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Upset Special!
This game has been circled by Husky, fans, coaches, players, staff and band members. The Huskies played their hearts out all night long and got the results they deserved. Here are some instant reactions.
The defense. The defense. The defense. This was unexpected. If Washington was to upset the Cardinal It would have required a mammoth game from Keith Price. Nope, the defense carried the team today. The box was stacked. John Timu tackled well, a major key. The entire defense tackled well. Danny Shelton ate up blocks on the inside and allowed the linebackers to make plays, and also freed up Josh Shirley to rush the passer and the same with Andrew Hudson, the DT-DE tweener.
Shaq Thompson used his athleticism to disrupt the run game of Stanford. He isn't bigger or stronger, but his pure athleticism caused problems for Stanford that one could tell were gameplanned around.
The star of this game is without a doubt a man known to many as Tru. His older brother plays for another local football team, and attended the rival college. Desmond Trufant played perhaps his finest game as a Husky. He was matched up against massive tight ends and was more than up for the challenge. He was told he would be on an island, "Trufant Island" dubbed the broadcasting booth. It sure was no vacation island to be certain.
Offensively, the line didn't protect Price, but it didn't matter in the outcome. Price got the ball out quickly when he could, and ran for his life when he couldn't. The line, while getting little push against a very talented front seven for Stanford, opened holes in the run game. This speaks to the communication among the line. Drew Schaefer led this group like the fifth year Senior he is.
Kasen Williams made up for an early drop by making big, tough catches all throughout the remainder of the game. None of them were more important than the touchdown catch and run where Williams broke a tackle off of a quick hitter to the right side.
Stanford kept Austin Seferian-Jenkins from having a big game, but my unprofessional opinion tells me he was kept in to block (not his strong suit by any measure) more often than usual.
Bishop Sankey, what can be said about the effort shown by number 25? He played his best game in a Husky uniform, rushing for 144 yards on 20 carries. That includes a 61 yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1.
Go Huskies!
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