SB Nation - Daniel Te'o-Nesheim

Ranking the 2009 Pac-10 Football MVPs: Part I

Avinash — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:00:29 -0000

Mike Mohamed had some big plays this season. Was it enough to be a Pac-10 MVP?

In case you missed it, here's Part 1: the LVPs of their respective teams.

This post got too long, so I had to split it into three. Here are the honorable mention categories and the Pac-10 players and units ranked #30 thru #21 (#20-11 coming this afternoon, #10-1 coming Friday morning). Let's dive into it.

Honorable Mention

Jeff Locke, Reid Forrest: You know your team's in trouble when your punters are higher than anyone on your offense. And in Forrest's case, you know your team is royally fucked when your punter is the only one on your team who appears on this list.

Donald Butler: Didn't really do anything spectacular this year, but 96 tackles will get you on this list.

Daniel Te'o-Nesheim: So will 9.5 sacks and 12.5 TFL. Too bad the Huskies defense ranged from 'sheer brilliance' to 'human atrocity'

Ed Dickson: I'll be nice as possible about this--FUCK ED DICKSON. AGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.

Damola Adeniji: Despite all the production of James Rodgers, he wasn't Canfield's main target on 3rd down. Probably because secondaries keyed in on Rodgers, Adeniji racked up 27 catches in that situation, 21 for first downs, 5th in the country. Only 49 catches overall, but considering he only had 1 last season, I'll say this is a slight upgrade.

Chris Polk: Finished this season on a tear: Five ninety+ yard games and a 1000 yard season overall. Hard to measure his impact though, since the Huskies lost three of those games and Locker and the defense were the focal points of the other two.

Trojan offensive line: Lost season for these guys. 17 sacks allowed, 40 tackles for loss allowed, only a top 40 rushing offense. Ho-hum for them. I would've dreamed of something like this for the Bears.

Mike Mohamed: Cal's most productive defensive player on a not-so-great defensive unit. You have to give massive props for a 100 tackle season (his 104 tackles were tops in the Pac-10). And he saved another Cal season from sliding into disaster with a crucial interception in the Big Game.

Kyle Williams, Dmitri Nance: Solid production considering their quarterback struggled to complete half of his passes. Plus I feel bad for Williams ending his career like that.

Syd'Quan Thompson: If Cal had ONE guy (Hagan, Hill, Nnabuife, Conte, Rope Guy, someone) step up at corner on the other side of the field, who knows how our season turns out. We sure as hell don't get lit up by Oregon, USC or UDub on defense (Syd's limited ability in the final game pretty much assured we were screwed against Locker).

He was still a fabulous open field tackler when he got the chance, and when quarterbacks threw to his side of the field, he usually shut down. Like Asomugha in Oakland, that kind of effort only gets rewarded with first team All Pac-10, and minimal impact on the box score. So while his talent is easy enough to gauge, it's really hard to measure his value. Which is why he's honorable mention and not on the top 30.

After the jump, here's #30-21. If there are any thoughts of players or units left off, or guesses as to who will end up in the top 20, leave them in the comments.

#30 Damian Williams, #29 Joe McKnight

via theoraclesays.files.wordpress.com

These two are actually the first since Bush and White to break 100+ all-purpose yards a game since Bush and Leinart. Solid seasons, but other than McKnight on the final drive against Ohio State and Williams tearing up Notre Dame, how many moments do you remember concerning these two? That kind of year for the Trojans. It's up in the air whether either will return too.

#28 Ryan Whalen

via www4.pictures.zimbio.com

6th in the Pac-10 in receptions, turned into Luck's best passing threat when Owusu went Section Eight in the biggest games. Thought about ranking him higher, but I don't have any Whalen moments to really justify putting him further up. Perhaps the Cardinal fans can refresh my memory...oh, wait, there are no Cardinal fans. #28 it is.

