Can Washington beat Oregon State?
by John Berkowitz on Oct 15, 2008 7:50 AM PDT
Email
PrintIt all starts with attitude.
If the kids go through the emotions again this week it could get pretty ugly.
Can Washington snap out of the malaise created by losing it's best player?
I think it was pretty obvious that the team wasn't playing at full steam for sixty minutes against Arizona. Obviously they need to correct that if they want to have a chance against Oregon State.
I think Willingham is doing as good a job as possible right now when it comes to keeping this team together. He isn't folding things up early like Gilbertson did in his final year. For example he sent the assistants out recruiting last weekend even though everyone knows it is doubtful he will be returning.
By continuing to do things like that Willingham is signalling to his team, fan base, and superiors that he hasn't given up. Most importantly he is giving a solid sign to his next employer that he isn't a quitter.
On the field Washington has to get some early success rolling to have a chance against OSU. That success starts with establishing the running game for the first time this season. For Washington to beat Oregon State they need to control the ball and gain some yards on the ground.
Early fumbles have been a problem this season and UW needs to eliminate the mistakes to have a chance. If UW can have some early success on offense and get the crowd behind them thay have a slight chance at upsetting the Beavers.
Defensively the Huskies are healthier this week. The bye week really helped Fogerson, Williams, and Johnson. Darin Harris is still out with a concussion. If Harris was back I would feel better, but having the kids healthier at Safety is going to help.
UW finally got into the sack mode against Arizona even though all three sacks were by Teo Nesheim. UW needs to get pressure on Moevao to win this game. OSU's offense is potent but they can self destruct when they turn the ball over.
Lets face it, the Husky defense probably isn't going to stop anyone this year. If we are going to beat anyone the rest of the way we need to eliminate mistakes, out score the opposition in track meet fashion, and force our opponents into making multiple mistakes.
My gut feeling going into this one is not good. I think the Beavers can score 50-60 points on Washington this weekend. I saw what they did against WSU and have little doubt that they have the potential to do the same thing this week to UW if we turn over the ball.
The story on Saturday will be the attitude of the Washington team. Can they at least be competitive or will they lay down at home and seal the deal for their head coach?
9 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
attitude
I think Tolar starting helps. It seems he has been in the TY doghouse this year. Too bad Bulyca had to be replaced as he has tude also. However I don’t think it will be enough with just Tolars tude vs OSUs defense.
We Can Win!!
One word explains why we can win – RILEY!!!! This is the type of game Riley loses!
Now that I’ve had my fun with Riley, there is no way we can win. Our offense won’t be overly successful against their defense. And I don’t even need to mention our defense. I just hope it doesn’t get as ugly as the OSU-WSU game.
OSU 52 – UW 17
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
Seal the deal
Theoretically if he reeled off six or seven wins to finish the season UW would award him with an extension.
by John Berkowitz on Oct 15, 2008 10:49 AM PDT reply actions
This is the type of game Riley loses!
When was the last time UW defeated Oregon State?
I can’t even remember, was it 2003 when ET went off?
by John Berkowitz on Oct 15, 2008 10:51 AM PDT reply actions
Yes on
2003. That was the last time the Huskies beat the Beavs.
The Beavs play way too physical or the Huskies to beat them.
I expect to see Husky fans leaving at half time. I won’t be one of them, never do I leave before mid 4th quarter win or lose. If it’s close I stay to the bitter end.
I agree 100% with T90Dawg
As much as it pains me to say – Oregon State plays the way that UW used to = Hard nosed, intense, out to knoch your block off football. The only difference is that UW did it with better talent.
How far we've fallen!
Yes its been a really long time! But Riley does like to lose games he has no reason to lose, see their Stanford game this year.
In all Honesty, I see no way the Huskies can win!
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
Interesting Post
I mentioned in Nathan’s blog that I do business planning as a career. Statistical analysis and forecasting is a big part of that, thus I’m a believer in the concept of “regression to the mean over time”. If you think that UW is playing up to its talent level right now, than they are already “at the mean” and probably should not be expected to win anymore games. If you think that they are playing below their talent level, one would expect a balancing out to occur and would expect to see some upsets as part of regressing (or, in our case, progressing) to the mean.
Does this mean we beat OSU? Who knows? All I know is that over the 1800 plays from scrimmage that the UW football team will run this season (both sides of the ball), we will be perform at the level that we are capable of performing at (or within a single standard deviation of the mean) for almost 1200 of them. Given that we’ve run probably close to 750 so far, we still have a ways to go.
Shake that hand that shook the hand of Hustlin' Hugh
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
