Boise Recap....

[mcnabb7542]

I'm gonna start with the defense. "McNabb why would you start with the defense when the offense couldn't stay out of the end zone last night?"

For the simple fact that INT Price threw right off the bat could've seriously killed the volume level in the stadium, but the defense took it right back, ( yes it was under thrown pass) but this team needed more of the easy stuff and they cashed it in. Wilcox has this unit playing really well, from the 20yd to the other 20 yd the played a "safe" coverage zone, and they wouldn't let the wide out gain any other yards after the catch. Then inside the red zone they were flat out nasty, to keep Boise out of the end zone was huge. My MVP on defense last night is simple, Danny Shelton. The big man was all over the place, and to play at that speed and for to continue to run sideline to sideline was very impressive, sure the corners had a good game, Thompson was a monster too, but Shelton really impressed me, in the third he's tapping the top of his helmet,( telling coaches he needs a breather) but he never left the field, he just kept motoring...

Offense, well its easy to sum up. Keith Price was the Price of old. The OLine did a good job, they had a 100yd rusher, they threw the ball all over the place to multiple targets, it was just flat out to watch as a fan. one turn over, always good. Sankey looked fantastic, Washington came in and ran the ball well too.


Coaching, in the middle of the week Wiz made a comment about if the Dawgs lost he was gonna be beating the "Sark on the Hot Seat" drum, and he was right, I was thinking leading up to the game last night if the Dawgs came out flat I was gonna beat the same drum, enough talk it was time to put up.
What this man did with this offense was a frickn treat, to install a hurry up process isnt easy, even running a pro style plays, but they didnt miss a beat last night, no delay of time calls. They call it basketball on grass, and you know what it was, they sucked the wind out of Boise, and it was well talked about by the TV booth guys, it was impressive,


Now its time to see if they come down off there mountain, road game needs to show a lot of improvement, defense needs to continue its growth, and the offense will need to continue to spread the ball around, thats how winning teams win, they spread the ball around...

 

[Ironbreaker]

I was never a fan of Sark, I didn't like the hire. I'm a defense first smash mouth football type of person, he isn't.
That being said after he was hired I never hated on him. I was ecstatic when he hired Holt. Ooops!

I don't think I've ever been more wrong in evaluating a coaching change. Sark wins me over a little more each season. He sometimes does things I don't like/agree with like benching ASJ just before this past game. Didnt like the way it was handled, but thats another story.


I can't find anything about this game to be overly concerned about. It was the complete package. Sure the D bent at pts but it didn't break.

Here's to more of the same!

 

[TheDayMan]

What an awesome start to the season.

 

[WizardHawk]

It's obvious that all phases of the game were dominate last night and it would take pages to give props to everyone who deserves it. While the problems/issues may not be crazy bad, they are worth discussing moving forward to looking at the Pac schedule.

I will say the red zone offense was not impressive until BSU wore out. They managed one TD in the first half despite moving the ball at will. How will they do against a more stout defense with deeper reserves and better conditioning?

Sark going for it on 4th down in FG range when you have a small lead was a really bad call IMO. Even if you get the TD on that drive you just don't do that. Take the 3 and put the pressure right back on the other team. I'd also say why on earth wouldn't you have Sankey out on that play if you are going to run it? There were several plays like that where you had to wonder what they were thinking. Yes, overall the play calling was great and the progress is huge. I'm just pointing out it wasn't perfect.

The bend but don't break was a success as UW became the only team to ever keep BSU out of the end zone since Petersen came to the team, but everyone in the post game last night talked about the need to get the LB's to cover better in short routes over the middle. The secondary was fucking outstanding and was the top unit out there and that's huge moving forward as there were questions on their man coverage down field and their ability to keep the plays in front of them. Check and check.

You also have to give props to the special teams. Van Winkle was putting every kick off in the end zone which is a huge upgrade from coons last year. Coons was nailing every FG and punt. What was a big question going into the season was solid in game 1. Now go do that on the road... The cover units were both solid as well. I think Boise had one kick off return past the 25 and that's a team with a lot of speed and big play potential on returns.

Penalties. This was the first game under a new offense so there is no need to panic, but they will really have to clean that stuff up if they are to have success against Arizona and Oregon. They now have the next two games to get in sync and fix those as well as the plays where they just looked lost and took too long to get the play in and set. In short, they have a long way to go to master the hurry up offense no matter how impressive their first showing was.