#27 Arizona's receiving corps (Turner, Criner, Roberts, Dean, Douglas)

via www.azstarnet.com

Five guys with 30 catches or more? Now that's spreading the wealth around. By contrast, Cal had only one receiver (Jones) catch more than 30. Obviously, Cal isn't built to be a passing offense, but still, this is a far cry from two-three years ago. Sigh.

#26 UCLA's secondary

via images.ocregister.com

I know Rahim Moore led the nation in picks, and Alterraun Verner had another fine year--but how good are these guys? Other than shutting down Jonathan Crompton and whoever the hell Kansas State's quarterback is, the Bruins pass D has been surprisingly average. Even Kevin Riley burned them deep. I repeat, KEVIN RILEY BURNED THEM DEEP. Does this happen to good secondaries?

Oh well...at least Moore is capable of that "deep, longing, alluring, penetrating, soul-piercing, heart-tugging look".

#25 Tyson Alualu

via cache.daylife.com

Kind of hard to say how bad the Bears defense would've been without Alualu cracking apart the line. His efforts alone helped shut down Minnesota's passing game in a tight 4th quarter. Extra linemen often were forced to commit to him, and it opened up the rest of the front to get after Arizona and the Furd's high powered offensive attack.

Unfortunately, he never really had a Mebane-like force on the line--he couldn't really disrupt the passing attacks the way his predecessors did How much of that was dictated by scheme or by his own pass rush methods is beyond my knowledge, but Cal's pass rush was far weaker than anticipated, far weaker than the 27 sacks they put up this year.

Still a great season for Tice though--Cal's run defense was top-tier, and a lot of that had to do with #44.

(Story that really depressed me this week: Bear Insider's look at how close Ndamukong Suh came to being a Golden Bear. Imagine Alualu and Suh coming together in the 3-4 the last two seasons, particularly last year. I'm getting bummed out now.)

#24 Jahvid Best

via www.pe.com

For a guy who was supposed to be a Heisman hopeful, it's shocking to see Best not even crack the top 20. But that's how it is in a frustrating season for Jahvid, whose season seemed to peak in Minneapolis. Still had some spectacular runs, but running behind the crappiest offensive line in the Tedford era, it could've been way, way better.

#23 Chris Owusu

via a.espncdn.com

A menace for us, and a big game-changer for the Furd, having huge returns on almost every opponent this year. Surprisingly (and stupidly), everyone in the Pac-10 continued to kick to Owusu long after he demonstrated he would outrace their coverage to the end zone. The Furd ranked 3rd in the country in kickoff returns, mostly due to Owusu's skills.

He gets bumped down a bit because if he could just hang onto a few passes (he dropped big catches in EVERY conference loss), the Furd are going to Pasadena.

#22 Kai Forbath

via tnjn.com

Laugh all you want that a kicker cracks the top 25. When a Bruins fan describes him as your most consistent player...well, that says a lot.

Take a look at the games Forbath swung this season.
~13 of UCLA's 19 points in a 4 point win over the Vols in Rocky Top
~11 of UCLA's 23 points in a 10 point win over the Sun Devils
~6 of UCLA's 24 points in a 1 point win over the Huskies
~11 of UCLA's 23 points in a 14 point win over K-State.

Add in these stats
~26 field goals, second most in the country behind Alabama's Tiffin
~99th scoring offense in the country

Not hard to say Forbath was UCLA's offensive MVP this season, isn't it? Switch Forbath with an average kicker and the Bruins win four games? Three?

#21 Shane Vereen

via dlerium.smugmug.com

(Image from dmo580)

Surprisingly had more impressive performances than Best this season, cementing away a Cal victory in Pasadena and being the workload in two upsets over the Wildcats and the Cardinal. Best racked up big numbers against two of the worst teams in the country and an FCS opponent, managing only one great game this season against a bowl-eligible team. Although Best ended up with more rushing yards, Vereen had more all-purpose yards thanks to his kickoff returns and his own pass-catching abilities. Most importantly, when the offensive line collapsed, Vereen had more of the elusiveness to slip away from encroaching defenders.

