10,000 fans turned out today for the spring game for the Washington Huskies on a day of broken clouds and cooler temperatures. It was great to see the enthusiasm with which the new-look Huskies are being embraced.
Along with the fans, nearly 200 former players were invited to participate in the festivities, as well as to address the team before kick off.
Marques Tuiasasopo got up in front of the players and displayed his Rose Bowl ring, and asked if anyone else wanted one of them. I can't think of any more motivation than that.
It really is a testament to coach Steve Sarkisian's desire to open up the program to everyone. One of the most important target groups is that of the former players, who are being encouraged to participate in the program.
The game itself was played as the ones versus the twos, with the ones in purple and the twos in white. Jake Locker quarterbacked the purple team while Ronnie Fouch headed up the whites.
In the end the purple's dominance in talent was apparent with an overwhelming 33-0 victory.
I'm not one for heavy aggrandizement of my favorite team's players, but Jake Locker looked extremely efficient throwing the ball.
He was 16-of-18 for 200 yards with two touchdowns. In truth, it should have been more like 17-of-18 with an open Jermaine Kearse dropping a good pass early on.
The passing was strictly limited to short and intermediate passes with the yardage coming after the catch. Much to some of the fans' disappointment, there were no long bomb passes.
The running game excelled as well, with Chris Polk running for 95 yards on 12 carries and Willie Griffin running for 39 on four carries.
The defenses played reasonably well, barring the whites allowing 33 points. Donald Butler had a great game, with coach Steve Sarkisian labeling him a "tackling machine." He finished the day with five tackles in total.
Nick Holt singled out redshirt freshman linebacker Bradley Roussell as someone who stepped up in this game.
The defense was also able to get into the backfield and sack Locker four times, and he only managed 15 yards on the ground.
One play had the white defense penetrating and tacking in the end zone when the purple offense was spotted on the one yard line. The refs claimed the running back made it out of the end zone, but the defense went wild thinking they had scored a safety.
All this needs to be taken with a caveat of course. The talent levels of each team were mismatched, and this was also a team that went 0-12 last year. Looking good against yourself is one thing, good against LSU on Sept. 5 is another.
It's a bit unfortunate as well if you are Ronnie Fouch, with the white offense not being able to move the ball overly effectively. It would probably seem eerily reminiscent to starting on the 0-12 team last year.
On a brighter note, the team walked off the field with no new injuries and were enthusiastic with the way in which the day progressed.
Overall it was a fun and productive day for Husky football.
News and Notes
To the relief of many fans, the Apple Cup will not be moving to Qwest Field for the foreseeable future.
The new uniforms were on display at the game today, though they were not ready for the players to wear in the game. The new home kit is indeed a deeper purple, but the pants were a bit bland in the tone of gold. The away kit is something I'm reserving judgment on, it could look good or it could just be okay. We'll see.
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