Usually on Tuesday we would be looking ahead to our next opponent, but because of personal, and travel commitments I am putting that in depth review off till Wednesday.
Lets open with the news that cornerback David Batts is no longer a Husky and he never even made it till the beginning of class. Batts was slated to be a starter and slid in the depth chart because he couldn't grasp the nunces of the safety position. He was switched to cornerback last week and didn't play against Idaho. Something happened over the weekend and Coach Sarkisian dismissed him from the the team. I am not sure exactly what happened but I imagine news will slip out over time. Most of us expected Batts to compete for a starting job this season and it never materialized.
On the injury front Darrion Jones and De'Shon Matthews are still nursing injuries but the coaches expect that they will be ready to go on Saturday. Everette Thompson may be a redshirt candidate according to what we have been reading. His ankle is still bothering him and the coaches would like to get a full season at 100% capacity out of him. Uw has depth at DE so it makes sense. The injury to Jones however may get in the way of those plans so the coaches are trying to push Thompson this week to see what he is capable of doing. If they don't like what they see they will preserve a year of his eligibilty.
The Stanford game is not going to be on TV supposedly because the Tree's want to avoid showing an empty stadium to a regional audience on the tube. Scott Woodward is reportedly totally hacked off by the decision and the Ragin Cajun is certainly someone you don't want to cross. When Stanford wants a future favor the answer will NO unless it is of obvious benefit to Washington. WSU already figured that one out to the tune of millions of dollars. Don't mess with Scott Woodward!
In the press conference today Steve Sarkisian says Saturday's battle against USC is just another game. He has a point but I don't believe it for a second. The coaches can downplay it all they want but this is one they had circled on their schedule. I think we are getting USC at the right time. After the big game with Ohio State chances are they are headed for a bit of a let down. I think the right bumps and bruises are in place for an upset. Did I say upset? If Stanford and Oregon State can do it we can do it.
Washington's offense led By Jake Locker has been very efficient over the first two games. Locker happens to be the best QB in the conference right now and with him at the helm anything is possible. I think we are going to give USC a game this Saturday. Defensively we are still challenged but I am encouraged by our ability to stop the run. If we can put together a pss rush on Saturday I like our chances.
As for last Saturday's game plan the coaches substituted freely for sixty minutes and a lot of players such as Justin Glenn, Desmond Trufant, and Talia Chrichton received significant playing time. UW stunted about 12% of the time on defense and really didn't do anything special in that regard. Look for that to significantly change on Saturday.
It looks like Sarkisian is going to take it easy on Monday's this season. The coach worked the players out for an hour on Monday evening. Washington is all about keeping the players healthy and the depth intact as the season progresses.
That is all I have for now...I will be back with more later.
Go Dawgs!