One of the things I love the most about college football is the passion of the various fan bases that are spread out across the country. The euphoria after a big win is contagious. It spreads across the campuses, into the surrounding areas, and across the country instantaneously in this era of instant communications in about any form.
An ugly and unexpected loss is just as powerful. It stirs the same type of passion but instead of igniting euphoria it feeds doubt, derision, envy, threats, and anger. It makes index fingers point, tempers flair, and objectivity vanish. It also makes us painfully aware of where we are as a football program in comparison to the team that just stomped us.
Suddenly pundits are saying that the Dawgs are now the equals of North Texas, Savannah State, and Athletes and Action. I'm not buying into that crap but last Saturday was indeed ugly. There were a lot of mistakes out there that you don't want to see in a big game during the fourth year of any coaching regime.
I expected the Huskies to lose by at least three touchdowns going in...so did Vegas. What I didn't expect was for them to be shut down so completely on offense. A lot of that blame is being directed at the coaching staff who honestly didn't really do a great job of scheming for this game.
According to LSU players and coaches Sark's braintrust approached game planning like Keith Price would be setting up behind the Alabama offensive line. The UW offensive line elected to use a man on man blocking scheme (5 on 5) rather than go with a zone that featured some extra blockers.
One LSU lineman was quoted as saying that only Alabama dares to line up against them the way that Washington did and it took them pleasantly by surprise.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is called Portland State followed by a bye week before opening conference play against Stanford at the Link. No offense to Nigel Burton and the gang, but this weeks game is going to be a bench emptying - learning opportunity type of contest for the Huskies.
This game is all about getting some positive teaching reps for a young offensive line. It is about opening up some holes for the running backs and giving Keith Price time to find his receivers down field. It is about having some success and getting ready for the absolute meat of the season which features Stanford, USC, and Oregon in succesion.
This season is far from over because we lost to what is probably the best team in the country on the road. There is a lot of football still to be played this season and I still think that there will be more highs than lows for the Huskies once the season is over.
Yep...If we can get reasonably healthy I think we can beat Stanford and USC this season...more on that in a couple of weeks.
There is a good reason why the Huskies don't play in the Deep South very often:
1975 Alabama 52 Washington 0
1983 LSU 40 Washington 14
1994 Washington 38 Miami 20
2001 Miami 65 Washington 7
2012 LSU 41 Washington 3