Huskies End the Streak

Washington finally has a win, after having to wait nearly two calendar years between this one and the last one. Washington beat the Idaho Vandals 42-23 today in Husky Stadium.

During a day of beautiful weather the Washington offense showed that there are playmakers on the team.

They also showed that the defense is as leaky as ever, giving the Vandals more yardage than the Huskies, 412 to 374.

First with the good news, quarterback Jake Locker looked extremely sharp on the day.

He was 17 of 25 for 253 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 18 yards on the ground with one rushing touchdown.

Chris Polk added 80 yards rushing with a rushing touchdown.

D'andre Goodwin had 83 yards on three catches and looked sharp after being shut down in the LSU game.

The defense, though, was not sharp today, and allowed too many yards against a team who will be nowhere near the talent of next weeks game against USC.

The defense played zone most of the night and gave up a lot of space underneath to the short passing game.

Idaho was able to make a lot of first downs and keep drives alive.

The Husky defense didn't break until the second half, but gave up two soft touchdowns in the second.

There were two sacks that the defense nabbed, but overall they looked rather ineffective.

It will be interesting to see if it was just having the USC offense on the mind or if it was a sign of things to come.

Still, a win is a win, and it's great to end that streak.

Enthusiasm is Contagious for Downtrodden Dawgs

The Huskies came out of the gate last Saturday firing, outgaining the LSU Tigers in yardage despite losing 31-23.

Many pundits and fans around Seattle and the country proclaimed a successful debut for head coach Steve Sarkisian, and many felt this is a sign the Huskies are back.

Even Jim Moore, the scourge of many Husky fans, claimed that the Huskies looked like a Pac-10 team again, with playmakers abound.

There is no question that the Huskies looked great on Saturday, and will look great again Saturday the 12th against Idaho. The Vandals will have difficulty keeping up with the Dawgs.

That being said, the real test comes September 19th when USC rolls into town.

Pete Carroll, for all his talk about supporting Sarkisian leaving, could still be in the mood to punish someone like Nick Holt for walking out on the Trojans.

The game will be hard fought, but USC will lay the hammer down the way they did against San Jose State.

How the team picks themselves up after that game will be the true test of Sarkisian's coaching ability.

Let's be honest and say that since LSU was such a high profile opponent, and the trials of last season, it was easy for the Huskies to get up and play.

They will get up and play against Idaho to finally end the losing streak and give Sarkisian his first win in purple and gold.

However, the season is a marathon, and there will inevitably be some disappointment along the way. Let's not forget there was a fair amount of wasted yardage by the Huskies where they didn't score or gave up bad turnovers.

The schedule is easier than it has been in the past couple years, but it is by no means easy.

It will be interesting to see how Sarkisian keeps these players held high in the low points, and how he keeps success from going to their heads after wins.

In any case, it looks to be a more enjoyable season to watch than 2008, regardless of how many loses the Huskies have.

Huskies Sharper in Sark Debut

There really should be no surprise that LSU won last night's contest and the UW Huskies continued their losing streak. That being said, the 31-23 loss by the Huskies did not leave a bad taste in the mouth at all.

Last night was the debut of new head coach Steve Sarkisian, and the return from injury for quarterback Jake Locker.

Obviously a loss is not ideal, but there are positives to be pulled from the game.

The team looks completely different than it did last year, there is just such a bigger buzz around the Huskies during gametime.

The best example is that after the first score the entire team huddled up on the sideline and started jumping up and down chanting and cheering.

In terms of field performance, the Huskies outgained the LSU Tigers in passing and rushing. Something that you could hardly have said about the Huskies last season.

Locker looked sharp in the game, throwing for 25 of 45 passing with 321 yards and two touchdowns.

He would have looked better but for some throw away balls and some rather horrendous drops as well. The interception was about the worst he looked the whole night passing, which is to be expected.

Running back Chris Polk ran with purpose for 90 yards on 21 carries.

The offensive line looked great, for as many questions as there were going into the season, you really could not ask for much more out of them.

That being said, the running game diminished during the second half, with most of the second half yards coming from Jake Locker.

It's also key to point out that the staff did not use all the running backs, as they had said they would.

Defensively, they played with so much more fire and intensity than they ever did under Tyrone Willingham's staff. They made several impressive stops, in spite of allowing 321 yards and 31 points.

The secondary got a bit tossed around by the LSU receivers, Terence Toliver especially, but they will get better.

There were some heavy hits too, with one massive hit on Jordan Jefferson by Nate Williams springing to mind. Williams shook himself up on the hit.

The front seven did a great job stuffing the middle running, with most of the biggest running plays coming around the outside.

The biggest complaint about the Huskies, and I'm going back and forth on if it is truly a complaint, is that the Huskies basically beat themselves with turnovers and penalties.

There were some bad personal fouls, several substitution infractions, and others on top of the typical offsides, false starts, and what not.

There is certainly a lot of things needed to be cleaned up. The beauty of the game last night was that every play did not feel like it had the potential to blow up in the Huskies face.

They played well, they didn't feel lucky, the way it felt under the Willingham staff.

There is a lot to build on, and a lot to be proud of, in spite of the loss.

Conditioning is the Key For a Successful Season

With the season fast approaching for the Huskies, a lot is being made of the chances the Huskies are going to have for a successful season.

Essentially, the consensus is that the Huskies will make little to no impact on the college football landscape. No upsets on the clocks, only a few wins, and another Pac-10 cellar appearance.

However, the Huskies will be better this year, maybe not in the wins/losses column, but certainly in how competitive the team plays.

Coach Steve Sarkisian stated earlier this week that he did not expect a win against LSU, but did expect them to respect the Huskies after the game.

