First Half Finished
Published 9:00 pm Friday, September 1, 2006
The Huskies are in the locker room for halftime and hold a 21-9 lead. My thought on the lead? Not as good as it could have been, but for a team desperate for wins, a lead is a lead. Washington really does need to win this game convincingly and while it is clearly outplaying San Jose State, it needs to show on the scoreboard.
Isaiah Stanback looks really good, passing the ball accurately and with a lot of zip, and running the ball with some creativity and guts. Corey Williams looks strong catching the ball. The running game has been interesting. The Huskies may have a pretty good combo of Kenny James, who can catch the ball and pound out yards, and Louis Rankin, who can break away for some big gains. The offensive line has been a bit better than I expected. It hasn’t been close to great, but the Huskies are moving the ball and that wouldn’t happen if the offensive line was getting totally overwhelmed. The only thing holding this game back from being totally one-sided is the fumbles, which have to be cut down. You can’t give a team you are clearly more talented then any chance to stay in a game.
On defense, the Husky front seven looks quite good, as expected. Dan Howell and Tahj Bomar at linebacker, and Greyson Gunheim and Brandon Ala at defensive end in particular look good. And Chris Stevens is doing some good things once again as a rush end. The secondary hasn’t been great, though the safeties are playing pretty well, but they haven’t been horrible either.
The kicking game is looking good, better than expected. Sean Douglas boomed his only punt try, and Michael Braunstein’s kickoffs have been deep and he’s perfect on point afters.
All-in-all, a good start to the season so far. Of course, Washington looked pretty good several times last season only to see fourth-quarter leads disappear, so a better barometer of the Huskies will probably take place after halftime.
Also, I don’t think I’ve ever been so warm in a press box. It is downright muggy up here. I imagine it’s even worse on the field. Can’t wait to see what Oklahoma feels like (well, maybe I can wait).
