Utes vs. Huskies official thread

[SeattleUte]

This is a good matchup. Two branches of the Lavelle tree square off. One a seasoned vet who has reached the pinnacle, the other a young one who seems to have stablished he can coach. Sarkisian is still rebuilding, the Huskies look a little at loose ends and soft, but he's taken them a long ways. I'm afraid it won't be so long before Sark is USC's coach. They're both good guys. It always adds a layer of anxiety for me when the opposing coach is a prick, like Bronco. The universities look a lot like one another--Utah is kind of an upper middle class man's Washington. It feels good to be in the same conference with an elite school in every way like Washington!

[hostile]

Scheduling for this game is not ideal.... I'll watch the first 50 minutes or so, then race to the stake center for Gen'l PH meeting and watch the rest on DVR later. I certainly will be using all technological means to keep track of the score in the meantime. The Spirit will sustain me during this trial, I am sure.

Plus, it's the opening day of the duck hunt. Since Utah relies on the parking spaces at the LDS institute for stadium parking, they are going to rebroadcast the PH meeting later.

[LA Ute]

Scheduling for this game is not ideal.... I'll watch the first 50 minutes or so, then race to the stake center for Gen'l PH meeting and watch the rest on DVR later. I certainly will be using all technological means to keep track of the score in the meantime. The Spirit will sustain me during this trial, I am sure.

[SeattleUte]

I agree, it won't stay at -8. These next two weeks are when we find out who Utah really is.

It started at -6.5 Utah, and apparently shot up to -8. Now it's at -7.5.

[BoylenOver]

I agree, it won't stay at -8. These next two weeks are when we find out who Utah really is.

With both of those games at RES, it's hard not to be optimistic.

[Hot Lunch]

Utah opens -8. I anticipate that will come down a few points in the next day or so.

I agree, it won't stay at -8. These next two weeks are when we find out who Utah really is.

[BoylenOver]

Utah opens -8. I anticipate that will come down a few points in the next day or so.

[snowcat]

Seattle Ute is your father?

[New Mexican Disaster]

My father has degrees from both Washington and Utah. Come game day he will be cheering for BYU.

Seattle Ute is your father?

[snowcat]

There will be no uncertainty in my allegiace two weeks from yesterday.

My father has degrees from both Washington and Utah. Come game day he will be cheering for BYU.

[Paperback Writer]

Originally posted some of this in the week 3 thread but it looks like this thread is the better place. As a Nebraska fan, I've watched the Nebraska-Washington game a couple of times to try and figure out if Nebraska is really a Top Ten team or a pretender. Here's a few of my observations about the Washington Huskies:

Keith Price is a very good passing QB. I think he was helped a bit by a young Nebraska secondary missing it's best CB, but Price played well and ran the Husky offense effeciently. Price made good reads and usually threw the ball on target to the best receiving option. He did throw one pick when he delivered a bit late and a speedy Nebraska LB made a good play. The Huskies have a decent set of receivers to throw to and their slot receiver (Aguilar) caused some match up problems for the Husker defense. Both of the Huskie wide outs caught a couple of TD passes and had good days. Even so, there were a few drops by the receivers and it cost Washington. A lot of Washington's passing success was was due to too little pressure from Nebraska. Nebraska didn't blitz often and when they did it was picked up. Washington's O-line had a good day.

Washingon also had a very balanced offense - Chris Polk is also a very good RB, every bit as good as he showed last year. He ran well between the tackles and picked up extra yards - too many extra yards. As stated earlier, Washington's O-line played well. I'm thinking Nebraska's D-line is overrated because Fresno St.'s O-line also had a good day against Nebraska.

Overall, the Huskies offense was very balanced and the Ute defense will be challenged to slow it down. Expect Price to roll out a lot to give him time in the pocket to find receivers and avoid the Ute pass rush. I think Nebraska would have blitzed more often if they had a do-over so I would expect Utah to try it. Washington will also try to exploit Utah's LB in the passing game. Polk is a good receiver out of the backfield and the Huskies have a good slot receiver and a big TE that tend to cause match up issues. Especially, with the run/pass balance Washington possesses. If Price is given time, he can hurt a good defense and Polk will earn his rushing yards.