Best might be the better talent, but Vereen was the more valuable Bear for this Cal squad...but only by a little.

Coming this afternoon: #20-11.

Cal v. Washington Report Card

TwistNHook — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:16 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	1.406	2.188	1.969	0.677	0.531	1.469	0.896	0.302	0.875	0.708	0.490
Grade	D+	C+	C	D-	D-	D+	D	D-	D	D-	D-

There are so many times I want to quit this blog. I ask myself is it worth it? Are risking many Hydrotech Face Punchings worth it? But the amazing community we have here usually inspires me to the do all the work. And working on the Report Card post is usually one of my most favorite posts to put together. Seeing what all you people have written is always a lot of fun.

Fun was not the word that came to mind doing the Report Card post this time. You guys certainly know how to express your opinion and, well, given how the game went, I'm sure you can imagine what went on. If you like positive, optimistic things like daisies riding unicorns and ponies snuggling with rainbows, I suggest you read NO further. But if you like pessimistic things and are full of self-loathing, well, then you are a Cal fan and probably added something to this Report Card. You may read on.

I think PolarBear91 hits the right note here in his "overall" thought:

Worst. Episode. Ever.

Tough to disagree, Mr. Bear91. Tough to disagree.

Gameday Experience

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I watched in front of my laptop and had to contain my anger from smashing my keyboard. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. MY LAPTOP COST ME GOOD MONEY. I DON'T WANT TO BREAK ITTTTTTTTT.

OhioBear - I promped by daughter to do another "Go Bears." It's not "Goo Bay" anymore. It came out "Go Bars." After watching the game, that's what I wanted to do.

Kodiak - Well, the baby was squirrelly and just wouldn't settled down to let me watch the game in peace. Little did I know that the little angel had my best interests in mind and was only fussing in an attempt to preserve my sanity. I did sample our Xmas limoncello to make sure that it was fit to give out as gifts...and sort of briefly lost all feeling in my teeth. Unlike our team, it's more potent than it looks. I might be rambling now...Still can't feel my teeth. Damn. This would be the time to see if I could chew through a 2x4. Life is tough sometimes as a Cal fan.

Blackandoldgold - If you like hearing foghorn, this was your game. In other words, terrible.

Swamphunter - Why the fuck did we have to slouch on the job NOW? I'm so pissed that we had to lose to the fucking puppy dogs that I'm going against what I said earlier and doing a report card for this loss. We should have killed these mother fuckers and instead they run all over us.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Unfortunately, I go to UW for grad school now and made it to this game thinking "hey, it can't be worse than 2007, right?" The crowd was pumped. The whole UW team was pumped. It was the last home game for the seniors (and possibly Jake Locker), and it was probably a bit colder than most Cal players were accustomed to, but man ... what was that?

I guess I had seen this before against Oregon and USC. In fact, this was really just a blend of those two games. The saddest thing about this game was that, unlike 2007, I never got the feeling (whatever that's worth) that the players quit, and still, 42-10. What a beatdown.

Oh, and since we're talking about the gameday experience. A small minority of fans were woofing/barking when UW did something good. I mean, I get it, the Huskies, but really, you see Cal fans growling like a bear every time we get a first down or score?

Last thing, they kept on chanting "one more year" for Jake Locker. I think this was a good send-off for him since they're not playing in a bowl game. My guess is he's gone, but what do I know?

beson - We went over to a friend's house to watch the game and barbeque. Our usual MO is to take shots after every Cal touchdown. Last year, I got obliterated. This year, my friend made blue jello shots. I was anticipating another rough Sunday morning. Unfortunately it was rough in other more horrible ways. The jello shots made for celebrating became jello shots of sadness and frustration.

ososdeoro - Auspiciously tweaked my back playing tennis in the morning.

