Author Archives: Andrew Long

by | October 5, 2010 · 4:01 pm

A Few More Thoughts After Rewatching the Husky Game

Well, it took me 2 days but I finally made it through all of the USC game.  I can only wonder how many times I would watch it if it wasn’t a busy week.   Anyway, I came away with a few more thoughts that I’ll share before putting this game to rest and moving on to this week’s opponent,  Arizona State.

  • Let’s start with the worst part of the game, the rushing defense.  There’s no denying that they were terrible.  After watching it again, it was very clear that the problems weren’t because of a lack of schemes.  They tried just about everything.  They put at least 8 guys in the box every time.  I counted 10 guys in the box for several plays.  10 guys!  They also tried a 3-4 several times to be a little more athletic.  The problem was with what was happening on the field.  The defensive line was terrible.  Ta’amu played a decent game, but the rest of the defensive line was awful.  There were guys getting pushed back 5-10 yards every play.  Then, the linebackers seemed a bit timid.  They didn’t attack the runner for most of the game, they let the runner come to them.  By the time the runner got there, those linebackers were blocked.  I understand that they can’t completely sell out against the run because they have to watch for play-action, but their reaction time does need to be quicker.  Last but not least, the tackling was terrible.  It was just as bad as it was against Nebraska, if not worse.  I was on a mission to count the missed tackles but I lost track.  I lost track at the end of the first quarter.
  • One more negative thought on the defense before we move to brighter spots.   I think several players had the worst game of their career on Saturday.  Nate Fellner had one great pass break-up, but the rest of the game he struggled.  He was sucked into the wrong position and missed quite a few tackles.  Quinton Richardson missed an easy sack on Barkley because he forgot he had arms on the play.  He was taken out after that, I’ll be interested to see if he plays as much the rest of this season.  Where is Adam Long?  Cort Dennison looked a little rusty and slow after missing the Nebraska game.  Those players, along with the defensive line, were beaten up pretty well on Saturday.  Thank goodness we have Mason Foster.
  • With all that, give credit to the defense for not allowing a touchdown in the 4th quarter.  They buckled down and made some stops.  There’s no doubt they need to get better, but they made some plays that kept the Huskies in the game.

More thoughts after the jump. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Recaps

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | October 3, 2010 · 1:12 pm

UW vs. USC: Postgame

When we began the season, 2-2 was the record most people predicted after4 games, myself included.  A win against BYU and Syracuse and then a team that would probably be out-matched by the talent of Nebraska and USC.  That’s not exactly what happened, but it’s better this way.

After showing a serious amount of inconsistency the first 3 games, the Husky offense turned in a showing that all Dawg fans have been dreaming of since demolishing Cal last December.  Because of this, the Huskies won their first road game in 3 years and started Pac-10 play with a victory against powerhouse USC.

Since many people have covered this game, and did a better job than I could, I’m going to keep this short.  I’ll have more in-depth analysis once I watch this game again later tonight but for now, I’ll look at what this game means.  As several coaches and players said, this win was huge for a number of reasons.  Let’s take a look at those reasons.

  • Redemption: The Huskies were just 2 weeks removed from playing the worst game of the Sark era.  Being embarrassed at home, 56-21, caused many people to question whether the program was actually on the right track.  There were all kinds of criticism coming at the Huskies, and rightfully so.  The game-plan was bad, the team didn’t, and Jake Locker played the worst game of his career.  But, last night the Huskies came back and had the best game-plan (offensively, anyway) of the Sark era, showed more heart than I’ve seen in years, and had Locker play the best game we’ve seen yet.  People didn’t know if this team was built up too much, and they still have reasons to question that, but last night, the Huskies found redemption in the L.A. Coliseum.  And, for a week at least, that feels pretty good.
  • A Road Victory! As I mentioned earlier, the Huskies had not won a road game since 2007.  That was against a bad Stanford team.  You could argue that this is the most impressive Husky road victory, as far as quality of opponent, since their 2002 road victory at Oregon.  Now, the monkey is off the back.  Of course, this doesn’t mean that they’re going to go on and win the rest of their road games.  But, as we saw with this years Husky basketball, winning that first road game can do wonders for a teams psyche.  If nothing else, people won’t be able to say that, “They just don’t know how to win on the road.”  Which is a blessing in its’ own right.

