Stuff and Shenanigans: Party Like It’s Y2K

We did it, team!

For the first time since I was a wee kindergartener, Washington is the Pac 12 champions! Hurrah!

A 100% Accurate and 71% Sober History of Absolutely Everything

So... This marks the third week in a row where I’ve brought up that Taylor Rapp is a god, which means this is the second week in a row where I’ve had to one-up my previous week’s compliment for him.

Against ASU it was “Taylor Rapp is good and will get good-er in the future.” Against Wazzu it became “I’m sorry I won’t shut up about this but seriously Taylor Rapp is the best, around, nothing’s gonna ever keep him down.” And now it’s “I have a feeling that by the time Taylor Rapp leaves UW, his highlight reel will make one killer montage, provided the background music is this or this. Or this, if it’s from the perspective of his decapitated victims opponents.”

Meanwhile, our pass rushers wreaked havoc on Sefo Liufau and Steven Montez Friday to set up Rapp/Turner’s three interceptions. I have to think the mental toll of Sefo’s constant duress was 70% responsible for those turnovers. I mean, I’ve never had a battle-crazed Psalm Wooching come charging into me, but I’d be willing to bet that in that situation my response would be first to poop myself and then to throw five interceptions all in one play somehow. Just kidding of course. We girls don’t poop.

Plus, re-watching the game I noticed that Greg F. Gaines (among others) sure does seem to get off the line fast. Let’s hope that’s a sign of what they’ll bring to Bama, yeah?

Although, if there’s one critique to put on our D line/pass-rushing linebackers, it’s that when getting after a quarterback they have a tendency to not take the best angles and get out-wiggled by more mobile guys like Montez and Sefo. And I get it, when a guy’s battling at least one 300+ pound monster dude trying to keep him from getting to a smaller, probably faster, moving target, his vector-defining Point A is primarily determined by what the corresponding O lineman is trying to pull off. But for all that lack of control over Point A, I feel like we frequently see our pass rushers, once they’re clear of their blockers, just pin their ears back and book it straight at a QB without any regard for the fact that A) Said QB sees them and B) He’s probably faster than them and C) Oh look there he goes running away into the distance.

If the Husky defensive line pulls that stuff against Bama... Well, Jalen Hurts is a slippery mofo.

Onto the offense: Let’s start with running backs.

Am I the only one who feels like Lavon Coleman and Gas Pedal have both gotten better because of the other’s influence this year? Coleman’s vision has become as good as mine is awful (any other blind people in the house?) and it seems reasonable to attribute that — at least somewhat — to playing alongside Gaskin. Similarly, not that he ever didn’t play this way, but Gaskin has still improved this season at playing bigger than his size; if you’re one of the, like, three people who doubt this, when was the last time you saw him not fall forward when getting hit?

Over the course of a game, those extra yards add up and ease the burden on the rest of the players. Can we get a “Hell yeah!” for yards after contact?

As far as Jake, a friend of mine put it well when he said that his performance was like Peyton Manning in Super Bowl Whichever-One-Was-Last-Year’s-Was-It-51?-Sure-I-Don’t-Know. I.e. he played pretty trash but didn’t screw anything up for the rest of the offense. I can dig it. But not against Bama, where that performance would equal certain death.

Speaking of the Tide, if we pull off the upset it will almost certainly be accompanied by Vizcaino punting like he did Friday. Really though I’m just being selfish in that bad field position for Alabama will be much better for my life expectancy.

Lastly, of all the non-Huskies out there, I’m rooting for Sefo Liufau the most. How can you not? That guy is tough and seems like a legitimately good person. Either that or he’s the world’s best actor... I’d bet it’s the former.

As a PNW patriot, I love having this dude representing our state.

Almost as much as I love having the Huskies representing our state. But not quite.

No CoopWatch this Week or Ever Again Because SJSU’s Season is Done and Subsequently so is Deontae Cooper’s College Football Playing-ness

But that doesn’t mean we can’t fully get behind him should he continue his game on in the NFL!

Line of the Week

This week’s LotW is a photo-series entitled, “Because it’s the Last S&S for a Month and I can do What I Want and that Includes This. Suck it.”

I don’t know about you but I was expecting to be stressed out and enjoying absolutely none of the Colorado game... Instead, we got the following:

And then, upon being matched up with Bama:

So, regardless of what happens against the Tide, the following sums up my thoughts on the Petersen-era, which I think we can agree is on its way to hitting full steam:

Bring on Bama, I guess.

Do good things, don’t do bad things, and bow down to Washington.