Wow

Published 9:00 pm Friday, September 22, 2006

So I will take credit for having picked Washington to beat UCLA, but I don’t think anyone expected the Huskies to win after watching the first 20 minutes of the game. What an incredible turnaround.

I’ll keep this short as, quite frankly, I’m ready to go home, but I’ll have a more extensive look back tomorrow.

Off the top of my head, credit has to go to the defense for an incredibly tough effort against a pretty good offensive team. Washington’s linebackers were really active and the defense found a way to get pressure on quarterback Ben Olson. And there wasn’t a person who knows him who wasn’t smiling when Dan Howell intercepted his pass and scored after what he’s been through the last couple weeks. In particular, what a great effort with red zone defense, holding the Bruins to three field goals. You can’t underestimate how important it is in those situations to keep a team from scoring a touchdown.

Also, you have to credit offensive coordinator Tim Lappano for getting the Huskies out of the two-back set, which wasn’t working, and spreading the field. He basically put the game in Isaiah Stanback’s hands and said “go win the game.” And that’s what Stanback did. The guy reminds me a bit of Nate Robinson, Will Conroy and Brandon Roy in his competitiveness. Is he the best quarterback in the country? No. Does he make a lot of mistakes? Yes. But the guy is such a competitor that you have to feel pretty good when he has the ball in his hands.

There’s still a lot to be concerned about. Special teams, especially coverage teams, is a big problem. Where has the running game gone the last two weeks? And the offensive line looked overmatched for a lot of the game.

But you know what? That’s to worry about for another day. For today, Washington is 3-1 and is three games away from being bowl eligible, and who can be upset about that?