More after the jump.  Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Recaps

Tagged as , , ,

by | October 1, 2010 · 11:08 pm

Husky Predictions: USC

Matthew:
In my opinion, this is the hardest game to call on the Huskies’ schedule. I’m nowhere near ready to join the “USC is overrated” crowd, but there are clearly a lot of questions about them. Sarkisian’s claims that they’re the most talented team in the Pac-10 are accurate or very close to it. Still, they have some turmoil and a little less momentum in the program than anytime in recent memory, and when a team finally knocks them down, they might stay there a little longer than we’re used to. Can the Dawgs deliver the blow? Sure, could happen. Will they? My head says no, but I’m going to say they will. This team is bound to pull out a game sometime, and I’ll take a stab that this is the week. Call it wishful thinking.
UW 24- USC 21

Dan:
When UW upset USC last year 16-13, little did I know it would be the beginning of the end for the USC dynasty. As it turned out, USC failed to win the Pac-10, Carroll left for Seattle, and the sanctions came down hard on the Trojans. Despite the unravelling, there are two staggering numbers that cannot be ignored in this game. First, USC has won an amazing 32 consecutive home night games. Second, the Huskies have not won a road game in nearly 3 years, dating back to November, 2007. Streaks are made to be broken, and the Huskies certainly have a shot tomorrow night, but I don’t see it. USC should be able to run at will on the Huskies, which will open up the passing game for Barkley. Revenge is also on the Trojans’ minds, after what happened in Seattle last year. As for the score, I see a shootout between two offenses that are ready to get on track.
USC 42, UW 27
(I might feel more optimistic if I wasn’t currently watching Utah State handle BYU 24-7 at halftime…)

Joe:
For some reason, I like the Huskies in this game.  Everything, of course, is against them.  A still talented USC team, night game in the Coliseum, two weeks to chew on getting whipped by Nebraska, the nations worst special teams kick coverage, a ton of downer press for Jake Locker, etc.  I think these reasons are precisely why I like the Dawgs.  They should come out with fire, us against the world, chip on their shoulder attitude.  I think they will channel all the negative juju of the past two weeks and turn it into a fine performance.  Look for Jake Locker to bounce back, as USC has nowhere near the secondary Nebraska has.  I see a big game from Kearse, and James Johnson should be back for added help.  Defensively, the Dawgs must keep contain and take correct angles in tackling.  It’s really not that hard.  Stick to the basics and you’ll be fine.  I am still worried about the special teams, but Sark has made it clear they have focused on that team quite a bit at practice.  Historic road win for the Dawgs. Yes, I still believe.  UW 31 – USC – 28

Andrew:
I was going to pick the Dawgs in this game.  I want to pick the Huskies to win.  But, can they really do it?  They are outmatched at just about every position except for quarterback, and that is even closer than I ‘d like to think.  USC might pound the ball for what feels like an eternity and this game will feel lost before it ever begins.  Or, maybe the Huskies come out and show a decent run defense like they had in the first two games of the season.  Maybe the running game will finally get going a little bit.  Maybe the Jake Locker that we all expected will finally show up.  The secondary could play tight defense and the receivers could get some separation.  All of this could happen, but I don’t see it all happening.  I hope I’m wrong but for now I’m going to pick USC in a close one.  This game could be devastating if it’s a close road loss.
USC 35 – UW 31

All of the Good Guys’ are 2-1 on the year with Husky predictions.  Enjoy your Saturday and thank God for college football!

1 Comment

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Previews

Tagged as ,

by | October 1, 2010 · 2:28 pm

5 Things To Watch: USC

I thought I’d add a little segment to our Husky game previews about 5 things I will be watching closely on each game.  Five seems like a good, solid number.  Quick, name your favorite athlete that wears the number 5!  It’s harder than it should be for current athletes but Joe DiMaggio wins this game easily.  Okay, here we go!

1.  Jake Locker
Obviously, this is one thing to always watch if you’re a Husky fan.  The team goes as Jake goes and they’re going to need him to get going on Saturday.  This week is a little more intriguing though because he’s coming off the worst performance of his college career (actually, I imagine it’s his worst performance he’s ever had in any sporting event.  Really).  His draft stock has fallen and his team is on the brink of falling into the same terrible seasons they’ve grown accustomed to.  If anyone has the talent to turn this season around in one game, it’s Jake.  I’m hoping that Locker shows up and has a game we all remember, if he does the Huskies will be in good shape.

2.  UW receivers vs. USC secondary
Coming into the season UW supposedly had one of the best receiving corps in the Pac-10.  Through the first 3 games, that hasn’t been the case.  Sure, Jermaine Kearse had a great day against Syracuse, but there hasn’t been separation downfield and they were simply awful against Nebraska.  This week they play a secondary that is not near as good but still has talent.  The Huskies will surely test that secondary.  I’m sure the USC secondary is ready to prove themselves.  Let’s hope that the Dawgs’ receivers are the ones who prove something.

