Stuff and Shenanigans: Bow Down versus Bear Down

In my quest to be invited onto Drunk History (*coughtellthisguycough*), Saturday night was a good warm up. That’s because my Saturday night Husky football was supplemented with samosas and mimosas. Don’t ask why.

But before we talk about Saturday, let’s rewind a bit to Friday where Washington got their highest rated in-state recruit since Budda Baker.

And, in case you were living under the Purple Reign’s most comprehensively sheltering rock, we like this one.

Because what does Salvon Ahmed say about committing to stay home and play ball at UW?

“It’s just home...I can’t wait to represent the Pacific Northwest.”

Take notes: that’s the it-getter mentality that warms my heart. So from one PNW patriot to another, Salvon - should you ever stumble across this - way to be one heckuva OKG. I can dig it.

Now, on to Saturday.

A 100% Accurate and 42% Sober History of Absolutely Everything

First off, did you see that block Everybody’s Favorite Bolt-Action Rifle laid down on an Arizona lineman? Obviously you did - it’s impossible not to have because by this point it’s been shared f*%&ing everywhere. But if by some miracle of Christ you didn’t, I recommend googling “jake browning pwns major n00b arizona defender,” or at least something along those lines. It’s rad. For someone who looks more like an 8th grade bassoon player than an FBS athlete, that kid sure knows how to drop the mic every once in a while.

But back to the game. If I had to sum it up in one phrase, it would be “uncomfortably close.” Though if there’s any silver lining it’s that we got this out of the way and saw the Huskies can deal when games get close. I would have preferred a greater margin of victory but, now that it’s over, I think this might have been a blessing in disguise. Because hear me out - we can all agree the Dawgs won’t blow out everybody they play for the rest of eternity. And we can all agree that it’s through struggle that the learning process is initiated. And we can all agree that, since you must struggle at some point, it’s better to struggle early and thus have longer to reap the benefits. So thank you, Arizona, our boys needed that.

Man, wasn’t that deep?

For real though, shifty opposing quarterbacks will be the death of me. Note I did not say the death of Washington. I just don’t appreciate the spike in my stress level watching a guy like Dawkins get so close to being sacked and then not being sacked and then running around and me being all like “Bitch catch that man!” at the TV and then he squirms out of pressure and is casually like “Hmm yeah I guess I’ll just run for 15 yards thank you very much.” Isn’t that the worst?

The only good thing about that is that last week I predicted it would happen, and my ego can always use some validation. Though I can’t claim to have said Dawkins would be as brutal as he was Saturday.

The main irony here is that I don’t think I’d be burned at the stake if I were to assert the common knowledge that Stanford is - wait for it - a better team than Arizona. But Stanford and Washington match up in such a way that I can’t help but feel Washington is much better suited to defend against an offense like The Farm’s. My brain short-circuits each time I try to even consider making a prediction about who wins next Friday’s game, but in this context it’ll be strength v. strength at least.

Oh, and Lavon Coleman had some good runs. Stuck in my head is that off-tackle left side run in the third (fourth?) that was a TD. I think. If I recall correctly. Remember when I said my Saturday night involved mimosas?

And since I can’t talk about every single thing, my final note is on the kicking. It would be stupid to claim Cameron Van Winkle isn’t good - he’s currently the all-time leader in career field goal percentage at UW. Despite that, I never feel particularly confident whenever the field goal unit lines up for anything greater than 35-40 yards. As far as I can remember no game from the last two seasons has been decided by a missed field goal but whether it’s last year’s Apple Cup or last Saturday there have been cases where the kicking could have been blamed had the Dawgs lost. I don’t know whether or not my gut’s lack of confidence is justified though, and I would legitimately like to hear what all y’all think.

Lastly, it’s a combination of amusing and exasperating watching fans overreact each week. The same people who were for some reason predicting a national championship after Rutgers are now calling for Smith’s head to roll and flipping the flip out. Everybody. Calm. Down. It’s all gonna be okay. Just enjoy it.

CoopWatch

Against the fearsome Iowa State Cyclones - the pride of the Big 12 - San Jose State lost 44-10. Coop contributed 64 yards with a long rush of 15 while averaged 4.9 yards per.

Line of the Week

Summing up Saturday:

~Me (and probably all of you) dealing with the stress of watching Arizona continuously putting up a fight and not letting the Huskies put the game away

And this is the runner up:

With that having been said...

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