At his Monday press conference, Washington head coach Kaleb DeBoer was optimistic despite his first loss with the Huskies.
“Everything is a growth opportunity, he said. In fact, each coach who met with the press repeated those words—multiple times.
It was obvious that they felt that what was learned at UCLA on Friday night was fixable and the team would bounce back this coming Saturday in Tempe, Arizona when they face the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Coach Inge was first to take questions and with the defense, especially the secondary, having issues against UCLA, there were a lot of them. When asked what he learned about the team he described the team as “resilient” and “accountable”.
To follow up on that he was asked what there was to improve on and he responded with getting takeaways and stops on third down.
The Washington defense allowed UCLA to go 10-14 on third down while getting zero takeaways.
The topic of conversation then turned to ASU. When asked about the team he replied that they are a “skillful and athletic football team” and “able to put points on the board”.
The last point was most likely “coach talk” as ASU has been unable to put up more than 25 points against FBS teams so far this season.
He also compared Emory Jones to Michael Penix and it is possible to see the comparison although Jones has been a lot more inconsistent than Penix, throwing only 4 TD’s to 3 interceptions.
Ryan Grubb assessed the offense’s uncharacteristic slow start. Speaking of halftime that was a big topic of conversation, that being, “what did you tell Penix at halftime?”
He made sure Penix knew to go through his progressions and to not start forcing throws where they can’t be made. It did seem this worked because after halftime the offense looked much stronger with Penix throwing 3 TD’s and no picks and nearly leading the Huskies all the way back from a 3-score deficit.
Similar to Inge, a big point with Grubb was the teams resilience. They didn’t give up, they fought to the end. He stated that after the game the players were “devastated” and he believes that the character of the offense was shown in that second half push.
The final coach at the podium was Kalen DeBoer and before starting he made sure to give his thoughts and prayers towards Rick Redman’s family after his passing and congratulate the hometown Mariners on clinching a playoff spot for the first time in 21 years.
He also mentioned he was proud of his guys for fighting to the end, even with all the adversity. DeBoer made it clear that ASU does not play like a team without a coach and they will be taking them seriously, saying there are “still a lot of positive vibes with ASU”.
When asked about the dropped pitch leading to a safety, DeBoer said that it didn’t even cross his mind that the pitch play was a risky move, stating they had made plenty of risky moves all year long and its worked.
DeBoer had a follow up question about his impression when watching the tape and his answer was immediate and direct, lack of takeaways on defense and too many turnovers on offense as well as a lack of explosiveness, especially in the first half.
The focus of the defensive gameplan against ASU seems to be containing Emory Jones who DeBoer said can cause problems with his feet and over the air.
Washington did poorly against last weeks mobile QB but lessons were learned and the hope is they can contain Emory Jones which will weaken their offense severely.
Overall, the coaches exuded confidence that the loss was a bump in the road. DeBoer reiterated that “everything is a growth opportunity” and that he expects the Huskies to rebound and take advantage of this growth opportunity and beat Arizona State.
