| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 4:38 pm |
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Sports 
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The good, the bad and the Huskies Some day-after musings I had while driving back from Eugene and trying to figure out why so many people can't grasp the concept of "slower traffic keep right."Truck pulling a horse trailer, I'm looking at you. -- Could Saturday's 44-10 loss to Oregon possibly have gone worse for the Huskies? Embarrassed by a rival? Check. Bad in all facets of the game? Check. Another second-half collapse, something we saw way too frequently last season? Check. After a bad first quarter, the Huskies built some momentum with a field goal, and an interception that led to a field goal. In the middle of that, Oregon lost its starting quarterback, Justin Roper, who was starting in place of an injured Nate Costa. That left Oregon a junior college transfer and a true freshman to finish the game. Oh, and let's not forget that Oregon was playing with a shuffled offensive line thanks to the suspension of starting left tackle Fenuki Tupou. Yet were the Huskies able to take advantage of any of that? Did they capitalize on the momentum? Did the defense come up with big plays to rattle the new quarterbacks? Did they put up a fight in the second half? No, no, no and no. -- How worried should Husky fans be about this team's offense? The line that was supposed to be the strength of the offense couldn't win battles at the line of scrimmage, leading to a paltry effort on the ground (2.2 yards per carry) and a rough night for Jake Locker. After averaging 203.1 yards per game on the ground last year, the second-best total in the Pac-10, Washington managed just 95 rushing yards Saturday. Last season, Locker had 335 yards of total offense against the Ducks by himself. Saturday night, the team totaled only 242. Ten points was Washington's lowest point total since scoring just three in a loss to Stanford in 2006 (speaking of embarrassing losses). -- Really? I still can't pump my own gas in Oregon? Can somebody please explain this to me? -- The hope was that the defense would be vastly improved under new defensive coordinator Ed Donatell. But Saturday's game looked a lot like many last season: Too many big plays for an opposing offense; too many breakdowns in the secondary; too many missed tackles; and a decline in performance in the second half. To be fair to Donatell, it was his first game, and the Ducks represent one of the toughest challenges in college football for a defensive coordinator. There are still plenty of games left for Donatell and his defense to get better. And to his credit, Donatell didn't throw his players under the bus, instead taking the blame himself. "I think they're very good," he said of Oregon's offense, "but I'm disappointed in myself. I think I could have matched it up better. I think I can coach better in the game. I don't put that on anybody but myself." -- Someday, Kavario Middleton will take the once-thriving but now-rare creature known as the dominant Washington tight end off the endangered species list. -- The good news for the Huskies is that this is only one game. There are 11 games left in this season. The bad news, on the other hand, could be that there are 11 games left in this season. If this game was an indication of things to come, and not an anomaly, things are going to get ugly in Montlake in a hurry. A $100,000 bounty was placed on Tyrone Willingham's head last season. How high will the boosters' bids go if the Huskies continue down this path? -- The next couple of days are going to be important for leaders on the team such as Locker, Juan Garcia, Donald Butler and Daniel Te'o-Nesheim. With so many freshmen playing big roles this year, it will be crucial that the veterans help the youngsters get past this loss in a hurry. "This is a good group of guys and I think they're all pretty upset about it and they understand that we didn't play nearly as well as we can," Locker said. "We'll probably get together and just make sure that point is reiterated. We're not good enough to come in and just show up and beat teams. We've got to play as well as we can to win games. Nobody is a pushover in this league. They played a great game [Saturday] and we didn't come to play." -- Willingham message to his team in the locker room was that "There's a better team in our locker room than we showed on the field." He'd better hope so, or his days coaching at Washington are limited. -- The Aerosmith song "Same old song and dance" just came on the radio. Why does that seem fitting this weekend? Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog |
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