Washington-BYU: The Call Happened, But So Did a Football Game

I've had a few days to stew over that call and come to terms with the consequences.  I'm not here to debate the call, and I won't respond to comments about the call.  Here are the observations I made outside of the last two seconds.

The Huskies' young receivers are going to be very good

I can count multiple times that guys like D'Andre Goodwin and Jermaine Kearse were able to get behind the defense and cause havoc.

Goodwin has fairly good hands.  With the exception of one key drop in the last series, I thought he looked great.  Look at that bobbled catch midway through the game, or keeping his feet on the ground to make the grab when Jake Locker was scrambling.

Kearse had a great 48-yard reception for a touchdown with the BYU defender all over him.

Kavario Middleton looks very, very solid, and if he gets his blocking down he will explode for the Huskies.  Locker needs to get his accuracy down if the Huskies are going to capitalize on the talent.

BYU's offense is amazing—their defense, not so much

The short passing game was so incredibly effective against the Huskies.  Max Hall just could play pitch and catch all day.  With the exception of some key drops and an interception, he had an almost perfect day.

Harvey Unga is a very solid back as well: 136 yards on the ground is nothing to shake a stick at.  There just was a lot of space for the BYU offense to operate.

Granted, the defense opened up a lot of holes for the Huskies to exploit as well.  As I mentioned before, the young receivers were able to get behind the secondary constantly, as well as finding spaces to keep drives alive.  If BYU wants to continue their quest for perfection, they need to tighten up the defense.

The injury to Chris Polk may be the best thing for the Huskies

Chris Polk dislocated his shoulder in the game, and with the injury to Brandon Johnson as well, carrying duties went to David Freeman and Willie Griffin.  Freeman gained 30 yards on six carries and Griffin gained 14 on two carries.

That doesn't sound at all impressive, but Polk only gained about 14 yards on six carries and only had 1.3 yards per rush in the Oregon game.

I still feel Chris Polk will be an explosive player, but he's having difficulty finding space to operate.  Freeman and Griffin are much more bruising players, and our running game seemed to move when they were in the game.

Jake is starting to mature

He still is throwing with a lot of heat and still overthrows the deep ball, but I think he is becoming a much more well-rounded player.  He is stepping back in the pocket and waiting longer for the plays to develop, instead of making the short runs.

Locker still has amazing escapability, and his running style still amazes me to watch.  He has that gazelle-style running mixed with a fullback's frame, and he is a danger with open space.  Just look at that 4th-and-10 play in the final drive of the game.

The best thing I can say about Locker thus far though: He has played two games and not thrown an interception yet.  I can think of multiple times in games last season where he would force a pass late in the game, ending any comeback bids.  Like I said, he just needs to calm the passing down even more.

Both our offensive and defensive lines are nonexistent

What more can I say, other than to quote a few statistics?  Locker was sacked 18 times last season—he's been sacked seven times in two games.

If you take Locker's numbers out of the running game, the Huskies have only rushed for 109 yards in two games.  Our starting running back has 33 yards on 20 carries for 1.7 yards per carry.  Don't expect to have a 1,200-yard rusher like Louis Rankin again this season.

On the defensive side, there have been zero sacks so far and very few quarterback pressures.  Justin Roper, Jeremiah Masoli, and Hall have all had ages to make plays, and it has showed.  Oregon gained almost 500 yards on the Dawgs, 240 of which were on the ground.  BYU gained 475 yards, allowing a player to rush for almost 140 yards.

With Oklahoma and DeMarco Murray and Sam Bradford coming to Seattle next week, we can hope the D-line kicks it up a gear.

Those are some observations I had about my Dawgs.  Feel free to agree or disagree as much as you would like!