Now is when we all start trying to second-guess what the coaches are working on behind the closed doors at practice. But after hearing what the coaches have had to say this week, here’s our take on what will need to improve going forward.
The O-line
Scott Huff confirmed today what was very apparent during the last drive against Auburn, “We weren’t ready for the ball to be snapped and the ball was snapped”, he said. That’s all part of the mental game, and if we were working with these big hosses, we’d address that.
Huff stressed today that his unit need to stay “mentally focused” and be able to manage what’s easy. But the o-line still played better than most expected they would and had the vaunted Auburn front on the ropes during most of the second half.
Passing
No, we’re not going to beat up on Jake Browning — we’ll leave the experts on Twitter to do that. Browning had a couple of mental errors, but overall he had a good game against a very stout defense.
It would be nice to see more down-the-middle shots, however, to anyone. Just loosen up the defense and, in doing so, help the running game. Browning needs a hot receiver — and Coach Hamdan needs to set up a play to one go-to guy.
The Pass Rush
One guy who stood out Saturday was Ryan Bowman; you could see this kid fighting it out. But to help out the pass-rush Washington needs to be a little more creative (and we know this was the first game), but the Husky DB’s need to be more in man coverage where they can use a safety to cheat up the line of scrimmage — more safety blitzes.
Would be great to see more Ariel Ngata and Joe Tryon — and kudos to Ryan Bowman Saturday because he was blowing guys up. But Ngata really had a nice showing, “He flashed for sure”, Jimmy Lake told the media this week, “It was fun watching him fly around and playing fast, and that’s what we pride ourselves in; flying around and playing fast.”
Defense Setting the Tone
This is a very good Husky defense. But they need to set the tone when they walk on the field and play with more fire and intensity. This is not an endictment of the defense at all — they have all the tools and, as coach Petersen said, they needed to settle down.
Jimmy Lake also continues to assert that it’s all in the details, “I thought our guys tackled really well for a first game. It really came down to those third downs”.
Field Position and Special Teams
This continues to be the hangnail of the Huskies’ life that they just can’t bite off. Punt coverage needs to improve and there needs to be more hang time. Repeatedly, Auburn was able to kick off to well beyond the endzone, but Washington can’t seem to get a kickoff even close to the endzone. This has been plaguing Washington for far too long.
It was reported that Joel Whitford was banged up going into the game, and so the directional punting and hangtime of his punts wasn’t stellar and that may be why.
But kick-offs need to be longer and deeper.
Football is a game of inches, afterall — so making kickers a priority in recruiting is well-warranted and Chris Petersen just gave out a scholarship in the class of 2019 to prove it.
