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Bowman, Otton, Lake talk Dawg Dominance over 'Cats Nov 22, 2020

Show notes

It may not be reflected on the scoreboard by those who didn't watch the game, but the final score of the Arizona-Washington game could have been called at the end of the third quarter.

At that point, the score was Washington 37-0, they had outgained Arizona 392-66, and UW Head Coach Jimmy Lake called in the Dawgs. He had seen enough.

"That's Husky Football right there," he said, matter-of-factly, to the media post-game as he went through all the superlatives; from the play of Dylan Morris in his second-career start as UW's quarterback, to the balanced run game, to the much-improved passing attack, to the flat-out suffocating pressure employed by Washington's 'Death Row' defense on Arizona quarterback Grant Gunnell.

So complete was UW's defensive effort through the first three quarters, Gunnell looked visibly shaken for a couple of series. He went on to lead the Wildcats to 27 fourth-quarter points, but Lake had already committed to playing as many backups as he could, so he was more than comfortable sacrificing some short-term pain to make sure the younger players got a taste of game time under the Husky Stadium lights.

In all, Washington played 63 players.

Lake talked about the improvements made from last week, especially when it came to UW's run defense, as well as shoring things up on special teams and once again dominating the football to the tune of nearly 37 minutes in time of possession.

The media also spoke with tight end Cade Otton, who caught 7 passes for 100 yards and 1 touchdown, as well as senior outside linebacker Ryan Bowman, who finished his abbreviated evening with 3 tackles, including 1 tackle for loss and 1 sack.

DawgmanRadio: Plenty of Arizona pregame talk Nov 21, 2020

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The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - put together their Saturday morning thoughts on this pregame podcast. The Washington Huskies host the Arizona Wildcats tonight at Husky Stadium. Game time is set at 5 pm PT and will be televised on FOX.

The Huskies (1-0) are coming off a hard-fought 27-21 win over Oregon State, while the 'Cats come to Seattle licking their wounds a little bit. They also had a very hard-fought game, but came up on the losing end of a 34-30 scoreline to USC.

Will UW open things up a little bit more now that Dylan Morris has his first 60 minutes under his belt? And does that mean with his arm, or with is feet? Will they rely a little bit more on Sean McGrew tonight? And how much progress will the offensive line make from game one to game two?

On the other side of the ball, what's a reasonable expectation for defending Grant Gunnell? Would they dare spy on him, or increase the pressure at the line of scrimmage in an attempt to keep the sophomore quarterback bottled up?

The front seven needs to show they can contain UA RB Gary Brightwell, forcing Gunnell into some favorable down-and-distance situations. Is Brightwell capable of having a Jermar Jefferson-type performance against UW? Will the Husky front seven learn their lessons from the Oregon State game and apply them?

Lastly, how big of an impact can Trent McDuffie have on UW's special teams? He had a great first game against the Beavers, so will Arizona kick away from him? Or will they take their chances?

Grinolds, Fetters, and Eklund also give their final thoughts on what they expect to see later on tonight and the keys that might spell the difference in the game.

The Interns talk OSU, Arizona preview Nov 20, 2020

Show notes

Jack McCauley and Luke Mounger, collectively known as the Dawgman Interns, hit the record button and gave their thoughts on Washington's 27-21 win over Oregon State in UW's season opener, but also took their time in breaking down the Huskies' next opponent - the Arizona Wildcats.

Starting with the offense, Luke shares his thoughts on what they saw from that side of the ball in Arizona's 34-30 loss to USC, a game they should have won. It all starts with quarterback Grant Gunnell, running back Gary Brightwell, and their talented group of receivers, but the Wildcats also have a pretty good-sized line upfront.

Luke then talks about a couple of his key matchups he's going to be watching during Saturday night's game, and the two discuss some other things that they think Arizona might try and get accomplished against Washington's Death Row defense.

Moving to Arizona's defense, Jack breaks down what he saw from last weekend's game. The Wildcats were featuring a new scheme and a brand-new coaching staff across the board on that side of the ball, but statistically not much changed from previous years.

They talk about new UA Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads and what the Wildcats lost in terms of impact players from last year. Starting with the defensive line, Jack provides information on the players you should know about heading into the game.

Lastly, Luke and Jack take a look at the matchups on that side of the ball when looking at it from how Washington's offense might be able to attack the 'Cats. Will they do it by strictly pounding the football as they did against Oregon State? Or will they try and open things up a little bit more for Dylan Morris, now that he has a game start under his belt?

Switching over to what Washington's defense needs to take advantage of, Luke provides a couple of keys in terms of UW personnel and which defensive players need to step up to keep Arizona's offense back in Tucson.

To wrap it up, Jack and Luke give their confidence level of a Washington win. Do they come up with the same number?

