On Saturday night the Washington Huskies were stepped on, punched at and embossed in front of their home fans as they never could get the right mojo as they fell to Dennis Erickson and the Sun Devils 24-14.
With the loss this puts Washington in a tough position to make a Bowl game as they will have to go 4-3 just to get bowl eligible and UW will still have to play @ Oregon, @Arizona and VS Stanford on Halloween Eve.
For ASU they get their first win in Pac 10 play and things are starting to look up. Their right in the middle of a three game road trip before they finish the season with three out of their last five are in Tempe.
The game started slowly with both teams punting on their first possession but it was ASU who got on the board first nine minuets in and led 7-0. UW quickly came back as they got good field possession and moved the 41 yards for a Washington score that tied the game at 7. Before the end of the quarter ASU re-took the lead to make it 14-7. It stayed that way until the Sun Devils last drive of the first half as they converted another major to extend the lead to 21-7. In the second half it was mostly the same. With the rain coming down hard the offenses were held in check for the most part of the third quarter but UW was on the move in rhe final seconds of the quarter. Early in the 4th on a 4th and 2 Jake Locker found Middleton in the end zone to trim the deficit to 2-14. However that was a close as they came ASU added a Field Goal and ASU won the game 24-14.
The rain was coming down for most of the game which seemed to favour the underdog Sun Devils as Jake Locker was never really comfortable running which could of led to his mediocre play. Devon Agular did not dress for the game so he was missing one of his go to receivers.
The bottom line is the Huskies need to get better. Too many times we are moving the ball down field and settling for Field Goals so on rainy nights like Saturday when Folk can't kick that far in the rain we are faced with going for it on 4th and short, which means when are offensive line sucks were in a bit of a hole. This was the case on Saturday as UW went 2-5 on 4th down conversions.
Of course rain is no excuse for losing because its the same for both teams. Lets not forget this is a very youthful team if you take off Locker and Foster.
My message for the fans is be patent. Programs like Oregon, Ohio St. Boise St. and Oklahoma don't form over weeks like I think some fans are thinking. Some fans are thinking: We beat USC were the best team in the world because in reality were not. Teams like I just mentioned above don't come out flat like the Huskies did on Saturday. The game reminded me of the 2008 Stanford game or the 2006 Oregon St. game two games that we should have won which would have boosted are teams moral more so in the 2006 Oregon St. game, which we had a legitimate shot at a bowl game. Ironically both of the Husky QB's got injured lucky for Locker he did not.
The big thing for me on Saturday was the amount of big plays the Huskies got. I can count with one hand how many big plays the Huskies had. In contrast the ASU offence had numerous big plays over 15 yards or more. Which leads me to the Huskies next opponent with Oregon St. The Beavers live off the big play from their big play maker Rogers. He has as much speed as a track athlete and if the Dawgs aren't ready Oregon St. will make Washington look like a high school football teams defence.
The game Starts at 7:15pm and will be on National TV on ESPN2.
No comments:
Post a Comment