The good, the bad & the unknown: Cal

The Good

Bishop Sankey - Well, that was a pleasant bounce back. A week after having arguably the worst game of his career, Sankey looked like his old self (and actually got some blocking) and had arguably the best game of his career. Even if Cal's defense was atrocious, it looked like Sankey was going to bust a touchdown run every single play and it was really impressive to watch what he can do against a bad defense.

Jaydon Mickens - Mickens had the best game a Husky receiver has had in a long time, as he finally showed what he can do with his speed in the deep game and hauled in two long touchdown passes. Mickens looked like the kind of speedy, big play receiver that can make the Husky offense about five times more dangerous when Price can find him on deep balls.

Hau'oli Kikaha - Kikaha has been one of my favorite players to watch on the Huskies this year as his return from two years of injuries is a great story and he seems to be the only player on the entire team with the ability to rush the passer. Kikaha finished with two sacks and was seemingly at least close to Jared Goff almost every time he dropped back.

The Bad

Kasen Williams' injury - It's always painful when a player goes down with a serious injury, but it's especially bad when it is a guy like Williams who has sky high potential. Williams was having a quiet 2013 season, but is the kind of player who, at some point this season, could have broken out and taken over a game. On a personal level, it's terrible for Williams who has serious NFL potential as it could affect his athleticism and hurt his draft stock.

Return penalties - Maybe it is a fan cliché to ask, but hasn't it been a year or two since the Huskies had a decent kick return without getting a penalty of some sort? It was especially bad Saturday, as unnecessary penalties destroyed two big returns by John Ross, including one that would have been the first kick return for a touchdown since 2007. Showing just how long the return game has been horrible for the Huskies... the last punt return for a touchdown was by Charles Frederick and the last kick return for a touchdown was by Louis Rankin.

Secondary, secondary - Marcus Peters and Sean Parker played good games, but the rest of the Husky secondary continues to look like it might be a liability as Gregory Ducre had a tough game and Will Shamburger (who went out with an injury) was struggling and Tre Watson who came in had a lot of tackles but will struggle with Pac-12 receivers. The certainly aren't helped by a weak pass-rush and they did a good job of keeping receivers in front of them, but I'm a little worried about them heading into games against Oregon State and Washington State's passing attacks.

The Unknown

Keith Price - I hope it isn't as simple as I think it is, but after three years a starter, it's still kind of unclear to me just how good Keith Price is. He looks great against bad defenses, but is an absolute mess against any decent defense and outside of maybe one outlying case (2013 at Stanford), that's pretty much what it is. I'm hoping that he can prove me wrong in at least one of the upcoming games against good defenses so I'm still leaving as unknown, but I'm beginning to think this is the same old song and dance with Price that we are going to follow until he graduates.

Overall health - Just when I was about to start thinking that this was a season where injuries weren't really that big of a problem, injuries started popping up everywhere. Along with Williams, there are now a whole rash of injuries that are hovering over the entire team at almost every unit with Dexter Charles, Josh Shirley, Princeton Fuimaono, Keith Price and Will Shamburger all banged up.

Playing starters late/Cyler Miles - Even though the Huskies had the game well at hand, Sarkisian left Price and Sankey in very late when it seemed like you would want to protect your stars. It seemed like a strange move with how banged up Price is and with Sankey already having shouldered a large load and the other running backs really seeming like they need to get some more game experience.

The main question it seems to raise to me is about Cyler Miles and how much confidence Sark has him in. It seems like Sark is reluctant to put him in, so I'm beginning to wonder if he thinks he is a long ways away from being ready.