DawgmanRadio: Wildcat Authority's Jason Scheer breaks down UA Nov 19, 2020

Show notes

When it comes to scouting this week's opponent, we always try and get the word directly from those that cover the team the closest, and no one covers Arizona athletics online closer than Jason Scheer, the Publisher of WildcatAuthority.com, the UA site on the 247Sports Network.

After a quick update on UA Hoops Coach Sean Miller, it's on to the football team. Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds hosted Scheer for the chat, and they started with the general feeling around Tucson when talking about head coach Kevin Sumlin.

Then the talk moved to Arizona's 34-30 loss to USC this past weekend. The focus was on the defense, with new defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads and a new defensive staff. They break things down position group by position group, which highlights the fine margins and thin depth the Wildcats is dealing with at present.

After a quick break, the script is flipped and talk turned to Arizona's offense, led by quarterback Grant Gunnell, running back Gary Brightwell, and a host of talented receivers. They all had very good games against USC, including a late drive in the fourth quarter that, in another scenario, would have proven good enough to win the game. Is Gunnell reminiscent of former UA QB Nick Foles? They also break down Arizona's offensive line.

To finish the conversation off, Grinolds asks Scheer about the 'Cats special teams and Scheer provides an interesting admission about Arizona's placekicker when provided an end-of-game scenario.

If Arizona wins the game Saturday night, Scheer provides his keys to victory. And if the home team comes out on top, he offers some ideas as to how Washington was able to take advantage of the Wildcats.

DawgmanRadio: Lake, Huskies excited to play Arizona this weekend Nov 19, 2020

Show notes

While he was ecstatic to get his first win as a head coach last Saturday night against Oregon State, Jimmy Lake isn't one to dwell on the past. Heck, he even admits the fact that losses stick with him more than wins do. Even with that in mind, Lake was able to give his thoughts on how a handful of individual players played in the first game of the season, a 27-21 win over the Beavers, and he said he expects the team to build off of what they did well and to improve on what didn't go so well in game one.

Asked about the play of the offensive line, Lake said that as a whole, that group had a very good game and he feels that M.J. Ale and Henry Bainivalu are two of the better guards in the conference. Both were dominant in a 267-yard effort on the ground for the Huskies and he also felt like Luke Wattenberg, who made the move from left guard to center during the offseason, had an outstanding game at center where he was able to be the leader of the offensive line and make the calls to help out a young signal-caller.

Lake admitted that he got a big grin out of the fact that a coaching friend of his called and said that the first third down conversion of the season came on a fullback dive play to Jack Westover. That's his kind of football and he noted that while Westover may not have gotten many carries before he set foot on a college campus, the sophomore tight end told the media he got just one carry as an eighth-grader, that during training camp, he probably got 150 as they worked on those dive plays over and over again, so it wasn't something they were worried about.

Overall, the first-year head coach said his team has practiced well this week, they've come in and focused on preparing for a good Arizona team that has a lot of weapons that can hurt you.

Westover, Pleasant enjoy carrying the ball in Donovan's offense Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

He may have only been in the eighth grade, but it's not like Jack Westover hasn't had his chance to tote the rock.

And yes, it was just that one time against Bainbridge, but clearly, the Washington coaches thought enough of Westover's athleticism and ability to have him carry the ball three times Saturday night in UW's 27-21 win over Oregon State.

The sophomore tight end, now on scholarship, talked about those carries, his initial reaction when his name was called, as well as whether or not he considers himself a tight end or fullback. He spoke on his versatility and how basketball trained him to become a good football player.

The media also spoke to senior running back Kamari Pleasant, who talked about the work he put in during the off-season to become UW's number-one running back. Now at 221 pounds, Pleasant has reshaped his body and his mind, never once losing focus on his goals.

He spoke about John Donovan's new offense and how he feels like it can exploit the talent that UW has on that side of the ball.

Kamari also broke down the strengths of each of the running backs in Coach Keith Bhonapha's 'stable'.

Both Kamari and Jack talked about Dylan Morris's first game as Washington's starting quarterback and what makes him ideally suited for the job.

DawgmanRadio: 'Do your job' is key for UW defensive improvement Nov 17, 2020

Show notes

Washington sophomores Edefuan Ulofoshio and Trent McDuffie each spoke with the media following their practice on Tuesday and they were asked several questions about what was the difference in shutting down Oregon State in the second half as opposed to the first half when the Beavers gashed Washington on the ground. While there were obviously some finer points to the endeavor, the root cause was a succinct 'Do your job'.

What does that mean?

Ulofoshio said there were players who were out of position and were trying to do too many things and that led to open creases in their run defense.

