SEATTLE – As predictable as wind during Hurricane Frances, panic has hit Montlake.
Read the newspapers. Listen, if you can stomach it, to sports-oriented talk radio. Glance at the message boards.
It says the University of Washington football team is headed for 0-11. It’s a lock the Huskies will fall to San Jose State, they say. If Bellevue High School can beat De La Salle, they assert, it can beat Washington.
All this after one game, a 35-16 loss to Fresno State Sunday.
Most of the wrath, and rightly so, comes down on the two primary quarterbacks, junior starter Casey Paus and sophomore backup Isaiah Stanback. To the dismay of head coach Keith Gilbertson, offensive coordinator John Pettas and to the quarterbacks themselves, Paus and Stanback combined for four interceptions and a fumble, miscues that led to 28 Bulldog points.
It was a painful display of ineptitude. Yes, it was Paus’ first start and Stanback’s first extended playing time at quarterback. And yes, it came against a Fresno State team touted as coach Pat Hill’s best in his nine years there. And if you saw the Bulldogs defense, especially the quickness and athleticism of the linebackers and secondary, you can’t rule out the team from going to a really, really tasty bowl game.
Still, the screaming is for Gilby to scrap the two-quarterback system as part of his plan to go back to square one. Find a guy, they say, and stick with him.
While it’s easy to come to that conclusion after Sunday’s train wreck, such a radical change this early in the season is vastly premature and schematically irresponsible.
Oh, I know. It wasn’t pretty Sunday. Besides his three picks, Paus and his receivers, too often, simply weren’t on the same page. He overthrew balls. He was quick to bail out of a play. He appeared confused under the Bulldogs’ fearsome blitz.
The Bulldogs were ready for Stanback. They didn’t respect his passing ability, so they brought linebackers and safeties flying in to stop him from breaking free when he wanted to run.
Stanback’s decision-making was faulty. His passing, as improved as it appeared to be in fall camp, still is a considerable work in progress. His inexperience was in full view of 66,000-plus at Husky Stadium and national television viewers.
Fresno State knew what was coming, despite Gilbertson’s months-long attempt to keep secret the Huskies’ desire to run the option more than they ever have.
So now what?
The panic-stricken saps running amok in the streets have to take into consideration that this was a first game under a new offensive system and new quarterbacks. Even with the missed throws, missed reads and missed chances, the game came down to four plays – three interceptions and a fumble that led to 28 Fresno State points.
Four bad plays call for tidying things up, not for blowing it all to Minsk. You don’t toss 10 months of planning and perfecting into the can after one game.
Lost in Sunday’s disaster was a magnificent defensive effort that limited Fresno State to 262 net yards and 11 first downs. The Huskies got 16 tackles and a forced fumble out of inside linebacker Joe Lobendahn, 11 tackles, a sack and an interception by outside linebacker Evan Benjamin and eight tackles, three for loss, from defensive tackle Manase Hopoi.
The Bulldogs offense pulled off just one sustained drive that ended with a touchdown. One.
Coverage teams were suffocating. And the Huskies may have found a reliable placekicker in Michael Braunstein.
All is not lost, despite what you may read and hear.
The two-quarterback system has its intriguing points. While unconventional and a target of critics galore, it can give opposing defensive coordinators more to prepare for. More looks. More variety. More confusion.
That is, when things are right. And things aren’t right now. Not right, but fixable.
The panicked screamers want to junk the two-quarterback system before it has a chance to flourish. In time, perhaps that’s what will happen, should Washington be 2-6 or worse going into the Arizona game Nov. 6.
But to round-file the entire offensive philosophy after just one game would be a 10-month waste.
John Sleeper is The Herald’s college writer.
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