Published: Monday, October 26, 2009
Injured Dawgs need rest
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Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Washington linebacker Jordan Wallace tries to tackle Oregon tight end David Paulson in Saturday’s game.
SEATTLE — Wide receiver Jermaine Kearse addressed reporters Saturday night donning a bulky ice pack on the right hand he bruised on one catch, while still shaking off the wooziness of the big hit he took on another.
Running back Chris Polk rubbed his sore shoulder as he spoke to the media, his leg extended as he looked down at his swollen ankle.
Quarterback Jake Locker shrugged off the bruised back that had been bothering him all week, as well as the leg cramps that hobbled him in Saturday’s game. And linebacker E.J. Savannah broke a bone in his hand for the third time this season.
After a blowout loss to Oregon on Saturday afternoon, the University of Washington football team sure looked like a group that could use a bye week.
“We’re obviously a pretty nicked-up football team right now,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said Saturday night as his team prepared to head into its first bye week of the season. “So the bye couldn’t come at a better time — to get our guys fresh and go into this last quarter of the season with vengeance and finish strong.”
The players who might most benefit from this weekend’s bye are the ones who didn’t play in the 43-19 loss to the Ducks. Wide receiver Jordan Polk had minor knee surgery about a week-and-a-half ago, and Sarkisian said he could be available by the time the Huskies go to UCLA for the Nov. 7 game against the Bruins. Defensive tackle Cameron Elisara, who has been nursing a neck stinger all season, could also return to action for that game.
Of course, the most damaged thing in the football program right about now is the Huskies’ bowl hopes. The loss to Oregon has left UW at 3-5 on the season, needing to win three of its final four games just to become bowl eligible. With a remaining schedule that includes Cal at home, two road games and an Apple Cup opponent that has been a thorn in the Huskies’ side for two years running, those three wins might be hard to come by.
When asked whether he has had to adjust his team’s goals for the rest of the season, Sarkisian said he is not looking at the final four games that way.
“Our goal is we’ve just got to get back and play football like we’re capable of playing it, like we were playing early in the year,” he said. “Being fundamentally sound, being technique-sound, trusting in our schemes and playing with good effort. I feel like right now we’re getting away from that a little bit and, as a coach, that’s a major disappointment for me.
“... When we get there, if that’s good enough to win, great. But I do know that that’s going to give us a better chance to perform at a level that is more capable of winning. That’s the first goal.”
Among the things to which the Huskies need to pay special attention this week are defensive adjustments, special teams and short yardage. All are areas that have hurt UW while losing four of the past five games and falling out of serious bowl contention.
The Huskies’ defense has given up at least 400 yards in each of its last four games, and so the UW coaching staff has to figure out what’s gone wrong and — just as important — what has gone right.
In Saturday’s game, the Huskies had some success with a blitz formation that saw defensive ends Daniel T’eo-Nesheim and Kalani Aldrich rush from a standing position behind the line and safety Nate Fellner blast in behind them. But UW ran that formation only once in the game, resulting in a 15-yard sack, because defensive coordinator Nick Holt was concerned about the Ducks gashing his team with a middle screen.
UW also has been effective defensively when creating turnovers, something it was unable to do in the Oregon game.
On special teams, the Huskies have all sorts of mistakes to clean up. Saturday’s game included a blocked punt, a successful fake field goal by the Ducks and a mix-up that saw UW unable to get 11 players on the field for an Oregon 2-point conversion. A week earlier, return man Johri Fogerson muffed a punt in a loss to Arizona State. And the week before that, in a comeback win over Arizona, UW almost let the game slip away because of a dropped punt snap, allowing a long kickoff return and a bobbled kickoff.
The offense’s biggest issue appears to be short yardage, particularly near the goal line. In losses to Oregon and Notre Dame, UW has had 16 snaps inside the opponent’s 5-yard line but has just one touchdown, one field goal and two failed fourth-down conversions to show for it.