Golden Rationality Award

Commenter/alias name	Standard Deviation
osodeoro	1.417
polarbear91	1.722
grinandbearit	1.927
Haas8388	2.007
sec119	2.016

Old Blue Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
c98	0
prd74	0.364
blackandoldgold	0.485
WTFFFFFFFFFFFF	0.545
polarbear91	0.652

Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
Kodiak	1.758
Manwich	1.667
socalbears	1.500
beson	1.470
grinandbearit	1.348

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - A few flickers, but mostly bad Riley. In his defense, the protection had something to do with that. And once the game got out of hand, the D could just tee off on him. Even so, it's really disappointing to see him regress and be inconsistent with his accuracy, decision-making, and ball security.

Swamphunter - Short-hops and wide throws. The only bright spots were when Riley was throwing the ball, though.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

grinandbearit - I don't like to put too much blame on him since our OL sucks, but his throws were definitely off and sometimes he threw some scary passes to well-covered WRs. He did have a couple of nice runs, and I think he should continue to pull it down and run with it rather than sitting back in a collapsing pocket while loosely holding onto the ball.

That is one thing I really dislike about Riley is that he doesn't have a very good sense for ball security. Maybe he needs to sit down with Coach Gould and get a lesson or two on what the RBs do.

Haas8338 - Riley seems like a good guy and has improved from last year, but, and this is a BIG BUT, he is not good enough to lead a top Pac10 team. I won't use the term "inconsistent" anymore, he just is not very good.

beson - Riley definitely had some pretty terrible throws but I think most of the blame has to go to the O line which just sucked. Sure Riley should have made the throws when he wasn't pressured, but I can't really blame him for having lack of confidence in his line.

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Vereen ran for 92 yards on 16 carries, but it was a fairly quiet 92 given the avalanche that poured over us. Vereen did a nice job, basically the only bright spot in an otherwise pathetic night.
Haas8338 - Vereen did what he could do in the circumstances. Pass blocking needs work that is for sure.

grinandberait - The effort is consistently there, and I just feel bad when I see Vereen run towards the line and hesitate because he knows he has nowhere to run because of our ____ty OL.

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - It's nice to have a former QB providing commentary. Apparently, some of Riley's struggles weren't just inaccuracy, but the receivers running sloppy routes. Which is pretty sad considering we really can't use the "young" excuse at this point in the season.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Marvin Jones is clearly our go-to guy. I was disappointed "they" didn't get Miller more involved. Everyone else is just a clone of a mediocre WR. Marvin is our #1 WR, and he gets open and makes catches more often ... I wonder what all the other WRs are doing differently. Running bad routes? I can't really say because I've never really sat down and followed the WRs on their routes during games, especially not on TV because you usually can't see this happening.

Good thing is that I didn't see too many huge drops except for one possible TD catch that looked to be fairly well defended.

Run blocking

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I walked past a Chinese restaurant that prominently displayed the sign "NO MSG". You speak truth Chinese restaurant - so much painful truth.

Kodiak - Inconsistent push. In fairness, UW rolled the dice and bet that Bad Riley wouldn't be able to beat them if they crowded the line and run blitzed frequently. Sadly enough, that's been a pretty safe bet all year.

Blackandoldgold - The only thing worse was the Great Stink of 1858.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated.

Haas8338 - Even with MSG this line is only mediocre. Schwartz can dominate at times, but Tepper is up and down and the center and two guards were aweful. The Mutts' 340 lb DT (Taamu?) just abused our 260 lb center (shocking) and the guards didn't help much. Cheadle looks pretty darn stout, but man does he get manhandled at times...WTF?

Pass protection

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Up and down. Riley was under pressure a lot, but UW was blitzing multiple guys on obvious passing downs. Chess match win for the UW coaches because we never seemed to have the right call or protection.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated. I believe in this so much right now that it deserves to be said twice.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - 5 sacks... much more pressures and knockdowns. And it wasn't like it was close. The D-line was coming straight through. Marshall needs to go, I think.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Haas8338 - Tepper better start working out at guard because the NFL just wrote him off at tackle. Guarnero is just overmatched physically, simple as that.

