Coming out of spring football and going into fall camp, on paper, the Huskies had the most explosve offense in the Pac-12.
It started out when Hunter Bryant got hurt and had to have surgery. This guy would have created mismatches against any team. And of course, the Trey Adams saga.
Who knew? The general assumption had been that Adams would be back and ready for Utah — but no.
** Coach Petersen confirmed that Adams had had surgery on his back — so he’s out. We don’t have any definitive word on how long, “I haven’t talked to the doctors or anything, so we’ll deal with that later”, Petersen said.
** Petersen said last week that center Nick Harris is week-to-week; although he’s listed as the starter on the two-deeps for this week.
** Punter Joel Whitford has also been sidelined due to being banged up, and is also listed as week-to-week.
** Linebacker DJ Beavers is likewise week-to-week.
That’s five starters — and none of this could come at a worse time.
The Utah Utes have been somewhat of an achilles heel the past few seasons. Washington has been on the winning side a majority of the time — but three years ago Washington lost to Utah, and in 2016 Dante Pettis had a big return late in the game to seal a close one at Utah. And then last year the Utes had the Huskies on the ropes until late in the game and victory game by way of a field goal.
What’s at stake for the Huskies right now is not the college football playoff or the rankings. The rankings have actually been kind to the Huskies considering the milquetoast performance they put on Saturday.
No, what’s at stake is the conference itself — and this is gut-check time for these Dawgs.
“To start with Auburn and then go to Utah…the styles are a little bit different — but every bit the same”, Petersen said this morning at the press meeting in Seattle, “We’re going to an extremely hard place to play; harder than where we played back East because we’re truly on their campus. It’s a team that is super well-coached and is going to be one of the better teams in the country when it’s all said and done.”
That there is a pretty profound statement coming from Petersen; but we all know that Utah is one of the most well-coached teams in all facets. They are very disciplined, rarely beat themselves, and are very astute at special teams.
Punt returner, Britain Covey is a guy to keep an eye on Saturday, and that’s not a good thing — this kid is a real threat.
“He is really, really good”, Petersen said, “I’d forgot about him.”
Petersen laughed a bit when talking about how Covery had taken a mission and has now returned, “Now he’s back — and he looks like he’s picked up where he left off; he’s hard to tackle.”
And since we’re talking about who to keep an eye on, watch out for linebacker, Chase Hansen, “It seems like he’s been at Utah forever — would somebody please check his eligibility.”
Hansen had started out as a safety and now he’s a linebacker. He’s been a real difference-maker at that position for the Utes as well. In the 17-6 win over Northern Illinois, Hansen came on late with a fumble recovery, a huge sack, and a game-sealing interception.
All in all, this game is going to be a huge challenge for the Huskies — and as we said over the weekend in this article the Huskies still appear to be searching for their identity.
No matter who the Huskies play this week — they have to run the ball.
Back in the day the L.A. Lakers and Boston Celtics featured two of the best in the game in Magic Johnson and Larry Byrd. Pat Riley told his team, “No rebounds, no rings”.
For Washington? It’s “no running game, no rings.”
The Huskies are now a 6-point favorite — but this could be a pick’em game. Why? Consider the last two meetings between these teams. If I was into the betting world (which I’m not) I would say stay far, far away from this game. How do we know which Husky team will show up?
