Author Archives: Matthew

by | September 8, 2010 · 8:23 pm

What I Want To See On Saturday

The Huskies loss to BYU was disappointing in so many ways.  It was the type of game, a road test against a beatable team, that the Huskies couldn’t win last year.  Beating BYU was a chance to start the season by answering questions.  A win would have set the team on a course to improve upon last year’s five wins and show that the team is moving rapidly toward sustained success.

The loss only brought more questions, and it failed to answer any that existed previously.  Are the Huskies improved from last year?  It didn’t appear so, but they didn’t look worse either.  Was all the offseason talk of improved strength and explosiveness just talk?  Can an experienced offensive line be consistently effective?  Will the defense build on a dominating end to the 2009 season?  All questions without clear answers, now one game deep in the season.

One game is still only one game, and this team wasn’t going to contend for the national championship no matter what, so the loss isn’t terribly damaging from a season or conference race standpoint.  Most teams start the season a little rusty, which is why teams play Toledo and UC-Davis and Sacramento State to start.  BYU vs. UW was one of the few games last weekend to combine two good teams, so the Huskies deserve at least a bit of a break.  They get their winnable game this weekend against Syracuse.

The problem with playing Syracuse is that it still won’t answer a lot of the questions.  Syracuse should be a lot easier to handle than BYU, which obviously is good.  This team needs wins anyway they can get them.  But even a win won’t necessarily say much about these Huskies.  Until they pull out a win on the road, it’s hard to judge this team to be anything different than it was last season.

All that said, there are certainly things to watch for this Saturday.  This game could go two ways.  Syracuse could be as bad as Dawg fans hope, and UW could be on the winning end of a blowout.  Syracuse could also be better than expected, or the Huskies worse, and Husky Stadium could see a tight game.  There are actually positives and negatives to each scenario.  A look at them after the jump. Continue reading →

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by | September 2, 2010 · 7:19 pm

UW Huskies Defensive Preview

In 2009, the Husky defense was frustratingly inconsistent.  Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and Donald Butler, possibly its two best players, both graduated, but there is a lot of hope the defense will be greatly improved in 2010.  This is due partly to a dominating end to last season, holding WSU and Cal to 10 points in the final two games, but it’s also based on the potential maturation of a young group.

Defensive End

Starters:

Everette Thompson:  Thompson sounds like he’s recovered from an offseason achilles injury just in time, and stands to be one of the most important pieces of the defense.  A highly touted recruit, he’s spent time at tackle as well.  He’s bigger than most Husky D ends in recent memory, which will hopefully aid in the run defense.  It’s even more vital that he contribute in replacing some of Te’o-Nesheim’s record-number sacks.

Talia Crichton:  A true sophomore, Crichton played more than anyone likely anticipated last year, with decent results.  Hard to say what to expect from him, but coaches have been impressed with his improvement this fall.  He seems to be more of a pass rusher, which this defense desperately needs.

Depth: Kalani Aldrich, De’shon Matthews, Hau’oli Jamora, Josh Shirley.  Aldrich is trying to recover from knee surgery, but has decent potential if he can get back all the way.  He’d have contended for a starting spot if not for the injury.  Matthews is a former big time recruit who’s never really made an impact.  He has one last shot and is in position for a lot of minutes as the number one back-up.  Jamora and Shirley are true freshman.  Jamora is in the two-deeps and will play.  Shirley is more heralded, but joined the team late and seems to be having a tough transition to end from high school linebacker.  He’s likely to redshirt, but if he progresses and they’re needing a speed rusher, who knows.

Analysis:  This is one of the toughest positions on the team to call.  There’s potential, to be sure, but the only one who inspires real confidence is Thompson, and he’s coming off major surgery.  This group has to get pressure on the quarterback this year.  Hopefully they’ll be aided in that by an improved interior of the line.

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by | September 1, 2010 · 1:53 pm

UW Huskies Offensive Preview

In 2009, the Husky offense was largely inconsistent, often showing excellent playmaking ability up until the time they needed to score on the goal line or keep a drive going late in the game.  The hope is this year they will find that consistency and become the high-powered threat that their talent suggests.