Horrible preformance.

ososdeoro - sack, sack, sack. 3-step drop anyone. Oh yeah, that goes under coaching.

Run defense

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Meh. We held Polk under a hundy but it seemed like we let him get away too much. We didn't have an answer for Locker's running, really.

Blackandoldgold - I can't do this anymore. Too depressing...

stevy - Washington never ran it that much. Defending locker on broken plays is tough, but they need to wrap up and not arm tackle.

Haas8338 - Take away Locker's running and it was a decent performance.

sec119 - I'm not sure if run defense counts the same as Locker scrambling for 15 yards at a time, but either way it was bad.

Pass rush

via calbearsonline.com

c98 - sucked.

beson - The pass rush seemed decent but Locker's escapability killed us. Everytime we got a good rush, it seemed like it was at the expense of containment and Locker made us pay.

sec119 - From snap to whistle, Locker had time to re-tie his shoes, drink some gatorade, and bake a souffle before the pass rush got within five yards of him.

Kodiak - Well, haven't really had one all year, so can't expect it to miraculously appear now. Even when we blitzed, they picked it up pretty easily. We could really use some playmakers who know how to put the QB in the grass.

stevy - Horrid. With this D-line, the 3-4 is ineffective in getting pressure. The outside linebackers almost never got pressure on Locker making it easy for him to dominate the game.

Pass Defense

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Tough game for Nbufie. For all that people have been screaming all year for more aggressive D...More blitzing + man coverage = DB's getting burned for long gains/TD's. Maybe the coaches know that besides Syd, our coverage is a bit questionable and that's why they usually play zone. It'll be addition by subtraction when Johnson and Ezeff leave. It's really disappointing for two seniors to be non-factors, much less liabilities.

c98 - sucked.

ososdeoro - Good God. It seemed like the linebackers were told to: a) pick a receiver to cover; b) cover said receiver for five yards; c) stop and turn around to see if Locker is going to run while receiver goes on his merry way; d) "protect" the astroturf five yards downfield from any Huskies who might bother to venture in his general direction. The first TD pass coverage really wasn't that bad. That said, you give a guy a permanent 10-yard cushion and you're letting him receive the ball anywhere he wants to.

Haas8338 - Locker was on target, to his credit, but he was not pressured and our coverage seemed confused at times.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Special Teams

via calbearsonline.com

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked.

stevy - Goal for next year: GET A CONSISTENT KICKER. And Sofele was ineffective on returns. Once, he got a whole 5 yards on a short kick. Not good.

grinandbearit - Kick coverage is still pretty weak, and we missed a not-that-long FG in the first half. I wonder if Tedford will ever consider having someone else coach special teams.

Also, is it standard for college teams to send one guy to loop behind all the other kick coverage personnel acting as a trailer just in case everyone else fails to tackle the returner? I don't remember seeing any team play prevent on kickoffs.

Anger is still decent. Whew.

Haas8338 - Alamar may be the worst coach in college football.

ososdeoro - Just Gawd-fucking-awful. Nice to see Anger finally get off some good punts when we didn't need them anymore. Kickoff coverage sucks(tm) and now punt coverage does too. Nice FG try by D'Amato, er, not.

Coaching

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - We were not ready to play. Credit to Washington, obvi, because they played well. But we had no answer. We seemingly had few, if any, adjustments to the offensive onslaught. And we had no answer to getting hit in the mouth by Washington. A lackluster performance from a team that didn't seem ready to play - coaches have to take some blame for that.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - Ludwig is still undecided about what type of offense he wants for Cal. Will they do short pases? will they run the ball? will they do long every down? Cal's offense has no identity and that's a huge problem. If Ludwig is back next year, he MUST decide what type of offense he wants to run. This flip flopping from game to game is hurting offensive production.

grinandbearit - I don't know what to say here because I can't tell what the root causes are of the problems we have. So I guess I'll just list some questions:

1) Our run blocking is piss poor, so is it the coach's fault or the talent?
2) When in the WildBear formation, why do we fake the sweep with Sofele 95% of the time and then have Vereen pause for a few seconds and then run forward into our crappy OL?
3) Playcalling: we ran the ball on 3rd and 23 ... it must have taken UW off guard because who in his right mind would've thought we would make anywhere near 23 yards on a run play with our OL?

ososodeoro - Not a one of them earned their pay in this one. Every other team seemed to have answers for U-Dub (even the Dawg wins were close), why didn't ours?

sec119 - I never would have thought there'd be a game I give the special teams the highest grade. Talk about damning by faint praise! At this point, 50/50 on field goals is on-par for field goals.