3.  The Special Teams
The Huskies face the best special teams unit they have faced all season and will need to show a ton of improvement.  UW has been absolutely terrible on special teams.  The kicker and punter have been okay.  There isn’t much of a return game to speak of and the coverage units have been just about the worst in the nation.  The hope is that this has improved in the bye week.  If it hasn’t, the Huskies don’t stand a chance.

4.  Erik Kohler
Kohler has been a bright spot in this early season so far.  The true freshman has played pretty well in the last 2 games and I look forward to taking a closer look at him on TV.  He’s going up against one of the better defensive lines in the country and will be matched up against Jurrell Casey, who was a pre-season All-American in some circles.  This is the second time in as many games our true freshman has been matched up against an All-American candidate.  I hope he holds his own and makes a little room for Chris Polk to run.

5.  The Coaches
The first match-up between Lane Kiffen and Sark provides another interesting aspect to the game.  Sark knows USC’s scheme and players pretty well.  Does that matter?  I don’t know.  It might have a tiny bit last year but it wasn’t what won the Huskies the game.  Both teams are close to the same schematically and there will be some mind games going on between coaching staffs.  Hopefully, the Dawgs win and then Kiffen says something stupid, because you know he would.  That guy drives me crazy.

-Andrew


Leave a comment

Filed under UW Game Previews

Tagged as , ,

by | October 1, 2010 · 11:29 am

On Felix and the Season Finale

As you’ve probably heard by now, Felix will not take the mound in the Mariners’ season finale on Sunday.  After having one of the best seasons, as a pitcher, in Mariner history management has decided to shut him down a start early because of the amount of innings he’s already thrown this season.  I have two thoughts on this and I’ll keep it short.

My first thought is that our management gets it.  They see that downside of Felix making this final start outweighs the upside.  They get that Felix is more important to next season and the future than he is right now.  They understand that they have the best young pitcher in baseball and they are willing to lose a game in this lost season to decrease the chance that their best player gets hurt.  Would Felix have gotten hurt if he started?  No, probably not.  He was just as likely to get hurt last start against Texas as he would be this one, but still it’s not worth risking your ace.  You might think that this is common sense but I wonder if our prior GM’s would have got this.

On the other hand, I think it’s a shame.  Obviously, Felix wants to go out there and pitch one more game.  I think he’s earned the right to do that.  The King has just put up the two best consecutive years of pitching in organizational history, and if he wants to go out there, gosh, dang it, he should go out there.  Something tells me we’d see the best Felix possible on Sunday.  Our ace pitches his best when he’s on a big stage, unfortunately, the M’s are never on a big stage because they suck.  But Sunday, Felix would have been amped.  When Felix is amped it’s scary for the opponents.  I would have gone to the game on Sunday if Hernandez had been pitching just to give him a standing ovation, now I’ll probably just watch an inning or two from Matthew’s couch.  That’s the kind of pitcher Felix is.  The kind where you plan your schedule around seeing.  That’s the downside of him not pitching Sunday.

So, we’ll see you in February, Felix, when you report to Spring Training.  Then I’ll see you in April on opening day when you accept your Cy Young in front of 45,000 people at Safeco who don’t appreciate you enough.  I hope you get a standing ovation sometime on Sunday, somehow.  You deserve that.  I’ll be sure to give you a proper thank you sometime soon on here but, for now, this will do. See you in a couple months, King.

1 Comment

Filed under Mariners

Tagged as

by | September 30, 2010 · 8:40 pm

Scouting the USC Defense

On to the Trojan defense today.  The Trojan defense struggled mightily the first game against Hawaii.  Since then, they’ve gotten progressively better but they still have some obvious weaknesses where they haven’t put it all together.  The talent is there though.

Defensive Line:
This is an area that most people regard as the strength of the defense.  That much has proven true in USC’s first 4 games, although they haven’t truly been tested.  Chris Polk will be the best back USC has faced this year and the Huskies offensive line might be the best they’ve faced also.  That’s pretty pathetic.  Anyway, the Trojans are led by Jurrell Casey.  Casey is a big 305 lb. defensive tackle who was a pre-season All American in some publications.  He’s perhaps the biggest reason USC is stout against the run and poses quite a few match-up problems up front.  Other names to watch on the line are Armond Armstead, Nick Perry, and DaJohn Harris.  Armstead and Perry have been hurt as of late but are probable for the game Saturday.  If they can’t go that is obviously a big hit to the USC defense.  They do have some decent depth here unless one or two more guys get hurt.  The Trojans’ need to rely on their pass rush to take some of the heat off the much-aligned secondary.