For his part, McDuffie said the secondary felt like they played really well and they are looking forward to the challenge of playing Arizona this weekend, a team with a tailback in Gary Brightwell who has a similar running style to that of Oregon State's Jermar Jefferson, but also a boatload of big, athletic wideouts and a young gun-slinger at quarterback in Grant Gunnell who can hurt you with his arm of his legs.

Looking back on his opportunity to return punts in the game against Oregon State, McDuffie said it's something he did all through high school and it is something he has confidence and comfort in doing.

DawgmanRadio: OSU-UW after further review Nov 16, 2020

Show notes

It's a ritual that most college football fans have the luxury of nowadays; re-watching the game on their DVR. So that's what Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund did Sunday, but they waited until they got a chance to hear UW Head Coach Jimmy Lake's thoughts on what he saw on both sides of the ball before putting out their own takes.

First, they talk about Lake's decision to not report on any player that didn't play in the game, injury or not. This isn't necessarily a departure from how Chris Petersen handled the injury question, but Lake went a little further, issuing a blanket statement for strategy concerns, rather than just for secrecy.

Then they go through the game itself, from quarterback Dylan Morris's game as a first-time starter, to Lake's admission that, upon further review they probably should have used Sean McGrew more in the game late to salt things away. They go through John Donovan's debut as Washington's offensive coordinator, as well as Lake's comment about Cade Otton having his best blocking day as a Husky on Saturday.

We go in-depth with our thoughts on the power run game, as well as Lake's comments about how championship teams start with running the ball.

Moving to defense, they talk about the difficulties faced by having to try and stop OSU's Jermar Jefferson, and Lake's comments about run fit and technique things that need to be cleaned up. And is Zion Tupuola-Fetui going to have the same kind of season that Joe Tryon did last year? We'll see.

DawgmanRadio: Lake is happy with how his team handled adversity Nov 16, 2020

Show notes

Jimmy Lake spent his Monday press conference praising his team's efforts and their ability to handle adversity in their win over Oregon State on Saturday night. He was especially effusive in his praise of offensive coordinator John Donovan and redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan Morris, the latter of which he felt played as well as he could have considering the conditions.

A big reason Lake was so encouraged by what Morris was able to do was the fact that even in rainy and windy conditions, the South Sound native was able handle the ball well in the running game, carrying out fakes and making sure the ball was placed where it needed to be so that there were no errors in ball-handling and he said he made good decisions, used his legs when needed and he commanded the huddle.

Lake said that Donovan did exactly what he asked him to do which was to implement a gameplan that was built for the conditions and adapt things as necessary during the game. He felt that the first-year coordinator was able to do of this despite the weird year they have had where they didn't have spring football and they weren't able to meet in person until September.

Cade Otton was another player Lake singled out for his efforts, saying while he wasn't targeted much, the junior tight end's efforts as a blocker may have been his best since arriving on campus.

Defensively, Lake said that middle linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio and outside linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui were both players who had great games with Tupuola-Fetui getting a game ball and Ulofoshio being named the defensive player of the game, but he said they had some work to do on stopping the run and felt like they were both "fit and technique" related.

Lake also talked a little bit about Arizona, Washington's upcoming opponent this weekend, and what makes their running game so hard to defend.

It was ugly, it was beautiful, it was a win Nov 15, 2020

Show notes

It was Dawg weather out there at Husky Stadium; temperature in the low 40's and raining. And Jimmy Lake was bound and determined to make it even uglier for the Oregon State Beavers.

Washington held on to the ball for 37 minutes, ran for nearly 270 yards, and eventually put the Beavers in a position where they were forced to throw the ball late to make up ground, and it was there where Death Row put OSU away.

Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund break down all the stats and the moments that mattered, including the debut of Dylan Morris at quarterback, the lack of some defensive starters, and how that may have altered how UW wanted to do things from the jump, Jaden Green's eventful Pac-12 debut, and John Donovan's pro attack straight out of the smash-mouth era of the Hogs and those NFL teams that were dominant at the line of scrimmage.

When Lake told the media early on he wanted to predicate his offense on an aggressive, physical downhill run game, he wasn't kidding. They ran 51 times for 267 yards and three touchdowns.

Morris finished his day 14-24 for 141 yards, no scores, but more importantly no interceptions. His long play was to Terrell Bynum for 42 yards.

But there were some obvious moments where the Huskies stumbled in their season debut. The blocked punt touchdown by OSU to start the game was a major black mark, and Washington had opportunities to do more on offense but was let down with drops and pass blocks at the line of scrimmage. That can happen sometimes when your quarterback is 6 feet tall and it's pouring rain.

In the end, Grinolds, Fetters, and Eklund break it all down, including what the next game might hold for UW's new offense, in this 37-minute post-game reaction pod.

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