Quarterback

Starter: Jake Locker  Maybe you’ve heard of this guy.  Senior starter who passed up millions to try to lead his team to a bowl game and make a run at the Heisman trophy.  He could be the best quarterback in the country, but he does need to make improvements, chiefly with his accuracy.  Sarkisian has him aiming for a 70% completion rate and 3/1 touchdown to interception ratio, which would be a season for the ages.  He likely won’t quite make that, but there’s no bigger threat at the position in the country.

Depth: Keith Price & Nick Montana  The two backups are still fighting for the job, although it appears Price has pulled ahead for now.  Price is more of an athlete who has struggled with his accuracy at times.  Montana, son of Joe, has the smarts but maybe not quite the arm strength or physical maturity yet.  Price will likely backup on a game to game basis, but if Locker went down for an extended period, either might take over.

Analysis: If Locker stays healthy, it doesn’t get much better.  If he goes down, it’s hard to say what would happen with Price or Montana under center. Continue reading →

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by | August 30, 2010 · 5:03 pm

Huskies Release Depth Chart for BYU Game, Other Notes

UW released the official depth chart for Saturday’s game today.  You can find it here.  There aren’t really any surprises.  The back-up QB spot is listed as Price or Montana, so no answers there.  Not that an answer is needed until one of them has to play.  D’Andre Goodwin is listed as the third starting WR, a product of a good camp for him and James Johnson missing time with an injury.  Johnson will play, but might not be quite up to full-speed after missing parts of the last two weeks.  Some other notes about the Huskies and the rest of the Pac-10.

  • Sarkisian said that all 12 true freshman on the two-deeps would likely play, along with a couple more possibilities.  When asked about Josh Shirley and Sione Potoa’e, Sark gave an uncomittal, “Potentially.”
  • BYU is planning to play both quarterbacks after failing to choose between Jake Heaps and Riley Nelson.  Nelson is more of a scrambler, while local boy Heaps can throw the ball all over the place.
  • ASU decided on Steven Threet as their quarterback, although Brock Osweiler will get chances to play in the first few games.  Luckily for ASU, they play Portland State and Northern Arizona their first two games, which should give them a chance to test both quarterbacks while still winning fairly easily.  The Sun Devils are also breaking in a new spread offensive system.  There’s always the potential for new offenses to click quickly and surprise opponents for a while.  I’m not betting on it here, but ASU is a bit of a sleeper to me.
  • We’ll have a deeper look at this week’s Pac-10 games later this week, but there are some big ones, especially OSU at TCU.  OSU often starts the season slowly, so if they can come out and beat a top 10 team, it could get them rolling quickly.  It would also knock TCU out of a chance at the national championship, which would make me happy, if only because we wouldn’t have to listen to talk about it all season long.  We’ll get enough of that from Boise State fans, unless OSU can beat them as well.  In related news, I’m close to annointing OSU as my second favorite Pac-10 team, in case you were wondering.

That’s all for now.  Only 5 days till game time!

-Matthew

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by | August 29, 2010 · 1:09 pm

UW Football 2011: The Big Questions

Before spring practice started, the Good Guys decided these were the key questions for the Huskies 2011 season.  We looked at them again mid-summer, and now that fall camp is over, let’s see where the Dawgs stand entering the season.  From all reports, they had a very good and surprisingly uneventful camp.  Other than Deontae Cooper, there were no major injuries.  James Johnson is still hobbled a little bit and there’s a chance he’s not at full speed or even doesn’t play against BYU, but he should be back before long.  Kalani Aldrich is still working his way back from knee surgery.  He hasn’t had any set-backs, but his rehab isn’t going quite as quickly as hoped, especially when compared to fellow defensive end Everette Thompson, who has come on in the last week to establish himself as a likely starter at BYU.
Speaking of BYU, Saturday is now less than a week away, so let’s jump right in!
  1. Can the offense become a consistent threat?  Maybe the offensive line can answer this for me.  Their development is all that’s keeping this offense from being among the best in the country.  I have high hopes, but until they take the field, the line is a question mark.  The loss of Kavario Middleton hurts, but it’s unclear how much.  For all his potential, his production hasn’t exactly been staggering.  Chris Izbicki is a decent replacement, and true freshman Michael Hartvigson has shot up the depth chart as a true pass-catching tight end.  All the ingredients are here; now we just have to see how they come together.
  2. Can the Dawgs field a defensive line that will stop anyone?  From the sounds of it, the defensive line was introduced to the weight room this summer.  Seemingly every player made huge weight gains or losses since last season.  The focus of the summer lifting program was to make the team more explosive, and the coaches feel they’ve made big strides in that area.  And while there are stories like this out of every camp every year, I’m inclined to believe this one, because if there was one this the Huskies defensive line wasn’t last year, it was explosive.  Alameda Ta’amu dropped something like 30 pounds and from the sounds of it might make a run at the all-conference team.  Talia Crichton has cemented himself at one defensive end spot, and Thompson’s quick recovery puts the other spot in good hands for the majority of the snaps.  Cameron Elisara is solid at both tackle and end, and the depth looks surprisingly good considering the position they were in this spring.  All that said, they have a lot to prove on the field.  The signs are positive, but if they give up 500 yards to BYU, that’s all that will matter.  Continue reading →

