Grading the Game - Washington State

That was a great game, it was good to see the team pull it together and play up to their potential. Now we can focus on a bowl game and heading into another off season on a positive note.

Sorry John, but Nick Holt is FAIRLY maligned, this was one of the worst defenses in the history of the program, even last nights stats aren’t pretty. I give Holt full credit, his defense played much, much, much better yesterday, but it also makes me ask why they haven’t been playing like that more often. It shows us that the defense is capable of being better, but Holt hasn’t been able to get them to play anywhere near their capabilities.

looked pretty good to me yesterday. The bowl practices will be a great help to get them ready for next season. I think we are getting the pieces put together for a better D than we’ve seen in a few years.

I think one reason we might being having issues in pass protection might have something to do with youth and opposing front schemes. I’ve noticed in the last few games of the season, more and more teams are stunting D linemen and LBs at our O line. I think we can handle picking up the blitz, but are we having problems with stunts? WSU’s Long stunted from his end postion all the way to the A gap and came in almost untouched. It may be a line call that we just aren’t picking up. Regardless, I think we have a very good O line coming back next season and they have plenty of time to work out some issues.

I didn’t see him get into the game. Anybody know the story?

they are in full scale nuclear melt-down as the curse of the Gekko continues to reign. a year and a half later and they still have yet to unban me. Now they get the pleasure of having their suckiness flaunted for all the world to snigger at.

Oh, and they all hate Rick now … which is ironic since that was why I got banned.

What you stated about Sarkisian is very true. He is WAY TOO pass happy! But yesterday he had to be. Washington ST was blowing up our O line, Polk had no running room til late in the game. Wazzou played to stop Chris Polk. He still managed 100 yards and had some good receptions, one for a td. Keith was perfect for much of the second half. He had a great game, that’s the Keith we’ve been missing. I felt like we left points on the board though, Fellner should have had a pick on the end zone as well which turned out to be a wazzou td.

The defense was good. Shirley made some bad plays off the edge where he was out of position on run plays to the edge. Besides that though he had a good game rushing the passer. Where was this all year? Ta’amu had his best game of the season. He was dominating inside. Great game all around! Even got a special teams td.

Sark and Holt both called great games. It was much needed for Husky nation. Winning cures all.

Agree with you on some, disagree on others…

QB – You say: A. I say: A+. Never was Price’s presence more apparent than when Montana came in for three plays in the third quarter. I swear, you could feel the tension in the air…WSU had pulled to within a TD and out goes Price. For a few minutes there it felt like the game was slipping away. Back comes Price, confidence restored. Just having a hint of his mobility saved us from a number of sacks. Can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to see him back there for two more years.

RB – You say: A. I say: A+. As much I’d love to see this monster for another season, I hope Polk goes to The League and makes a ton of money before his body says “no mas” with his physical running style. Thanks Chris…you and Napoleon are my two all-time favorite RBs.

Receivers – You say: A. I say: Kasen and Polk: A+. Everyone else: C. I remember 3 drops, all of which hit their targets in both hands. How? ASJ stumbles over his own feet when he should have had 6 after the catch. Gotta’ do better.

O-Line – You say: C+. I say: D. Shameful play. Two holding calls on Senio. Polk avoiding would be tacklers three yards behind the line all night. Price having to move around on two gimpy knees just to stay alive. What the eff is Cozetto doing?

D-Line – You say: B+. I say: C. Ta’amu was a beast…he was three yards or more into the backfield all night, and Thompson played the best game I’ve seen from him. But that was WSU out there, and the Lobster threw for 344 yards, much of the time with little or no pressure, and a stable of no-name running backs still finding too many lanes too many times.

LB – You say: B+. I say: Cort: A+. Fui: A. Timu: F. I look at Cort and every game reminds me of John Fiala…I hope Cort gets his NFL shot like Fiala did, and made the best of. Fui looks like he’s got a solid future…now go put on 25 pounds and you’ll be a beast. Timu? That dude is reaching the quickly approaching Chris Massey/Le-Lo Lang stratosphere for heartburn caused.

DBs – You say: B+. I say: C-. Parker played his best game of the season…that kid is going to be a MAN next year. Trufant was solid. But JB, were we watching the same Quinton? The kid is brutal. Chris Massey brutal. He was playing 12-14 yards off the receiver all night…the only reason he wasn’t toasted repeatedly was that crazy cushion he had to give. And that botched fumble recovery? Just fall on the &$%#@ ball instead of trying to pick the &%$#@ thing up!!!

Special Teams – You say A. I say: B. Rasp will soooo be missed next year. I’ll give the punt and kick-off teams an A, I give Tutogi an A+ (loved that kickoff return almost as much as the blocked punt). But what in the world happened to Folk? Hooking the field goal was a huge gaffe, and his kickoffs continue to have zero depth. I hope they take a long look at Alex Wood from Mercer Island…the kid can punt and placekick…I officiated two of his games this year and not only watched him bury a 47 yard FG, but blast every kickoff out of the end zone. The BOOM when he kicks off is crazy, especially for a kid who can’t weigh more than 150 pounds, tops.

Coaching – You say: A. I say: B-. Kudos for the bounce-back from Oregon St. But shoot, a toss-sweep on 3rd and 1 on the opening series? Special credit to Holt…he’s taking knives to gun-fights this year and doing what he can. But I sure wish Sark would hand over the play calling.

He is playing with three second year players…pretty simple when you think about it. Senio hasn’t looked great lately but he has mostly been guilty of trying to help out Wood over the last six quarters.

I enjoyed the game atmosphere yesterday in its entirety, myself and 7 family members were all there from 1pm tailgating right in front of the stadium until kickoff, that’s when I had the worst moment of my day. Not sure how many entrances there are into the game but I seemed to pass about 3 on my way to the only one that seemed to be open. We must have been in line for about 15 minutes with no direction to an opening at the end of the gate where there was an opening. Not sure how I feel about the first game at the CLINK but, it is what it is. So, we finally get into the game and to my surprise it is already UW 7 WSU 0 so now I am a little less upset, now watching the game I loved how our D played for most of the game, I read that they moved Meda to the 3 tech for this game having him lineup over guard instead of center, and MAN, where was that all year? Meda was a FF’n beast all game long, it took Cort to hit him in the head without his helmet for WSU to have an answer. And Shirley looked really fast yesterday heading up field, a little wild, but very fast. I’ve been Holt all year, yes he had a good game, but for me it’s more of a question to why did it take so long to get this kind of play, or is it simply the quality of opponent? Anyway, i’m not going to be a negative Nancy after that great game yesterday, something to build off of for the bowl game, thrilled to have my family at the game and for my daughter to experience her first AC with a win. GO DAWGS!!

I read that they moved Meda to the 3 tech for this game having him lineup over guard instead of center, and MAN, where was that all year? Meda was a FF’n beast all game long, it took Cort to hit him in the head without his helmet for WSU to have an answer. And Shirley looked really fast yesterday heading up field, a little wild, but very fast. I’ve been Holt all year, yes he had a good game, but for me it’s more of a question to why did it take so long to get this kind of play

I’m with you 100% and I don’t want to be a negative nancy either, but why did it take 12 games before we started moving Ta’amu around??? Sure would have been nice last week!

But was just reading it, some of those comments had me in tears from laughter! Great stuff.