Overall

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf - Time to start drinking.

OhioBear - I haven't been this angry since Washington 2007. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by the Pac-10 champion on the road is one thing. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by a team that was 3-5 in the Pac-10 and 4-7 overall coming into the game is quite another. No excuse for a performance like this.

Maybe we left our heart at stanfurd stadium 2 weeks ago.

Kodiak - Well, it stunk, but I can live with it if the game serves as a wake-up call. As nice as it would have been to finish tied for 2nd with a chance at a 10-win season, could we honestly have said that we've been happy with the team this year? Instead, there's no question that Tedford will have to take a long look at his coaching staff, player evaluations, and what's been done from spring through winter to get the guys ready to play.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked hard.

stevy - Horrid game. Where did the Cal team that played so well against Stanford go? The team needs some to do serious soul searching in the off season.

grinandbearit - Keys to winning given our current set of problems:
- recruit some good defensive players this coming offseason
- get our OL mad before games so that they spark our running game so that we can keep our defense off the field and control the clock.
- start kicking all kickoffs out of bounds until we find someone who can consistently kick it past the 15.
- perfect the fake FG, especially when the FG is longer than 35 yards
- maybe our OL is just 2-3 good guys away from being good ... wouldn't that be great?

beson - Oh juju. Of course we lost after I celebrated USC and their all but assured poinsetta bowl berth.

Manwich - We can't get pumped up for big games other than the Big Game. I take back everything I said before, the optimism I had for containing Luck/Gerhart evaporated in a second. I'm beginning to think the PAC-10 has passed Tedford and Carroll by in terms of philosophy.

Before it was run the pro-style and the bend don't break and it worked. Now we're seeing our opponents run more option based attacks with mobile quarterbacks. It's time to change philosophies, otherwise, Tedford will become a Bobby Bowden, stuck with loyal assistants and doomed to middle of the PAC-10.

sec119 - I have very little to say that might be positive about this stinker of a game. That it occurred at the end of the season tells me that maybe we didn't learn much from our prior losses, nor am I hopeful about next year.

Jake Locker Is A Very Good Quarterback, But There Isn't Much Else To See Here

Richard Pittman — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:30:16 -0000

More photos » by Stephen Brashear - AP

Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian, left, talks with quarterback Jake Locker. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Browse more photos »

It's a little hard to do a preview of a team I don't know much about, and I don't know much about the Washington Huskies that I haven't read in College Football News or a similar publication. They are in the Pac-10, and are just about as far from LSU as any D1 program in the country. What's more, they've been bad. Epically bad. 0-12 in 2008 bad. 12 wins in 5 years bad.

But junior quarterback Jake Locker is very good, or at least he's very dangerous. Sure, his stats don't wow you. In an injury-shortened season last year, he completed 53% of his passes for a 5.51 yard per attempt average (Jarrett Lee averaged 6.96 ypa). In 93 pass attempts, he took care of the ball, throwing only 1 interception, but also only 1 touchdown.

What's so special about him? He's a mini-Tebow, a strong-armed quarterback who is also a power-running back, and a fiery and intense leader as well. Sometimes it gets him into trouble. For instance, Locker was the young man who scored a apparent game-tying touchdown late in the game against BYU and picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for throwing the ball into the air, which may have contributed to the kicker missing the extra point, and the Huskies lost by 1 point. It was an awful call, and no one blames Locker, but the penalty was called on him.

