Washington Football: EWU Game Leaves Many Unanswered Questions

The first drive of the game was a Washington possession and the result was a three and out. The punt was fumbled by EWU and recovered by the huskies at the 23-yard line.

Three plays later Keith Price threw a touchdown pass to Jonathan Amosa. At that point it looked like the start of a slaughtering of the reigning FCS Champs at Husky Stadium. It turned out to be a crucial twist of fate, without which, the Huskies would have another 0-1 start to the year.

The areas of the team that most fans were concerned about proved to be true. Keith Price struggled to make much of an impact at all, never completing a pass over ten yards. A knee injury that happened early in the game hampered his mobility. Our supposed dual threat QB appeared to have lost a couple of his threats. This was supposed to be the year that Washington proved that they were more than just a supporting cast for the Jake Locker Show. September 3^rd was anything but. In the fourth quarter the Huskies got the ball back with 3:43 left to play. They handed the ball off to Polk 3 consecutive times and went nowhere. Punted. And gave Eastern the chance to score, where only an end zone interception by Desmond Trufant saved the day from absolute disaster. Price is going to need to do more than hand the ball off as the season goes on. That 3:43 should have ended with the ball in Price’s hands.

A secondary often criticized for crumbling against good passing offenses did just that, yielding 473 yards through the air to the Eagles. And the line backing corps that needed to replace 2 starters (one of which being Mason Foster) struggled to do much of anything against opponents they out-weighed by 30 lbs. But those were areas we knew were going to struggle, perhaps the most disheartening thing about Saturday were the areas that were supposed to be our strengths. Through spring and fall camps the coaches have talked about how improved the Offensive Line would be this year, the talent and depth of our wide receiving crew, the intensity of our defensive line. All were a non-factor on Saturday afternoon. If not for success in Special Teams, this story would have a much different ending.

The main disappointment, as was the case at the start of the 2010 season, was how did all the intensity from last year evaporate? A strong finish and an epic performance in the Holiday Bowl seemed to be a decade away. All those extra practices seemed useless. This team needs to get back up to speed in a hurry as a pass happy Hawaii team is on the way. And after that is a certain corn-centric team that has had Sept. 17^th circled since the day after the Holiday Bowl. Old questions remain, new ones have been added, and answers are due in 5 days. Good luck.