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WizardHawk
Release the Kraken - Fuck the Canucks
Friday night game pitting the Huskies against the Bruins at the Rose Bowl. UCLA hasn't lost to UW at home in 18 years.
Lots of ways to boil this down and in most of them UW looks like it should be favored on paper. The problem is how many times this team has under performed on the road.
UW is 78th in run defense, but considering that UCLA had to covert someone to RB just to have a body there should mean this isn't going to be the biggest concern for us. On that same note UCLA is 81st in run defense and we all know that UW is a run first team. ADVANTAGE UW Big time.
Washington is 25th in the nation in passing defense and they will need to lean on that experience in this game. Hundley's play will probably have more impact on the outcome of this game than any other player for either team. UCLA is 28th in passing defense. In the last two games UCLA has given up 247 passing yards to Colorado (along with 134 rushing) and 186 passing yards to Arizona (239 rushing). Neither of those teams are big time passing teams given that Colorado just sucks and Zona is a big time running team. We all know what UW did against both of those teams on defense. Still, Hundley is more dangerous in passing than Price should be considering how many short quick passes UW now features and how poor Price has been on the road. ADVANTAGE slightly to UCLA
So you like UW to run Sankey and run him often which should help Price on the road. I wouldn't be surprised to see UW with at least 200 total rushing yards and wouldn't put 250 out of reach given how many yards they have given up over their last two games. UCLA is dealing with more injuries, but a home game for Hundley could give the Bruins enough to give them the win. As he goes so does their team. If he has a bad game the game will be over in the 3rd quarter with UW running up the score. If he plays well price is going to have to play a much more mistake free game than is typical of him in big road games if they are to be in it late.
I'm really on the fence on this game. If it was on a neutral field I would give the edge to UW. If it was a home game for them I would pick them in a 10pt+ win, but it's not. Sark hasn't done a very good job of getting his teams to play as solidly on the road as they do at home. The question is which is the aberration here: The absolute egg they laid at ASU, or nearly pulling off the upset at Stanford? I think it is easy to say it was the latter as that was probably the best road game they have played under Sark (and yet it was still a loss), but could that Stanford game have given them enough confidence and motivation to know they CAN play on the road?
Add that this is a very big game for both teams. UCLA is very much in the hunt for the south division and cannot allow another loss if they want to keep their RB hopes alive. UW is already bowl eligible, but in his 5th season Sark really cannot afford to lose both of these remaining road games. He must win one, or both to keep his program moving forward and keeping the fans behind him. And he knows it. UCLA may have more on the line and Mora has so far in his short career been able to get his kids up for these pressure filled big games. Well except for playing against the teams that are indeed better than his.
Right, so is UW a better team then would be the question. You take Hundley over Price and Sankey over Jack and both have defenses that are quite similar in overall stats. Because Price is on the road I just can't say they are the better team.
I'm going to say UCLA 32 and UW 27 with turnovers and penalties being the difference.
Still, I would not be surprised at all to see UW win this game. I'm just not calling for it because I have zero faith that Price can play as good of a game as he will need to on the road at this point in his career.
Lots of ways to boil this down and in most of them UW looks like it should be favored on paper. The problem is how many times this team has under performed on the road.
UW is 78th in run defense, but considering that UCLA had to covert someone to RB just to have a body there should mean this isn't going to be the biggest concern for us. On that same note UCLA is 81st in run defense and we all know that UW is a run first team. ADVANTAGE UW Big time.
Washington is 25th in the nation in passing defense and they will need to lean on that experience in this game. Hundley's play will probably have more impact on the outcome of this game than any other player for either team. UCLA is 28th in passing defense. In the last two games UCLA has given up 247 passing yards to Colorado (along with 134 rushing) and 186 passing yards to Arizona (239 rushing). Neither of those teams are big time passing teams given that Colorado just sucks and Zona is a big time running team. We all know what UW did against both of those teams on defense. Still, Hundley is more dangerous in passing than Price should be considering how many short quick passes UW now features and how poor Price has been on the road. ADVANTAGE slightly to UCLA
So you like UW to run Sankey and run him often which should help Price on the road. I wouldn't be surprised to see UW with at least 200 total rushing yards and wouldn't put 250 out of reach given how many yards they have given up over their last two games. UCLA is dealing with more injuries, but a home game for Hundley could give the Bruins enough to give them the win. As he goes so does their team. If he has a bad game the game will be over in the 3rd quarter with UW running up the score. If he plays well price is going to have to play a much more mistake free game than is typical of him in big road games if they are to be in it late.
I'm really on the fence on this game. If it was on a neutral field I would give the edge to UW. If it was a home game for them I would pick them in a 10pt+ win, but it's not. Sark hasn't done a very good job of getting his teams to play as solidly on the road as they do at home. The question is which is the aberration here: The absolute egg they laid at ASU, or nearly pulling off the upset at Stanford? I think it is easy to say it was the latter as that was probably the best road game they have played under Sark (and yet it was still a loss), but could that Stanford game have given them enough confidence and motivation to know they CAN play on the road?
Add that this is a very big game for both teams. UCLA is very much in the hunt for the south division and cannot allow another loss if they want to keep their RB hopes alive. UW is already bowl eligible, but in his 5th season Sark really cannot afford to lose both of these remaining road games. He must win one, or both to keep his program moving forward and keeping the fans behind him. And he knows it. UCLA may have more on the line and Mora has so far in his short career been able to get his kids up for these pressure filled big games. Well except for playing against the teams that are indeed better than his.
Right, so is UW a better team then would be the question. You take Hundley over Price and Sankey over Jack and both have defenses that are quite similar in overall stats. Because Price is on the road I just can't say they are the better team.
I'm going to say UCLA 32 and UW 27 with turnovers and penalties being the difference.
Still, I would not be surprised at all to see UW win this game. I'm just not calling for it because I have zero faith that Price can play as good of a game as he will need to on the road at this point in his career.