 

[mcnabb7542]

I was never a fan of Sark, I didn't like the hire. I'm a defense first smash mouth football type of person, he isn't.
That being said after he was hired I never hated on him. I was ecstatic when he hired Holt. Ooops!

I don't think I've ever been more wrong in evaluating a coaching change. Sark wins me over a little more each season. He sometimes does things I don't like/agree with like benching ASJ just before this past game.

The one thing he has done here is that he's not affraid to make changes if its not working. Holt didnt work, so he changed it. Last night the up tempo offense, calling it basketball on grass, that was awesome. The guy is tweaking and adjusting everything, they have depth now, and they have speed now, its gonna be an exciting season...

 

[geneh_33]

Congrats, guys. Total domination over Boise. Things are looking up for UDub.

 

[#1BostonFan]

Pretty shocked when I saw BSU lose so badly.

 

[gohusk]

Hiring Holt set the program back 2 years and Sark waited a year too long to can him. You just have to watch one Seahawks game to see who was really calling the shots on defense at USC. Unfortunately, you just have to watch one Seahawks game from a couple of years ago to see who wasn't calling the shots on offense at USC. If he does decide to make the jump to the NFL hopefully it's taking the OC job with the Seahawks.

 

[RegentDenali]

Nice mention by Stewart Mandel of S.I. at the beginning of his weekly column College Football Overtime of who made week 1 statements:

Washington: The veteran Huskies, desperate to get over the seven-win hump in 2013, spent the offseason implementing a hurry-up offense. Against Boise St, they ran 84 plays (up from 69.5 avg in 2012) and racked up 592 yards against a normally stingy Broncos' defense. Even more impressive, Washington held Chris Petersen's team to its lowest point total since 1997 in a 38-6 rout. "We started fast and played fast for the entire game," said Huskies LB Shaq Thompson. Oregon and Stanford may have another challenger in the Pac-12 North.

 

[Berkeley_Blues]

Boise State's conservative, uncreative playing calling had me wondering in the back of my mind if the fix was on. mystifying and painful to watch. A banal pistol with read option over and over. So un-Boise like.

Time to fire an OC and start working in the Frosh QB -- Patti. BSU will be fine as they have something like 45 freshmen on this roster.

(Washington played an excellent football game)

 

[RegentDenali]

They're replaying it on PAC12 network right now.

The 4-1 stop at 3:50 in the 3rd really was the key to that game. Sandwiched between the two UW TDs.

That was when the outcome was decided.

But plenty more football to play and Huskies got to learn how to win on the road.

 

[mcnabb7542]

Boise State's conservative, uncreative playing calling had me wondering in the back of my mind if the fix was on. mystifying and painful to watch. A banal pistol with read option over and over. So un-Boise like.

Time to fire an OC and start working in the Frosh QB -- Patti. BSU will be fine as they have something like 45 freshmen on this roster.

(Washington played an excellent football game)

Berk the biggest thing I saw that was huge in favor of the Dawgs was the dropped passes, there was three or four that if the catch was made, Boise was in big time business...

 

[mcnabb7542]

They're replaying it on PAC12 network right now.

The 4-1 stop at 3:50 in the 3rd really was the key to that game. Sandwiched between the two UW TDs.

That was when the outcome was decided.

But plenty more football to play and Huskies got to learn how to win on the road.

Agreed that was the turning point in the game...

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

WE WILL BEAT WISCONSIN IN 2 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[WizardHawk]

That was the turning point, but the cause was Boise's lack of depth and conditioning. You could see how tired they were by mid 3rd quarter. How do we know? Because we have watched that over and over vs Arizona, Oregon, and other up tempo offenses ourselves.

This is why we will not know how good this team really is until they face a team with more veteran depth on defense. I really doubt Oregon will be fatigued in the 3rd quarter and we know Stanford can go the distance on an up tempo team.

I honestly think we caught Boise at the right time. Southwick is no Moore, they only had 9 returning starters on both sides, and have gone really young in their depth. UW has been burned the same way in recent years with great starters, but not enough quality depth to stay up with those teams.

 

[WizardHawk]

How cool would it be to watch the game from one of these new touchdown suites? Those people look really close to the action. I saw those when I was at the stadium and the amenities looked outstanding. The view is unique to say the least.