Postgame Thoughts: UW Huskies v Arizona Wildcats 10/29/2011
This last Saturday (10/29), the Washington Huskies, hoping to bounce back after the debacle that was the game against Stanford, hosted the Arizona Wildcats in a night game at Husky Stadium, and bounce back they did, beating Arizona 42-31 to go to 6-2 on the season and 4-1 in conference, becoming bowl eligible.
On offense, the Huskies got off to a slow start, not scoring in the first quarter, but eventually got going strong, with 489 yards of total offense, and 42 points, as well as 24 first downs, while converting on 7 out of 15 3rd-down plays and the only fourth-down play attempted.
The passing game was a bit off, as it only produced 310 yards and 1 touchdown. Quaterback Keith Price had a bad day, as he only 16 out of 30 passes 277 yards and 1 touchdown passing, as well as being picked off 3 times. However, all 3 of those interceptions were on the receivers- one was caused by Devin Aguilar not only allowing a ball to slip through his hands, but deflected it straight to an Arizona defender. James Johnson was responsible for the other two, where on one play, he slipped & fell on what should have been an easily catchable pass, allowing the Arizona DB covering him an equally easy interception, and on another, in a truly spectacular mistake, was juggling the ball for some 5 yards after the catch before finally losing it and pitching it right to Arizona safety Robert Golden in a textbook shovel pass. Golden proceeded to return the ball 91 yards while weaving across the field for a touchdown in a play that made the highlight reels on Sportscenter. Ugh. Several drops by the receivers didn’t help either. Aguilar accounted for the 33 remaining passing yards on a trick play early in the third quarter, where he threw to Polk, who broke the play wide open along the sideline.
The rushing game produced 179 yards and 5 touchdowns. As usual, Chris Polk was responsible for the bulk of it, running for 144 yards and 4 touchdowns, on top of 100 yards and another touchdown receiving. This performance set a couple of records, including a new school record for the most career games with 100+ yards rushing (18), and being the first player in school yards to both rush for 100 yards and receive for 100 yards in a game. Polk also tied the record for most touchdowns in a game in the modern era (Corey Dillon against UCLA in 1996 and Hugh McElhenny against Washington State in 1950 each scored 5 as well) (in the pre-WW2 era, there was one player who scored 7 in a game in 1919 and another who scored 6 in 1928,) and entered into a tie for the fourth most rushing touchdowns in a game. Furthermore, Polk was just 1 touchdown short of tying the conference record of most touchdowns in a game (2 players in conference history have scored 6, 1 for Cal in 1922 & 1 for USC in 1972) and is just 529 yards short of tying the school record for most career rushing yards. Incidentally, Polk was also trending on Twitter during the game, getting up to 9th on that list.
The offensive line had a good day for the most part, giving up no sacks, and allowing sufficient time for both rushing and passing plays to develop.
However, the defense turned in a rather mixed performance. On the plus side, the defense held Arizona to 36 yards rushing and got 3 interceptions, as well as a sack, holding Arizona to converting on only 3 of 11 third down plays, and stripping the ball on one play to force a fumble that stopped an Arizona drive cold. However, Arizona’s one of the worst rushing teams in the conference, and 2 of the interceptions were in garbage time. On the negative side, the defense gave up 25 first downs and 424 yards overall, 388 of those through the air. What went wrong this time out was that the pass coverage wasn’t aggressive enough, with the secondary giving a 3-4 yard cushion. As a result, Arizona was constantly able to rack up yards by fairly short (4-7 yard) passes followed by another 4-7 yards after catch as the DBs had to chase the receivers down. One might be able to get away with that in a shootout with a team with a crap defense or offense, but it’s a recipe for disaster against teams with a potent offense and/or a competent defense, such as Oregon & USC which loom ahead, or quite a few possible bowl opponents for the Huskies (current ESPN predictions have them in the Holiday Bowl against Texas Tech.)
Special teams did fairly well when it came to returning kicks, as the average kickoff return was almost 30 yards, with a long of 44 yards, but rather less well covering kickoffs, giving up just as much. Punting was also good, averaging over 40 yards a punt, with a long of 51 yards. (The Huskies didn’t attempt any field goals this game.)
Although not really related to the play of the Huskies, the officiating at this game was horrible, with a number of questionable calls and an odd decision on review where a one-handed catch by a UW receiver was ruled incomplete, and it was upheld on review despite clear video evidence that the receiver was in control. At least the errors cut both ways equally, but still, it’s yet another chapter in the long, sad, and sordid tale of incompetent officiating in the PAC-12.
As for where this leaves the team, other than showing that the Huskies can bounce back, there performance is about what I’ve expected from the season- great offense but an inept defense holding them back from being a first-rate team, building a record by beating up on the glut of bad teams in the conference. Luckily, there’s still 2 more of those left on the schedule, and right now, it looks like they’ll split their last 4 games (Oregon, USC as likely losses, and Oregon State & Washington State as likely wins.)
