After being down 6-0 the Huskies went on a 56-13 scoring binge to beat the Boise State Broncos 56-19. RealDawg selected 5 players who we felt would heavily factor into a Washington victory. So, let’s check out work:
RealDawg.com Said:
“Bralen Trice, Edge
Hemming in Boise State quarterback Jaylen Green will be critical. Once outside the pocket the sophomore signal caller becomes a different threat than just being a passer. Throughout both Spring and Fall camps Trice showed the ability to beat both of Washington’s tackles.”
What Factually Happened:
On Boise State’s 3rd pay of the game Zion Tupuola-Fetui came free from his edge spot, chasing Green from the backside–right into Bralen Trice. Green wanted nothing to do with the All-American and dumped off an incomplete pass. Trice didn’t record a sack but his pressure on Green was consistent and allowed others to come free. Early on defensive lineman Ulumoo Ale got to Green for a near-safety until eventually Edefuan Ulofoshio did drop the Boise State signal-caller behind the line of scrimmage.
Verdict: Nailed it
The pressure from Trice and Washington’s entire defensive front netted 10 consecutive incompletions, including a defensive back Kamren Fabiculanan’s interception. Green hit on 5 straight passes, including two over 40 yards before the pressure took affect. Apart from the 50-yard touchdown that was a simple screen pass with good blocking by Boise State and poor tackling by Washington. Other than that play 70 yards on 30 drop backs including 2 interceptions and a sack.
That’s an average of 2.33 yards per pass attempt after the string of 5 pass completions.
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RealDawg.com Said:
“Edefuan Ulofoshio, Linebacker
It’s been a while since the 6th year senior started a game. However, his ability to anticipate a quarterback’s decisions will be important in containing Green in the running game.
If Green gets knocked around early by Trice, Ulofoshio’s brain will become even more powerful.”
What Factually Happened:
For most of the first half Ulofoshio led the Huskies in tackles. While, he played only a portion of the snaps, on the sideline his brain was in hyperdrive coaching up the linebacking crew.
Ralen Goforth and Deven Bryant each had 4 stops, Alphonzo Tuputala had 3 tackles while Carson Bruener and Drew Fowler each had a tackle as linebackers. In sharing the reps Washington was able to build some linebacker depth.
It wasn’t until early in the 3rd quarter that Ulofoshio recorded the first sack of the season for the Huskies. Green completed only 19 passes and Boise State had just 20 rushing attempts. The LBs accounted for 19 of those tackles.
Verdict: 70-30
Ulofoshio shared many of the snaps that so his on-field impact isn’t as great as expected. However, his brain was in overdrive on Washington’s sideline.
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RealDawg.com Said:
“Rome Odunze, Receiver
Duh, right? The Junior from Las Vegas doesn’t have to put up out-of-this-world stats to have a big impact on the outcome. If Odunze can consistently draw double teams he will make every receiver better down the line.
The visitors may have the ability to matchup with a couple receivers some of the time, but when either Odunze and/or McMillan are double-teamed receivers down the line will benefit.”
What Factually Happened:
Boise State decided to drop 8 defenders into coverage, when Odunze was targeted there were always multiple defenders on him. On Jalen McMillan’s second reception of the day Odunze pulled a second defender deep opening up the underneath route for McMillan who took the ball 35-yards.
Rome Odunze caucht 7 of his 8 targets. His biggest shortest was a 5-yard reception that went for 6 points. His other 6 receptions all went for first down. Taking out the TD the he averaged almost 22 yards per reception.
Verdict: Nailed it
Really, this was the easiest one to figure out.
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RealDawg.com Said
“Asa Turner, Safety
The Washington defensive coaches have called Turner another coach on the field as there’s not a lot that he hasn’t seen in his half a decade on Montlake.
The reason he’s on this list is that he will need to be sound in every aspect of his game. There can’t be any lapses, especially in the run game. If the front can make life uncomfortable for Green, Turner may be the one with the last shot to bring him down.”
What Factually Happened:
Twice he came up with big hits on 3rd down to force punts. His biggest was an open-field tackle behind the line of scrimmage on a screen pass that However, he missed a diving tackle, coming from across the field on a big gainer–it probably won’t go down as a missed tackle. There were times where he could have been in better position to make tackles, but he was flying around the field and did a great job of moving defenders around throughout the game.
Verdict: 70-30
Turner was solid throughout the game, finishing 3rd on the team in tackles with 5, including 2 tackles-for-loss. In all honesty, he cold have led the team in tackles but had a very good day, no less.
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RealDawg.com Said:
“Germie Bernard, Kickoff Returner
Bernard is the 3rd Las Vegas product on this list. The first-year Husky returner has already returned some kicks in Husky Stadium. A year ago while at Michigan State in Husky Stadium, Bernard was returning kickoffs for the Michigan State Spartans. In the few drills available to the press Bernard has shown great hands, but also the patience to set up blocks as well as the vision to set up blocks.
BSU will probably try to run down the clock on Washington’s offense so big returns by Bernard will help the efficiency of the offense.”
What Factually Happened:
Boise State was never able to run down the game clock because of what was listed above by Trice and Ulofoshio. However, Bernard’s 51-yard return to start the game struck the fear of God into the visitors who wanted nothing to do with him from then on out. On 3 of the 4 other KO returns Boise State targeted up backs Richard Newton and Jack Westover.
In the first quarter Newton returned one kick 4 yards to the UW 27. Later on in the game, the only time the BSU kickoff strategy paid off was on Newton’s second return that started at the UW 3 that he took out to the 19. If he’d signaled for a fair catch the ball would have been spotted at the 25.
Westover took the kickoff from the Washington 15 yards from the 21 giving the Huskies good starting field position at its own 36 yard line.
Verdict: 80-20
Bernard’s impact on Boise State’s kickoffs was obvious. On Boise State’s kickoffs only once did the Huskies start behind its own 25 yard line. On the 5 returned kicks UW finished with plus 33 yards of field position. The way that I view that is that the field position opens up the playbook quite a bit more than starting on their own 25 yard line.
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