums in the country. I am from Seattle, and must say that I hold a fond place in my heart for Husky Stadium. Seating 72,500 and offering arguably the most scenic view in colleg football (right on Union Bay, you can see the Cascade Mtns, Space Needle, floating bridge, and Mt. Rainer..) the stadium rocks.

via www.autumnspectacle.com

However, aside from the stadium, the Huskies really do not have much going for them this year. Their coach has already been let go, they have not won a game, and their stud sophomore Jake Locker has not played since week 5 due to a broken right thumb.

The team is not well coached, and simply does not have a lot of weapons - whether that is due to poor recruiting or poor coaching, I am not really sure. The one thing I can say about them is the nearly every one of their starters is a lower classmen. The future looks at least semi-bright. Or not so dim.

Let's take a look at some of the guys we will see tomorrow.

QB - Ronnie Fouch, Sophomore, 6'1 203 LBS
2008 stats - 79/165, 993 YDS, 47.9 CMP%, 4 TD - 7 INT, 97.95 RAT, 10 SACK

via cache.gettyimages.com

Heading into the season, the Huskies expected their Freshman phenom Locker to come out of the gates hard and lead them to a resurgent season, but Locker has been hampered by injuries all season and this has forced Willingham to play Fouch. An extremely inaccurate passer, Fouch has never completed more than 53% of his passes in a game he has started and has completed less than 50% in 4 out of his 5 games where he played the majority of the snaps. He also is not the threat Locker is in the running game. Really, if ASU sees Fouch throwing 25 or more times against them, we should be hopeful that a win is forthcoming. The guy just is not ready to start in college football - whether that is because his coaches havent placed him in a position to win, his supporting cast is lacking, or he just isnt that great.

RB - Terrance Dailey, Freshman, 5-10 194 LBS
2008 stats - 39 ATT, 174 YDS, 4.5 AVG, 1 TD, 1 REC, 9 YDS

via cache.gettyimages.com

A fairly highly recruited tailback/fullback hybrid who got his first carry in week 6 against Arizona, Dailey's numbers are slightly misleading. Against Notre Dame, USC, and Arizona he rushed 23 times for 72 yards (3.1) average. Weak. While he had a solid game against Oregon State (16 rushes for 102 yards) 59 of them came on his long TD run. Take that out and his game is 15 rushes for 43 yards. Ew. He also is not involved/not a threat in the passing game.

While he has talent, Washington's offense is simply inept. Their leading rusher, still, is Jake Locker - and he hasnt played since September.

RB - Brandon Johnson, Sophomore, 5'9 207 LBS
2008 Stats - 50 ATT, 117 YDS, 2.3 AVG, 2 TD

via cache.daylife.com

The second leading rusher on the team behind Locker in terms of carries, Johnson has been stymied by his line and his lack of burst. Sort of a Nance-esque rusher, Johnson had his most productive game against USC last week, which doesn't say much. 18 ATT, 54 YDs, for a 3 average. The team is averaging 2.8 per carry, so the bulk of the problem is the entire run game.

WR - D'Andre Goodwin, Sophomore, 5-11, 175 LBS
2008 Stats - 44 REC, 533 YDS, 12.1 AVG, 1 TD, 7 ATT, 17 YDS, 2.4 AVG

via media.scout.com

The kid is a stud. A soph who is on pace for over 60 receptions and 800 yards, despite all the instability at QB. He has caught at least 5 passes a game this year, and has had 4 games with over 80 yards and has only been shut down against USC (and really, who hasn't been?). He had a monster game against Oregon State, (5 rec, 136 yards) and will probably be matched up against Omar Bolden. An unknown recruit out of high school, Goodwin will be an interesting player to watch on Saturday.

No other wide outs on Washington have over 20 receptions, and only two others have over 10. Freshmen Jermaine Kearse (16 for 224, 2 TDs) and Devin Aguilar (17 for 207). Both those guys are freshman though, and prone to inconsistency, so it is hard to say what the Huskies will get out of either of them on Saturday.

Defensive Playmakers
DE - Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Senior, 6'4 263 LBS
2008 stats - 37 TACK, 4.5 TFL, 3 SACK

via farm2.static.flickr.com

The fact that the Huskies leading sacker has only 3 sacks is telling. The defense is really a major weak point of this team. The senior lineman is a hustle guy, but for perhaps the first time all season, we might not have to worry about pressure on our QB and Rudy can have plenty of time to stare down his favroite receiver before throwing an interception.

MLB - Mason Foster, Sophomore, 6'1 229 LBS
2008 stats - 66 TACK, 7 TFL, 1 INT, 3 PD

via cache.gettyimages.com

The leading tackler on the team, Mason has been a solid player all year for the Huskies. He has been solid against the run and has been decent in coverage. Other than him though, the defense has not had a lot of playmakers. This happens when you give up 42 points per game to opposing offenses though...

Team Analysis and Prediction

TEAM STATISTICS	WASH	OPP
SCORING	113	333
Points Per Game	14.1	41.6
FIRST DOWNS	142	194
Rushing	49	104
Passing	73	81
Penalty	20	9
RUSHING YARDAGE	716	1946
Yards gained rushing	974	2084
Yards lost rushing	258	138
Rushing Attempts	259	336
Average Per Rush	2.8	5.8
Average Per Game	89.5	243.2
TDs Rushing	10	23
PASSING YARDAGE	1505	1896
Att-Comp-Int	259-129-7	208-147-3
Average Per Pass	5.8	9.1
Average Per Catch	11.7	12.9
Average Per Game	188.1	237.0
TDs Passing	5	21
TOTAL OFFENSE	2221	3842
Total Plays	518	544
Average Per Play	4.3	7.1
Average Per Game	277.6	480.2
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards	44-750	18-405
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards	4-22	16-216
INT RETURNS: #-Yards	3-0	7-90
KICK RETURN AVERAGE	17.0	22.5
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE	5.5	13.5
INT RETURN AVERAGE	0.0	12.9
FUMBLES-LOST	14-7	11-2
PENALTIES-Yards	36-288	65-605
Average Per Game	36.0	75.6
PUNTS-Yards	47-1770	20-789
Average Per Punt	37.7	39.5
Net punt average	32.2	35.3
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game	29:01	30:59
3RD-DOWN Conversions	54/118	52/93
3rd-Down Pct	46%	56%
4TH-DOWN Conversions	4/8	7/12
4th-Down Pct	50%	58%
SACKS BY-Yards	5-44	20-162
MISC YARDS	0	0
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED	15	45
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS	3-8	7-8
ON-SIDE KICKS	0-0	0-0
RED-ZONE SCORES	13-19 68%	34-38 89%
RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS	12-19 63%	28-38 74%
PAT-ATTEMPTS	14-15 93%	42-45 93%
ATTENDANCE	328728	194618
Games/Avg Per Game	5/65746	3/64873
Neutral Site Games		0/0

They have just been dominated this season, and if we don't manage over 30 points and at least a 2-3 touch down lead - we are as bad as we all think we are.

I say we go on the road and end this losing streak.

ASU 34 - WASH 17