Next up for the Huskies will be Oregon, who’ll come to Husky Stadium tomorrow at 7:30 PM, for what will be the last game in the old stadium before it’s completely rebuilt an a year-long renovation.
Oh, and FUCK THE DUCKS!
On offense, the Huskies got off to a slow start, not scoring in the first quarter, but eventually got going strong, with 489 yards of total offense, and 42 points, as well as 24 first downs, while converting on 7 out of 15 3rd-down plays and the only fourth-down play attempted.
The passing game was a bit off, as it only produced 310 yards and 1 touchdown. Quaterback Keith Price had a bad day, as he only 16 out of 30 passes 277 yards and 1 touchdown passing, as well as being picked off 3 times. However, all 3 of those interceptions were on the receivers- one was caused by Devin Aguilar not only allowing a ball to slip through his hands, but deflected it straight to an Arizona defender. James Johnson was responsible for the other two, where on one play, he slipped & fell on what should have been an easily catchable pass, allowing the Arizona DB covering him an equally easy interception, and on another, in a truly spectacular mistake, was juggling the ball for some 5 yards after the catch before finally losing it and pitching it right to Arizona safety Robert Golden in a textbook shovel pass. Golden proceeded to return the ball 91 yards while weaving across the field for a touchdown in a play that made the highlight reels on Sportscenter. Ugh. Several drops by the receivers didn’t help either. Aguilar accounted for the 33 remaining passing yards on a trick play early in the third quarter, where he threw to Polk, who broke the play wide open along the sideline.
The rushing game produced 179 yards and 5 touchdowns. As usual, Chris Polk was responsible for the bulk of it, running for 144 yards and 4 touchdowns, on top of 100 yards and another touchdown receiving. This performance set a couple of records, including a new school record for the most career games with 100+ yards rushing (18), and being the first player in school yards to both rush for 100 yards and receive for 100 yards in a game. Polk also tied the record for most touchdowns in a game in the modern era (Corey Dillon against UCLA in 1996 and Hugh McElhenny against Washington State in 1950 each scored 5 as well) (in the pre-WW2 era, there was one player who scored 7 in a game in 1919 and another who scored 6 in 1928,) and entered into a tie for the fourth most rushing touchdowns in a game. Furthermore, Polk was just 1 touchdown short of tying the conference record of most touchdowns in a game (2 players in conference history have scored 6, 1 for Cal in 1922 & 1 for USC in 1972) and is just 529 yards short of tying the school record for most career rushing yards. Incidentally, Polk was also trending on Twitter during the game, getting up to 9th on that list.
The offensive line had a good day for the most part, giving up no sacks, and allowing sufficient time for both rushing and passing plays to develop.
However, the defense turned in a rather mixed performance. On the plus side, the defense held Arizona to 36 yards rushing and got 3 interceptions, as well as a sack, holding Arizona to converting on only 3 of 11 third down plays, and stripping the ball on one play to force a fumble that stopped an Arizona drive cold. However, Arizona’s one of the worst rushing teams in the conference, and 2 of the interceptions were in garbage time. On the negative side, the defense gave up 25 first downs and 424 yards overall, 388 of those through the air. What went wrong this time out was that the pass coverage wasn’t aggressive enough, with the secondary giving a 3-4 yard cushion. As a result, Arizona was constantly able to rack up yards by fairly short (4-7 yard) passes followed by another 4-7 yards after catch as the DBs had to chase the receivers down. One might be able to get away with that in a shootout with a team with a crap defense or offense, but it’s a recipe for disaster against teams with a potent offense and/or a competent defense, such as Oregon & USC which loom ahead, or quite a few possible bowl opponents for the Huskies (current ESPN predictions have them in the Holiday Bowl against Texas Tech.)
Special teams did fairly well when it came to returning kicks, as the average kickoff return was almost 30 yards, with a long of 44 yards, but rather less well covering kickoffs, giving up just as much. Punting was also good, averaging over 40 yards a punt, with a long of 51 yards. (The Huskies didn’t attempt any field goals this game.)
Although not really related to the play of the Huskies, the officiating at this game was horrible, with a number of questionable calls and an odd decision on review where a one-handed catch by a UW receiver was ruled incomplete, and it was upheld on review despite clear video evidence that the receiver was in control. At least the errors cut both ways equally, but still, it’s yet another chapter in the long, sad, and sordid tale of incompetent officiating in the PAC-12.
As for where this leaves the team, other than showing that the Huskies can bounce back, there performance is about what I’ve expected from the season- great offense but an inept defense holding them back from being a first-rate team, building a record by beating up on the glut of bad teams in the conference. Luckily, there’s still 2 more of those left on the schedule, and right now, it looks like they’ll split their last 4 games (Oregon, USC as likely losses, and Oregon State & Washington State as likely wins.)
Next up for the Huskies will be Oregon, who’ll come to Husky Stadium tomorrow at 7:30 PM, for what will be the last game in the old stadium before it’s completely rebuilt an a year-long renovation.
Oh, and FUCK THE DUCKS!