Huskies Destroy Bengals 56-0 - Recap

Despite an early fumble by Jaydon Mickens, the game was never in doubt. It took Idaho State until midway through the second quarter to move into positive yardage offensively; not coincidentally that was around the time that the Huskies started rotating in their second stringers.

There's not a lot you can take from this game, other than UW was not as crisp as you'd hope they'd be against Pac-12 opponents. They were again plagued by penalties, with a number of them being dead ball, procedural penalties that there's really no excuse for. Colin Tanigawa, for instance, had three false start penalties alone in the first quarter. The team had 10 in the first half, so it wasn't as if the backups got in and were jittery. It was the guys you expect to, at this point in the year, have that stuffed ironed out who were sloppy.

Keith Price was a little bit off of what we've seen him so far in the year, but a lot of that was by gameplan. They threw the ball downfield quite a bit more frequently than they have in their first two games of the season, and as a result Price threw more incompletions than he probably should have against this secondary. It wasn't just the deep throws though, on his short stuff his passes were a bit off. Still though he completed 76% of his passes despite not having the amount of freebies behind the line of scrimmage that we've seen against tougher competition.

Tough day for UW's slot receivers, with Jaydon Mickens and John Ross each fumbling, and Mickens drawing a penalty early in the game as well. The hope was that Ross would bounce back in the return game, though ISU's punter didn't really give him the chance with his goofy, no air, bouncing rugby kicks. All Ross could really do was attempt to stop the yards after the bounce, but it didn't go well. Ross got a chance in the second half to turn on the jets on a bubble screen that he took to the house, showing his speed and electricity.

Bishop Sankey was something that ISU had never seen anything like before. They'd never seen anything close. He played very little, getting just 4 carries for 77 yards and a TD. Had Sark gone to him more, he could have gone for 500 yards. The Bengals just couldn't get their bodies on him. It's good to see him get some rest though; the numbers are nice, but I think we'd all rather he be healthy and rested for conference play than see him have another huge game but risk injury.

The defense was exactly as you'd hope them to be. They closed the passing windows and didn't give up anything on the ground, and young guys like Kevin King and Cleveland Wallace go in in the first half for a lot of good reps. I counted 10 different secondary players getting in the game. The defensive front seven got really far into its depth, with Marcus Farria getting action among a ton of others. The #1s held ISU to basically no yardage in the first half, and the defensive unit only gave up 22 yards total in the first two quarters.

Kasen Williams and Austin Seferian-Jenkins both had nice games in limited time. It's really just not fair for an FCS opponent to try to defend them, as even FBS teams have a tough time of it. Good to see ASJ get into the end zone, and Sark made an effort to get him the ball early.

Cyler Miles got a lot of game action. He showed the good vision and anticipation that we've heard so much about, but missed a couple of throws that were open by not having the accuracy of a Keith Price. He completed his first 3 passes, and looks to have a good grasp of the offense. He also had a 61 yard scamper at the end of the 3rd to set up a TD, showing off his athleticism. Not blow you away speed, but fast enough to hurt you, and you have to gameplan to stop him. If he wins the job next year, the zone read will be a true weapon in UW's playbook.

Jeff Lindquist got into the game as well in mop up duty. He didn't get to throw the ball as the Huskies ran the clock out and ended the game.

One thing that jumps out about this UW team that hasn't been the case in a really long time is just how many players pass the "eye test". Even when they get into their depth, the players just have a different look than they have at any point in the last decade.

Deontae Cooper scored a touchdown. It was glorious.