Big surprise: Huskies midseason grades not so good

Published 5:06 pm Sunday, October 19, 2008

SEATTLE — As long and painful as this season has become for the Huskies, it’s only halfway over.

And at the midway point, things certainly haven’t gone as Tyrone Willingham or his players were expecting. Following the Huskies fifth loss two weeks ago, athletic director Scott Woodward said in a radio interview on 950 KJR that his midterm grade for the team would be an F.

And while the Seattle School District until recently wasn’t OK with giving out Fs, this column, like Woodward, is.

So without further ado, here are the grades for this year’s Huskies six games into a 12-game schedule.

Coaching: F

Yes the Huskies are young, and yes injuries have hurt Washington at key positions, but when you’re young and lack depth four years into a coaching regime, there’s nobody else to blame. The coaches should get credit for the fact that the Huskies still seemed to be playing hard even as they dropped to 0-6, but the fact that they were playing hard and still lost by 21 at home to Oregon State is pretty damning evidence against Willingham and company.

Simply put, 0-6 is 0-6, and even if there have been bright spots here and there, no wins halfway through a season in which opponents are outscoring you 40.7-17.7 is simply unacceptable.

Quarterback: C

Jake Locker wasn’t as accurate as he and Husky fans hoped at the beginning of the season, but it’s worth noting that he missed almost all of fall camp with a hamstring injury and was adjusting to an almost entirely new group of receivers. He appeared to be getting better as the season went on and had not thrown an interception before his injury. Against Oklahoma, Locker completed two-thirds of his passes, and he was five for eight against Stanford before he broke his thumb. Locker was also less effective as a runner this year, in part because of his hamstring and in part because teams were more aware of his running abilities than a year ago. It also didn’t help that none of Washington’s young running backs were providing a real threat early.

Ronnie Fouch has had some good moments replacing Locker, but has also shown questionable judgment at times, throwing balls up for grabs. Sometimes those plays have worked — see Michael Gottlieb’s touchdown against Arizona — and sometimes they haven’t, as was evident in his three interceptions Saturday. His 276-yard game against Oregon State got a little help from receivers winning seemingly every jump ball, but Fouch also showed touch on some throws that Locker has struggled with in his first season and a half. Fouch has also had to deal with more pressure than Locker as teams try to rattle a redshirt freshman who is still adjusting to college football.

Offensive line: C-

A below-average grade for this unit is especially disappointing for the Huskies, who expected this group to be the strength of the team. Washington was the No. 2 rushing team in the Pac-10 last year, and with starters Juan Garcia, Ben Ossai, Casey Bulyca and sometimes starters Jordan White-Frisbee and Ryan Tolar all back, they figured to be the best thing, along with Locker, that the Huskies had going for them.

Garcia’s return from a Lisfranc injury was nothing short of miraculous, but the time he missed hurt him early in the season. Losing Bulyca to a knee injury certainly doesn’t help, but with Tolar sliding into the lineup, the Huskies should still be winning more battles up front than they have been. Take Saturday night, for example, when the Huskies failed to score on four attempts from one yard out. That simply shouldn’t happen if this line is really a strength of the team.

Running back: C+

This grade would have been quite a bit lower before Saturday, but Terrance Dailey’s 102-yard performance give some hope for the rest of the season. Dailey was the Huskies fourth starting tailback in six games, as injuries have taken Chris Polk out for the season, and kept David Freeman out of the last two games. Polk, one of the Huskies most heralded recruits, didn’t get much of a chance to show what he could do before he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Freeman was having a good game against Stanford before he got hurt, rushing for 64 yards on seven carries. Given that all of these guys are true freshmen, the future for this unit certainly is bright, but as a team the Huskies are still averaging only three yards per carry. Some of that blame falls on the line, which hasn’t been as good as advertised, and some of those carries have gone to fullbacks and quarterbacks (sacks included) but the tailbacks have also admitted that at times they have missed the holes that are there.