Linebackers:
The Trojans have had more talent at the linebacker position in the last decade than some NFL teams.  Last year, they took a little bit of a step back and it’s yet to be seen how good they are this year.  Obviously, there’s talent.  That goes for all of USC’s positions.  USC has three players in their linebacking corps who saw quite a bit of time last year, Michael Morgan, Malcolm Smith, and Derek Kennard.  Morgan has good size and is one of the fastest players on the team.  Smith started all of last year at weak-side linebacker.  Both Morgan and Smith are team captains.  Derek Kennard takes the middle linebacker spot.  He split time with Morgan last year at strong-side linebacker and now slides over.  These guys deserve credit for helping shut down team’s run games but also deserves a little of the blame for not helping the young secondary.

Secondary:
On to that weak secondary I keep alluding to.  Let me say that they haven’t been as bad as I might have let on.  The Hawaii game was truly atrocious.  The secondary was carved up the entire game and never looked that close to stopping them.  They have been better since then but not entirely.  Wazzu moved the ball pretty well through the air against the Trojans but couldn’t take advantage.  USC does have 6 interceptions on the year, that’s pretty good but when you see the amount of passing attempts against them, it make a lot more sense.  The best player in the secondary is Shareece Wright.  It seems like he’s been a Trojan for forever.  He’s the guy who laid the late hit on Jake in 2007 that most Husky fans count as a cheap shot.  He’s also a very good cornerback.  Most teams stay away from him and I imagine that the Huskies will on Saturday.  USC has been breaking in a new corner and two new safeties outside of Wright.  This will be the first time this unit has been really tested since Hawaii and will be a good gauge of their improvement.  Thank goodness this isn’t Nebraska!

Usually I end the scouting reports here but I feel like I should add that USC’s special teams are excellent.  They are the best the Huskies have faced this year.  This is an obvious area of concern since the Dawgs have been terrible in special teams.  So, consider yourself warned in that area.  I really think that might be where this game is won, which doesn’t bode well for the Huskies.

Thanks for reading, lots more coming tomorrow!

Andrew

This is our 300th post.  The 4 writers here try not to get to into numbers or stats but this seems like an appropriate time to thank you all.  I’d like to think that I’d keep writing these posts if we didn’t receive any views.  But, the reality is that supplying the reader is motivation to write.  This year has been a great start to the blog and we owe that to you all for reading!  We look forward to the next 300 (and more) posts.

3 Comments

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Previews

Tagged as

by | September 28, 2010 · 9:50 pm

Scouting USC Part 1

On to Pac-10 play and teams that I know much more about!  Here we go!  Because of a lack of time I’m going to put these posts into 2 parts, offense and defense.

Quarterback: Matt Barkley plays the quarterback position for the Trojans.  He is a True Sophomore and seems to be coming into his own this season.  Plus, he’s just so gosh darn cute.  The knock on him is that he’s a little bit inconsistent still.  He tore apart Hawaii but didn’t look quite as good against Virginia and Minnesota.  He threw the ball all over the place against Wazzu but he was also picked off twice.  Barkley can force throws but he makes a good share of them.  In the next 2 years Barkley will be the best quarterback in the conference but not quite yet.  He’s still maturing and hopefully will go through some growing pains on Saturday.  He’s enough to scare me and could pick apart the secondary.  Although, the UW secondary may be the best he’s played, which is really, really pathetic.

Running Back: The Trojans have played 5 guys at this position.  I’d tell you who the starter is for this week but only Kiffen knows, and I wonder if he even knows.  Last week, Stanley Havili ran all over WSU.  Havili is a big back, the kind that UW has had trouble with in the past.  He has played fullback most of his career but is a good power runner.  He’s also a good receiver out of the backfield.  Marc Tyler is the Trojans leading rusher on the year.  He ran for a lot of yards against Hawaii in the opener but has seen a ton of action since then.  I don’t know why.  Allen Bradford is back there.  He’s another big power-back but not quite to the extent of Havili.  He does have pretty good speed though.  C.J. Gable is there to fill in the Joe McKnight role.  I’d say he’s there to fill the Reggie Bush role but he’s not near the player that Bush was in college.  Then, there’s true freshman Dillon Baxter.  He was close to the top running back recruit in the country last year but he hasn’t really gone off yet.  He’s been solid in limited playing time, but not amazing.  Any 5 of these guys could kill you.  Heck, they probably have someone behind these guys on the depth chart that could kill you too.

