Rutgers game

[WizardHawk]

Went to the game. First quarter is still a bit blurry (damn those were some strong drinks in the parking lot!!!!), but came away with some answers and a few concerns.

John
Ross
III

Per the times ~

“If you find (Ross) isolated at any time, you feel like you have a winner there,’’ Smith said. “So that adds a big dimension.”

One of those Ross touchdowns, Smith said, was supposed to be a running play, but Browning recognized the one-on-one matchup and let ’er rip. The possibility of such big plays down the road is exciting to everyone in the Husky program, but on Saturday, they were more consumed with the human aspect of Ross’ comeback. And so they engulfed him in the end zone after his first TD.

“That’s the best part, because I’m doing it for those guys, really,’’ Ross said. “Just to see the smile on their face, and for them to tell me, ‘Oh, you’re back!’ – I feel loved, and I appreciate those guys so much.”

So Browning has the green light to check out of running plays when he sees the mismatch with Ross. This is going to be a hell of a year boys.

I think we just put the Pac on notice that Ross is back and is better than he was when he went down last year.

Thought Browning had a mostly quality game, particularly hitting those deep routes. Much improved over last year.

Where the absolute fuck was the running game though? Entirely gone that game.

Can we just leave Baker where he belongs? This two way BS doesn't ever seem to work out for us. Don't go getting him injured. You have weapons on offense. Leave him where he is most needed.

 

[jakedog56]

Nice! Thanks for the info. Wish I could have been there myself!

 

[TheDayMan]

24 10 14 0

That's what the box score looks like. I don't care who it was against, it's good to see. Running game is a concern, kept waiting for them to get something going, but, it's not worth being concerned about at this point, it should be there.

Like I said in the PAC thread, good first day back.

 

[BoiseMike19]

Solid win dudes! Got to know us guys 486 miles southeast are hoping you guys knock the ball outta the park this year.

 

[dude82]

I only got to see the first half, but it's all I really needed to see considering the score. If the defense continues to play like it did in this game all season and the passing game continues to improve, that preseason ranking will be more than justified. I'm not worried about the running game. It'll be there. Rutgers might have gone into the game with the plan to not let the running game beat them and the improved passing game made them pay for it. I think once teams realize that they have to start worrying more about Browning and the passing attack, the guys on the ground will take full advantage and that's when it'll get really fun to watch this offense.

 

[WizardHawk]

Compared to most of the other Pac teams, it was clear that UW came out prepared to play and didn't have nearly the kinds of kinks to work out those other teams do. So in that comparison we have to give high marks.

Browning hit on 3 of the 4 deep passes I remember (I'm sure there were others, I was half drunk lol) and he looked pretty comfortable out there. Question is, when he faces any sort of real defense with a pass rush will still look as good. He had all day in that pocket and didn't feel much pressure. There was a couple of passes he threw that a solid defense might have picked off.

It was nice to see Daniels get some passes. You know I'm still looking for that 3rd and long receiver. Really going to watch for that development.

Most of our yards/scoring came on explosive plays. The upside to that is seeing Browning able to hit those deep routes in stride. That's advancement for sure. The question is how many of those are you going to see against a real defense. Need to see more out of the running game and find where those tough 3rd down conversions are going to come from.

You can't say a negative thing about the special teams. Ross is now the all time leader in KO returns for a TD with 4 of them and Pettis has tied the all time punt returns for TD at 3. That was only the 3rd game in school history with both in the same game. And you have to give some serious props to the kicking game. Rutgers has a returner that lights up the field themselves and our kickoffs going out the back of the end zone kept him from doing his thing. Really bodes well going forward.

Can't say anything bad about that defense. The TD late was on the 2nd and 3rd stringers. Hard to judge where they are at against a team with a new offense, but not having anything negative to say is more than good enough for now.

In a week where at least half the conference is asking where they are at and coming out with glaring concerns, ours is mostly minor. Two more weeks to tune up before that road trip to Arizona where we will really see how this team is stacked for the conference run.

 

[mcnabb7542]

John Ross, welcome back kid we missed you!

 

[mcnabb7542]

As for the lack of the running game, sometimes it's good not to get the whole playbook on film.
I liked this approach (game plan) let Jake get his feet wet again in games in the passing game.

As for Rutgers trying to run the ball up the middle against the Dawgs defense, seriously after the 5th attempt coaching staff should have caught on they weren't gonna get any yards in the positive doing that!

 

[WizardHawk]

Petersen's response in his weekly presser about the running game is good enough for now, but I really want to see that unit get after it before the zona game.

He basically said they play to what the defense gives them and if they are crashing down safeties they will go more to the passing or other stretch plays and take what their match ups give them. I guess Rutgers was keying on the run.

 

[mcnabb7542]

Petersen's response in his weekly presser about the running game is good enough for now, but I really want to see that unit get after it before the zona game.

He basically said they play to what the defense gives them and if they are crashing down safeties they will go more to the passing or other stretch plays and take what their match ups give them. I guess Rutgers was keying on the run.

Oh makes total sense, make the young QB beat you with the passing game! To bad the kid isn't suffering from sophomore slump......

I got a feeling that a lot of the other teams will take this same approach. Jake just needs to stay patient, and not force too much, hell checking down to Gaskin is still a huge upside if he breaks a few.

 

[pistlpete]

Also, give up on the wildcat please.

 

[WizardHawk]

What happened in the running game?

Really detailed break down of what went wrong in the running game. Just as I had initially said in my comments, there were glaring problems out there that just shouldn't happen against an opponent like that. Their blocking was a complete disaster most of that first half. I mean I've seen high school teams block better.

They have a lot of work to do before conference play to get that line up to speed.

 

[mcnabb7542]

What happened in the running game?

Really detailed break down of what went wrong in the running game. Just as I had initially said in my comments, there were glaring problems out there that just shouldn't happen against an opponent like that. Their blocking was a complete disaster most of that first half. I mean I've seen high school teams block better.

They have a lot of work to do before conference play to get that line up to speed.

Interesting read, it's game one, I'm writing it off as work in progress.
There is still plenty of "Tune up" time to get it in the right direction prior to the conference play.