Bold words for a team who showed up as badly as they did last year.

If the team is going to gain any respect this year, and by conventional logic they will make a better showing of themselves, it comes down to conditioning.

Sarkisian's first priority in coming to UW was getting the conditioning program back on track. The team needed to get leaner and stamina needed to be bred back into the program.

The hiring of head strength coach Ivan Lewis was one of the most underrated assistant hires that Sarkisian made, and it is paying dividends.

The offense line has lost, all told, almost 200 pounds between all the players.

If any of you watched the debacle of the Tyrone Willingham era, you'd know that the team looked sluggish at best, and almost always faded in the fourth quarter as they wore out.

The loss of weight on the offensive line is the biggest news. Last year the line was supposed to be a strength, with experienced and huge offensive linemen.

It became apparent quickly though that no mount of experience could make up for the fact that the line was too big, and couldn't keep up with the faster defensive lines around the conference.

If the 2009 team is going to have any success, it is going to come on the back of having a leaner and more athletic team than it did in the past.

This Saturday is going to be a huge test, against a strong LSU team, but the team is hardly shying away from the challenge. They are enthusiastic to start playing and to put everything that Sark has taught them on the field.

It's going to be an exciting season, there is no doubt.

Slideshow Posted On B/R

Hey guys,

Just posted a great slideshow of some of the better Husky players for this season on Bleacher Report. You can find the link here:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/244917-husky-trails-the-washington-husky-power-players

Five Keys for the 2009 Huskies Season

With the season fast approaching, it is easy to get caught up in all the rhetoric that naturally flies around fall camps. The optimism can be contagious.

Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian has done an excellent job at bringing a fresh look to the Huskies. While it remains to be seen what he does on the field, he should be lauded for taking that first step.

If Sarkisian is going to be successful this season, here are going to be the keys.

Running the football.

There is no doubt that the Husky running game struggled last year. Not only did the backs themselves struggle, but the offensive line had difficulty creating holes for them.

Frankly, a starter needs to emerge out of the stables. Sarkisian was only able to rotate backs the last couple years because they all were supreme talents.

It just won't work the same here at Washington.

Chris Polk and Johri Fogerson have looked the best in camp so far, but so have Curtis Shaw and Willie Griffin.

Polk is the assumed starter, after all the drama surrounding him becoming starter last year and flopping. He has used this last season as a learning experience and as a chance to get stronger.

It's difficult because the two best runners from last year, David Freeman and Terence Dailey, are both gone from the program. That was the reason that Fogerson moved over to the running back slot from safety.

The Sarkisian offense is run oriented, so this is piece number one that Sarkisian needs to put into place. Otherwise the Sarkisian era could begin in disaster.

If the running game can succeed, it will take a massive weight off of quarterback Jake Locker's shoulders. Which in turn will help him develop into the talent he has the potential to be.

Improved Quarterback Accuracy

Both Jake Locker and Ronnie Fouch need to make great strides in their accuracy. Fouch won't see much of the field if Locker is healthy, but who knows how the season will go.

In spring and most of fall Locker has looked much improved, a mix of both being asked to make easier throws and having more solid receiver play.

The Sarkisian offense is predicated on more intermediate throws with the onus put on the receiver to gain the extra yards.

The offense of the last couple years was run oriented, with all the passing coming on really long third downs, or on big plays.

Drops have been an issue, but with the maturation of the younger receivers, that should be an occurrence that will be diminished.

Sarkisian has targeted an accuracy of 60 percent for Locker, and that may be high, but Locker looks well on his way there.

Receivers Need to Score Touchdowns

Last season was remarkably devoid of scoring, as evidenced by the 0-12 record, and the receivers scored very few of the touchdowns.

D'Andre Goodwin, the leading returning receiver for the Pac-10, had only one touchdown catches for the whole of last season.

The whole of the receiving unit? Six total catches.

Essentially the receiving corps needs to make that next step, either to get open on longer routes, or catch tough balls in the endzone.

Washington just needs to score more this season, plain and simple.

Pressure Opposing QBs More

It wasn't until the fifth game of the season did the Huskies record a single sack. The defense as a whole was atrocious at run stopping, and opposing quarterbacks had all the time in the world to throw.

It was something on the order of, on average, 63 percent completions by opposing quarterbacks during 2008.

Watching the team was frustrating because you could see them striving to get to the quarterback, but they couldn't quite make it there.

Opposing offensive lines just bossed them up and down the field.

The only bright spot has been Daniel T'eo-nesheim, who most likely will make all-PAc-10 honors this season. The guy just has a motor.

EJ Savannah coming back will have a huge impact on stopping the run game, it's up to the rest of the defensive front seven to pick up their game.

Intercept the Ball

The Husky defense only forced seven interceptions, and Husky defenders only broke up 26 passes all year.

The aforementioned 63 percent completion rate by opposing quarterbacks was no joke. They missed basically only when the quarterback couldn't throw the ball well enough, or the receiver couldn't catch it.

The bright spots are that both Nate Williams and Quinton Richardson got a lot of playing time and have looked like they can be special players for the Huskies.

The bad news is that the Huskies still haven't really sorted out the other safety and cornerback slots.

Thus far the leaders are Greg Walker at safety and Justin Glenn at cornerback, but it's really anybodies game.

Sarkisian hired both a safeties coach and a cornerbacks coach this year, as opposed to just one secondary coach, in the hopes of breathing some fire into both positions.

Jeff Mills, the safeties coach, and Demetrius Martin, the cornerbacks coach, have their work cut out for them, but have a lot of energy.

We'll see come game time if Sarkisian's hirings have succeeded.