The Huskies have plenty of work to do with their idle week of game action.
“That’s the beauty of the bye week,” Sarkisian said. “You can really assess your game.”
The big question is whether the rest of the season will afford UW enough time for their improvements to matter.
Running back Chris Polk rubbed his sore shoulder as he spoke to the media, his leg extended as he looked down at his swollen ankle.
Quarterback Jake Locker shrugged off the bruised back that had been bothering him all week, as well as the leg cramps that hobbled him in Saturday’s game. And linebacker E.J. Savannah broke a bone in his hand for the third time this season.
After a blowout loss to Oregon on Saturday afternoon, the University of Washington football team sure looked like a group that could use a bye week.
“We’re obviously a pretty nicked-up football team right now,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said Saturday night as his team prepared to head into its first bye week of the season. “So the bye couldn’t come at a better time — to get our guys fresh and go into this last quarter of the season with vengeance and finish strong.”
The players who might most benefit from this weekend’s bye are the ones who didn’t play in the 43-19 loss to the Ducks. Wide receiver Jordan Polk had minor knee surgery about a week-and-a-half ago, and Sarkisian said he could be available by the time the Huskies go to UCLA for the Nov. 7 game against the Bruins. Defensive tackle Cameron Elisara, who has been nursing a neck stinger all season, could also return to action for that game.
Of course, the most damaged thing in the football program right about now is the Huskies’ bowl hopes. The loss to Oregon has left UW at 3-5 on the season, needing to win three of its final four games just to become bowl eligible. With a remaining schedule that includes Cal at home, two road games and an Apple Cup opponent that has been a thorn in the Huskies’ side for two years running, those three wins might be hard to come by.
When asked whether he has had to adjust his team’s goals for the rest of the season, Sarkisian said he is not looking at the final four games that way.
“Our goal is we’ve just got to get back and play football like we’re capable of playing it, like we were playing early in the year,” he said. “Being fundamentally sound, being technique-sound, trusting in our schemes and playing with good effort. I feel like right now we’re getting away from that a little bit and, as a coach, that’s a major disappointment for me.
“... When we get there, if that’s good enough to win, great. But I do know that that’s going to give us a better chance to perform at a level that is more capable of winning. That’s the first goal.”
Among the things to which the Huskies need to pay special attention this week are defensive adjustments, special teams and short yardage. All are areas that have hurt UW while losing four of the past five games and falling out of serious bowl contention.
The Huskies’ defense has given up at least 400 yards in each of its last four games, and so the UW coaching staff has to figure out what’s gone wrong and — just as important — what has gone right.
In Saturday’s game, the Huskies had some success with a blitz formation that saw defensive ends Daniel T’eo-Nesheim and Kalani Aldrich rush from a standing position behind the line and safety Nate Fellner blast in behind them. But UW ran that formation only once in the game, resulting in a 15-yard sack, because defensive coordinator Nick Holt was concerned about the Ducks gashing his team with a middle screen.
UW also has been effective defensively when creating turnovers, something it was unable to do in the Oregon game.
On special teams, the Huskies have all sorts of mistakes to clean up. Saturday’s game included a blocked punt, a successful fake field goal by the Ducks and a mix-up that saw UW unable to get 11 players on the field for an Oregon 2-point conversion. A week earlier, return man Johri Fogerson muffed a punt in a loss to Arizona State. And the week before that, in a comeback win over Arizona, UW almost let the game slip away because of a dropped punt snap, allowing a long kickoff return and a bobbled kickoff.
The offense’s biggest issue appears to be short yardage, particularly near the goal line. In losses to Oregon and Notre Dame, UW has had 16 snaps inside the opponent’s 5-yard line but has just one touchdown, one field goal and two failed fourth-down conversions to show for it.
The Huskies have plenty of work to do with their idle week of game action.
“That’s the beauty of the bye week,” Sarkisian said. “You can really assess your game.”
The big question is whether the rest of the season will afford UW enough time for their improvements to matter.
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