Dot...Dot...Dawg (Vegas Bowl Edition)

Look around.  This is what the end looks like.  Whoever said the journey is the only thing that matters must have been a Husky fan because the destination kind of bites.  At least we still have the dots.

• Let's start with a little Sark - his post game Q&A:
  
• Despite the poor outcome of the game, there were some great storylines for the Huskies. The emergence of Josh Shirley evoked images of the potential we all saw last season. John Timu had a record setting day with 15 tackles and a sack. Austin Seferian-Jenkins became the single season receiving record holder for a UW TE. The biggest day of all, of course, belonged to Bishop Sankey. Bishop was both UW's rushing and receiving leader and totaled 280 yards of total offense. He is the first Vegas Bowl MVP to come from the losing side. With this performance, he put himself squarely in the dialogue of "top young rushers" not just in the P12, but in the nation.
• Not everyone was good. Despite finally making some plays in the fourth quarter (not to mention an amazing scramble for a TD in the second), Keith Price was pretty bad most of the night. Much of that can be attributed to the offensive line play that was, indeed, offensive. Still, KP had several viable opportunities to make plays and he showed the deficiencies that have plagued him all season: bad decisions, slow trigger finger, and frightful inaccuracy. Even Sark hinted at his disappointment when he said in response to a question about Price, " We have to get back to the basics at that position and what this system is about and where to go with the football and how to stay with our progressions and how we read coverages and not assume and not guess and not want to be sure exactly what it was, but anticipate throws, understand coverages, and deliver the ball with trust in the system." As Steve Kelley points out, KP is probably going to face full competition next season from two if not three young QBs. Give KP credit, he is a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and he is a natural leader. Listen to his remarks below. I fully expect him to invest heavily in improving his game and to win the job again next season.
  
• Kevin Gemmell covered the Vegas Bowl for the ESPN blog and had this instant reaction.
• Jerry Hinnen says that Joe Southwick had one of his best games as a QB in the Vegas Bowl.
  
• Some interesting stats and notes about the game from ESPN. Interesting to note that UW has not overcome a 15 point deficit since the start of the Sark era (I wonder how many they've given up...ahem, Apple Cup). Apparently, the doom and gloom we all feel whenever the Huskies fall behind a game by two two scores is substantiated. This gives credence to the fact that Sark has not yet evolved into a guy who can adjust and turn the tides of games that don't start out well. This will be one of the key storylines that will require a turnaround as Sark enters his do or die season in 2013.
  
• SI.com tells the Apple Cup story through the eyes of the Twitter-verse. And, yes, that is CougFan Brian Floyd in the timeline.
• There are lots of storylines from the game that, if they had gone UW's way, would have changed the outcome. A dropped TD pass from Kasen Williams. A dropped red-zone third down conversion from Jaydon Mickens. A couple of horrible passes by Keith Price. A missed FG by Travis Coons. A "no-measure" fourth down conversion by BSU. So many. For me, the frustrating part was the number of long third downs that UW surrendered.
  
• Outside of the Bowl game, Boise State continues the process of extorting both the MWC and the Big East. The Broncos want to maintain their own TV rights which is something that is almost unheard of across the CFB landscape. Apparently, the MWC is showing signs of breaking. The first shoe to drop was the restructuring of the conference's TV deal with CBS.
• To add insult to injury, Danny Mattingly committed to the Ducks yesterday ($). Ironically, he cites the relationships with the coaches as the key factor and notes that he is confident that "they'll be there for him." Check back with him the second week of January when Chip Kelly is accepting the New York Jets job and let's see if he feels the same way.
• There was basketball last night. The Huskies overcame some brutal shooting and pulled out a lackluster win against a bad Northern Illinois team. I don't know what to say about this Huskies squad. They've got some good players in CJ Wilcox (who is really starting to stuff stat sheets with his all-around game) and Aziz N'Dyiae (whose offensive game has come leaps and bounds this year). However, they've got zero depth and not much size. This is going to be a slog of a season.
• Oh, and because I didn't link to it a few days ago, I'll go ahead and point out that the Lady Huskies got upset by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
  
  
  Ok, that's all I got for you today. We are lining up several season-wrap up pieces for you over the next several days. I hope you guys have enjoyed our football coverage over the season. We want to get better, so please pass your feedback along to us.