But make no mistake; Locker is a very good quarterback. If he had coaching and surrounding talent at his disposal, Locker might be on some Heisman short lists, or maybe on their medium-length lists. Husky fans and players are hoping that bringing in USC's offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkisian, as head coach will make Locker's production meet his talent. Reports are that Locker is completing 60% of passes in practice. The situation is such that ESPN's Pac-10 'blogger' says that Washington has the 2nd best QB situation in the conference (incidentally, USC is not #1)

Locker's good, but does Washington have anything else?

It's great to have a quality quarterback and all, but you can't do much on offense without a good offensive line, and CFN begins its Husky offensive line discussion with, "Could things get any worse up front for the Huskies?" Yikes. The running game averaged 2.8 yards per carry last year. The quarterbacks were sacked 31 times, including 10 sacks of Locker before he got hurt in the 4th game. It's not hard to see how a quarterback gets hurt if he gets sacked 10 times in 3 games.

Steve Sarkisian is hoping that a shift to a zone blocking scheme will change the offensive line's fortunes. This has meant that the line has had to get smaller in order to get quicker. I guess if you're THAT BAD, you have to make some pretty drastic changes either in personnel or in scheme in order to try to improve.

The overhaul doesn't end there. Apparently a couple of young receivers have beaten out the veterans. When your wide receivers only catch 3 touchdown passes in one season, a shakeup may be in order. The entire team only caught 6 touchdown passes. Three were to wideouts, 1 to a tight end, 1 to a running back, and 1 to the quarterback on some kind of trick play.

They only scored more than 20 points in a game twice last year. Obviously, offense-minded Sarkisian has a lot of work to do there.

Defensively, things are perhaps a little better. Just in looking at their results last year, when you consider how bad their offense was, and the fact that they were playing in the offensive-minded Pac 10, they didn't give up a whole lot of gaudy points numbers. Sure, they gave up 55 to Oklahoma, 56 to USC, and over 40 to Arizona, Cal, and Oregon. But on the other hand, they gave up only 28 to BYU, and only 16 to Washington State. I know thiese are small victories, but when your offense is horrible your defense is going to give up points due to being put in a lot of bad situations. On the whole, the Washington defense gave up 38 points per game and 451.8 yards per game.

They had problems both in pass defense and run defense. They gave up a shocking 8.1 yards per pass attempt, and allowed a 66.7% completion percentage in 2008. They actually got fewer interceptions than we got, and had a TD/Int ratio of about 3.5:1, which is really bad when you're a defense. According to at least one source, the secondary for the Huskies is "still atrocious".

The rushing defense was not much better. They gave up an average of 5.7 yards per carry in 2008, along with 33 rushing touchdowns. For what it's worth, observers think they actually have at least one very good defensive lineman, senior defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim. CFN also thinks pretty highly of their linebacking corps, rating them an 8 out of 10. I'm not sure how a team that gave up 5.7 yards per carry can be considered to have a really good defensive end and a very solid linebacker corps, but whatever.

This is a team that really could do very little right last year. They were last in the Pac-10 in net punting average (2nd to last in gross punting average) and in field goal percentage for crying out loud. Alright, that's not exactly true that they couldn't do anything right. They were actually one of the least-penalized teams in the Pac-10, and their kickoff coverage was average. Other than that, though, they really did very little right, and that's a good formula for going 0-12.

I don't want to give the impression that this is going to be a cake walk. This is a BCS conference team, and they gave BYU and Stanford all they could handle before things REALLY went bad last year. A healthy Locker, a new coaching staff, some personnel shakeups, and a new attitude could be a formula for being a half-decent team in the post-Willingham era. Going on a long road trip and starting a game after my bedtime could also work as disadvantages for us.

But it would probably take our worst game to really keep this thing competitive. I am interested to see how our secondary faces off against a pretty good quarterback, and I'd like to see how our defensive line tries to get to him. But our offense should roll over their defense and the game should not be competitive unless something strange happens.

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