Receiver/tight end: B

Receiver was one of the biggest question marks for the Huskies coming in. Only D’Andre Goodwin and Curtis Shaw had any game experience, and both saw only limited action last season playing behind five seniors. Then the departure of Shaw, who left school in August for family reasons, left the Huskies with a sophomore, Goodwin, and a stable of talented but unproven freshmen.

Goodwin and some of the freshmen dropped too many passes early, but have since turned an early-season concern into a reason to get excited about the future. Goodwin’s big day Saturday brought his total up to 451 receiving yards in essentially five games (he played one snap against Arizona two weeks ago before going back to the sideline with a rib injury he suffered against Stanford). And even though his one play in that game brings down his per-game averages, he still ranks second in the Pac-10 in receiving yards per game (75.17) and third in receptions per game (5.33). Freshmen Jermaine Kearse and Devin Aguilar have also been promising.

Factor in the tight ends, where freshman Kavario Middleton was looking like a serious playmaker before an injury against BYU and senior Michael Gottlieb is playing his best football at Washington, and this unit is one of the few bright spots of the season.

Defensive line: D

This probably would have been an F if not for the play of end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, who continues to show off a non-stop motor despite the lack of help around him. Washington has used three freshmen regularly on its line, as well as a running back turned tight end turned defensive tackle (Johnie Kirton), so depth was clearly a problem coming in. Freshmen Senio Kelemete, Alameda Ta’amu and Everrette Thompson all look like they’ll be very good players someday, but they shouldn’t have to be playing this season.

The Huskies went four games without a sack before Te’o-Nesheim recorded three against Arizona, but the inability to pressure the quarterback returned Saturday. Youth and inexperience shows up the most just watching players try to shed blocks, something the Husky D-linemen have struggled with all season.

Linebackers: C-

Mason Foster, along with Te’o-Nesheim, has been one of the relative bright spots on this defense. Donald Butler has also played well at times, but missed the better part of two games because of a concussion. The duo of Josh Gage and Matt Houston was struggling at strong-side linebacker, so the Huskies moved Butler to that position and started Trenton Tuiasosopo at middle linebacker against Oregon State, and that seemed to improve the play of the unit as a whole.

And while the linebackers have shown an ability to make plays at times, there have been too many missed tackles, bad angles and players out of position, leading to some of the big plays that have hurt the Huskies. One example was James Rodgers’ 33-yard score on screen pass Saturday. Tuiasosopo admitted after the game that he was out of position on that play.

Secondary: D

The Huskies rank dead last out of 119 teams in pass efficiency defense, allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 72.5 percent of their passes while throwing 18 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

The secondary avoids a failing grade for two reasons. For one, injuries have forced the Huskies to start four different people alongside sophomore Nate Williams, who himself has battled through a number of minor injures. That group of four includes a true freshman who started against Oklahoma two weeks after moving from tailback to safety (Johri Fogerson), a redshirt freshman who played only on special teams last year, then missed most of fall camp and the first four games with a groin injury (Victor Aiyewa), and a 26-year-old walk-on who hadn’t played organized football since 1999 prior to this season (Tripper Johnson). Reason No. 2 is that the aforementioned struggles of the defensive line gives opposing quarterbacks plenty of time to find open receivers, something a young secondary certainly doesn’t need.

Redshirt freshman Quinton Richardson has made some big plays, and looks like he could be very good down the road, but his youth has also shown at times. Mesphin Forrester, a senior who moved from safety to cornerback, has also made plays, but at times looks like, well, a safety trying to play cornerback.

As is the case with the rest of the defense, missed tackles and bad angles have led to too many big plays.

Special teams: D+

The special teams have been anything but this season. Most glaring are the five missed field goals on eight tries, costing the Huskies points they simply can’t afford to give up. And who can forget that blocked PAT at the end of the BYU game. Sure the officials might have blown the call that made it a 35-yard attempt, but 35 yards is still a manageable distance.

The Huskies rank 46th nationally in kick off return average, and that’s by far their best ranking on special teams. Washington is 70th in kickoff return defense, 91st in net punting, 106th in punt returns and 112th in punt return defense.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog