So now we find out what the University of Washington football coaches really think about this team and this season.
The worst of possible circumstances played out in the Huskies’ 27-17 loss to Oregon State on Saturday when Isaiah Stanback went down with a foot injury. The full extent of the injury won’t be known until today at the earliest, but even a bad sprain could keep Stanback out for a significant portion of the season.
So what are you going to do, coaches? Was this a one-man team? Certainly the offense, and the identity of the entire team, revolved around Stanback. But was he the whole reason the Huskies were in the chase for a bowl-game berth? Was it Isaiah or nothing?
We’ll learn what the coaches think this week by the way they handle the quarterback situation.
There seems little doubt that junior Carl Bonnell will be the starter in place of Stanback, and rightfully so. By all accounts, Bonnell has earned the promotion with a strong fall camp and good play in practice. It’s unfair to judge him based on his performance against Oregon State. He looked awful, but it was a bad situation to be thrown into, having to throw against a defense that had already shut down Stanback and was dominating the UW offensive line.
With a week of practice as the No. 1 guy, Bonnell will be better against California. Will he be Stanback? No, Stanback, when he’s on, is one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the nation. But Bonnell can run, he can throw and he’s been in the program for a while. He’s started games for the Huskies in the past, and the offense won’t have to be changed too much with him on the field.
No, Bonnell isn’t the issue. The issue is with the No. 2 quarterback. After the game, coaches said Johnny DuRocher would be the backup, followed by Felix Sweetman. Translation: “I’m not sure we can make a bowl game now.”
How else to explain an unwillingness to promote freshman Jake Locker than the feeling that it’s not worth wasting his redshirt year on a team that no longer appears capable of reaching a bowl game? Because make no mistake, making a bowl game would be a huge step for the Huskies. And anyone who has been paying attention can see that they stand a better chance of winning with Locker than with DuRocher.
Yes, I know Locker is an 18-year-old who has spent the past four years in a Wing-T offense at Ferndale High School. But Locker has been impressive running the scout team, has been getting a lot of snaps in practice, and has some of the same characteristics – both athletically and leadership-wise – that Stanback has. DuRocher, on the other hand, has apparently seen very little action in practice and what we have seen has been a quarterback who is remarkably inaccurate. It would be one thing if DuRocher could make up for some of that with the ability to create on the run – as Stanback does – but DuRocher is fairly immobile. Playing DuRocher would mean completely re-tooling the offense.
The coaches surely see this. I’m not writing anything that isn’t obvious. Locker (and Bonnell) give the Huskies the best chance to win with Stanback out, that isn’t really the question. The question is: Do the coaches think they are enough to help the Huskies reach a bowl game? If so, if the belief is still that the remaining players are talented enough to win two more games, then you have to have Bonnell and Locker as your Nos. 1 and 2 guys. If not, if Stanback was the overwhelming reason this team is where it’s at, then it makes no sense to waste Locker.
My belief? I think the Huskies can win two more games and get to a bowl game. They looked terrible against Oregon State, but Oregon State is better than its record indicated. One game doesn’t erase what we’ve seen this year, which is a team that can play good defense, that can run the ball and that can win games. Sure, a lot of that was Stanback, but football is too much of a team game for one player to be the difference. There is still enough there for Washington to beat Stanford and win once more, be it at home against Arizona State or at Washington State.
And getting to a bowl game – any bowl game – would be the best thing to happen to this program in years. And for that reason, the coaches have to be willing to take a chance and be prepared to play Locker.
Mike Allende is The Herald’s college football writer. His UW blog can be read at www.heraldnet.com/huskies.
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