Wide Receiver/Tight End: The Trojans have many weapons here too.  We’ll start with Ronald Johnson.  He’s the leading receiver on the team and also the punt returner.  His punt return for a touchdown against Hawaii was a thing of beauty.  He has 249 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns on the year.  He might be the best skill position player the Trojans have, which is obviously saying something.  Robert Woods is their next guy.  Woods, a freshman, has caught 13 balls for 175 yards on the year.  Barkley does a nice job of spreading the ball around to other guys also.  His running backs are used a ton out of the backfield.  Brice Butler had a solid year last year, as a receiver, but hasn’t done a ton this year.  Keep an eye on him.  At tight end, USC has Rhett Ellison.  He’s their 4th leading receiver and does a nice job in both aspects, blocking and receiving, of the tight end’s game.

Offensive Line: The Trojans are strong up front.  They have averaged over 6 yards a carry this season and have done a pretty nice job of protecting Barkley.   Led by center, Kristofer O’dowd, USC returns 3 offensive lineman from last year.  This unit wasn’t as good against Virginia and Minnesota but they played really well against WSU.  Maybe because it’s WSU or maybe it’s because they’re coming together as a unit.  They do lack depth here as opposed to the other offensive positions, but at the moment they’re healthy.

I’ll be back with the defensive scouting in the next couple days.  Thanks for reading!

Andrew

2 Comments

Filed under Huskies Football, UW Game Previews

Tagged as

by | September 27, 2010 · 6:26 pm

Checking in on the M’s

As you may have noticed, the blog has switched to football mode in the last couple weeks.  This was a combination of the Mariners sucking and football being a breath of fresh air.  There hasn’t been anything really exciting as far as the Mariners go lately but here’s what little news there is:

  • After Tacoma won the PCL Championship several players were called up.  These players were Justin Smoak, Dan Cortes, Matt Mangini, Greg Halman, and Anthony Varvaro.  Cortes has been by far the  most impressive so far.  He hasn’t allowed a base-runner in two innings of work and has struck out 4 of 6 hitters faced.  He’ll be in the bullpen next year all season, barring injury, and could take on the 8th inning role (which is basically what he’s doing now).  Mangini has hit pretty well since coming up to the bigs.  No one has questioned his hitting, it’s his defense that stops him from being a top prospect.  More on him below.  Smoak has gotten hot the last two days, with 4 hits including a home run.  He’s starting to look like the top prospect we traded for.  Halman and Varvaro haven’t seen a ton of action but Halman notched his first hit tonight and Varvaro is pitching as I type this.  All of them have been decent, if not more.  It’s a shame they weren’t up here sooner.  Update: Varvaro didn’t do so well tonight, but he still has a bright future as a lefty reliever.
  • The two big names not to get called up are Dustin Ackley and Josh Lueke.  Ackley just needed a break before he starts fall league.  Enough has been written about Lueke, so I won’t add anything.  I’m cheering for the guy but I have my doubts that he’ll ever be in a Mariner uniform despite his unquestionable talent.
  • The Mariners will score over 500 runs this year.  With 6 runs so far tonight, they are up to 497 runs.  That’s kind of too bad.  On the other hand, do you realize how pathetic it is that we can even talk about this.
  • Speaking of Mangini, with a little more success we could see him having a role on the team next year.  Jose Lopez will be gone, thank goodness, and if the opportunity comes to trade Chone Figgins the M’s might take it.  That would leave a hole at third base and why not give Mangini the opportunity?  Seattle won’t be good next year so I’d like to see as many young players as possible.  They may platoon him or he could be a good lefty bat off the bench, at least.
  • Speaking of Chone Figgins, he’s hitting .360 in September.  That is good news concerning next year.  He can still be a valuable player despite his big contract and down year.  He has more stolen bases than B.J. Upton.  That is weird to me for some reason.  I can’t even remember him being on base too many times.
  • Ichiro got over 200 hits, again.  This is because Ichiro is awesome.  He is worth his big contract, regardless of what other people say.  If you think he’s overrated please talk to me, I would love to have this argument.
  • The M’s need to go 4-3 the rest of the way to avoid 100 losses.  They are ahead by one right now in the 8th.  Needless to say, it feels a lot better to lose 99 games than it does 100.  Do we know why?  No.  Mainly just because the human race is weird.

That’s about all I can think of.  If you have any Mariner questions let me know in the comments and I’ll try to address them.

Andrew

1 Comment

Filed under Mariners

Tagged as , , , , , ,