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by | August 20, 2010 · 6:06 pm

Who Are These Guys: Jake Locker

Sorry, you’re on your own on this one.  I think he plays quarterback.

-Matthew

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by | August 14, 2010 · 1:14 pm

Tacoma Rainiers Update

The Mariners just promoted Mauricio Robles and Dan Cortes to Triple-A Tacoma from West Tennessee.  Cortes was no surprise, as he’s been ridiculously good since moving into the bullpen a few weeks ago.  Someone, I think Jason Churchill, reported that he hasn’t thrown a fastball under 97 mph, I believe, since the change.  If he keeps up anything close to that, I’ll be amazed if he’s not in the Mariners’ pen to start next year.  As it is, he’ll probably be called up in September anyway.

Robles is a little bit more surprising, but not incredibly so.  He’s having a good but not incredible year, but I think most would be pretty satisfied with his development thus far.  The lefty will start tomorrow, which pushes Pineda back a start.  I would imagine the major reason for these promotions are to help keep Pineda’s innings in check without depriving the Rainiers of talent while they fight for a playoff spot.  Both players are deserving though.

In other Tacoma news, Justin Smoak hit a homer last night and has three in his last 5 games.  He’s up to four homers and a .779 OPS at Tacoma after a terrible start when he was first sent down.  Dustin Ackley is hitting the cover off the ball, going 3-5 last night.  He’s at .304/.381/.471.  He’ll be starting at second in Seattle by July.

Thanks to Mike Curto’s blog, Mike… Off-Mic, for the info.  He’s the Rainiers radio announcer and an all-around good guy.

-Matthew

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by | August 14, 2010 · 10:44 am

Working On the Farm- High-A High Desert

High Desert Mavericks (California League)

We’ve arrived in Adelanto, CA, home to absurd amounts of home runs, terrified pitchers, and the High Desert Mavericks.  HD is in the High-A California League, which essentially means it’s the third highest level in the Mariners system, ranking ahead of full season Clinton and short-season Everett and Pulaski.  It’s a common landing spot for advanced college draftees and the first spot where you start to see prospects really get a lot of attention, unless they were big name signings or draftees.  As I mentioned in the West Tennessee post, it’s also a hard place to guage prospects.  Due to some small parks and thin air, the Cal league and High Desert in particular is maybe the best place to hit in all of professional baseball.  Every year brings some gaudy numbers, which means that hitters are examined very closely and don’t really get the benefit of the doubt until they’ve shown more at a higher level.  Pitchers are kind of given a break if they put up bad results.  Just looking at stats, a casual fan often overrates a hitter’s year.  Conversely, I think some hitters get underrated by prospect watchers, but that’s easily remedied by playing well once they reach West Tennessee.

After a fairly loaded roster in 2009, 2010’s is a little weaker.  Due to that factor and just that these are younger guys or players who haven’t been in the system long, my knowledge is much more limited (and that will only increase further down the system).  There are some definite prospects though, so let’s see what we’ve got.

So Long…

Anthony Vasquez- LHP  Vasquez was called up to West Tennessee shortly after I wrote their post.  He’s a smallish starter having a very solid year.  Sounds like he has decent stuff, but his upside is probably Jason Vargas-ish, solid contributor but not a consistent high-level guy.  Here’s a good ProballNW write-up with a lot more info.

The Big Boppers

Rich Poythress- 1B  A 2009 second rounder, Poythress was regarded as maybe the best college power bat in the draft.  A big right handed hitter, he’s having a solid year with an OPS currently at .918, but again it’s High Desert and his strikeouts are a little high.  There’s good hope here, but he hasn’t quite set the world on fire. Continue reading →

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