On defense, the Huskies were vulnerable to the play action pass; mostly because they had to kinda sell-out to stop Nebraska QB Martinez on the option. Martinez is not a drop back passing QB that can pick apart a weak secondary so it's hard to say how good Washington's pass defense really is. Haven't watched or looked at stats of the Huskies' other games. I was surprised by how well Nebraska ran between the tackles on the Huskie defense. Nebraska has a young O-line that has yet to prove to be anywhere close to dominating. Perhaps Washinton had to scheme to take away the outside seam against Martinez who will make a defense pay with his speed if he reaches the edge. Nebraska hammered it inside with their tough back who runs well between the tackles. Given how Utah hammered the BYU defense with the run, I would expect Utah to try and do the same against Washington. Establish a run game and then counter with play action passes. Most of Nebraska's big passing plays were isolations against one-on-one coverage. I don't think Washington has shut down corners so I would expect a lot of zone coverage. The Huskie D looked good in zone coverage on predictable passing plays. So if I were Utah, I'd try to run the ball to force Washington to go man-to-man coverage in order to have safety support to stop the run and then attack the Huskie secondary with play action or deep iso routes against man coverage. In passing situations, Washington chose to drop back in zone and block the passing lanes versus blitzing and pressurring the QB. They came close to getting a few picks but Nebraska was fortunate with deflections taking Nebraska bounces and a trapped ball. If Washington had a do-over, I suspect they blitz Martinez in passing situations hoping he makes a poor decision under pressure.

Overall, the Nebraska-Washington game was much closer than 2 TDs. Both teams made costly turn over mistakes on special teams and received a few gifts. Washington led at the half 20-17 but had a disastrous third quarter when they muffed a KO return and gave Nebraska the ball back on the goal line that allowed the Cornhuskers to score back-to-back TDs. They came back to score 3 TDs in the fourth but fell short when Nebraska fell back into pass coverage and picked off Price. I was impressed with Washington and surprised they had that much success aginst Nebraska's defense. Washington is probably below Oregon in the PAC-12 North but I wouldn't be surprised if they defeated Stanford and Cal. Without looking close, I think Washington is as good or better than anyone in the PAC-12 South. The Huskies probably are not heading to the Rose Bowl but I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the Holiday bowl again.

[NorthwestUteFan]

There is a big groundswell effort to get UW's defensive coordinator fired. They are somewhat in a state of disarray, so I am a bit confident about that portion.

The QB is doing great. #1 in the nation right now on TD passes, and has a very good completion rate. He is also extremely mobile, even better than Montana State's QB who gave us fits. That said, he is banged up a bit.

I may be a glutton for punishment but I want to see him completely healthy for the game. I think we should have a true test, with no asterisks.

[OrangeUte]

Kids start football and wife is out of town so I'll be catching this game on tv. Cannot wait. I'm glad we have a bye week to mend. 9 straight weeks of PAC12 games (and Pitt) start next Saturday! I cannot wait. I'll be watching Cal v. Washington tomorrow, asu v USC, and Arkansas v. Bama. I'm interested in arizona v Oregon bc it's a conference game and I'll be at the Utah Arizona game. Tomorrow is going to be a good day for cfb watching. But, it'll get better next week when the UTES okay the huskies!

Polk is good, buy iirc, the qb for the huskies is banged up. Any chance we are Joe montana's kid? After last week I'm excited to see if John white IV can get 100 yards against PAC 12 defenses and to see what chow can do w an offense that finally seems to have its feet more firmly on the ground. Exciting!

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I've tried to become something of a UW fan as my secondary team. The stadium is right down the street, they're obviously on TV a lot around here, most of my friends are Dawgs fans, etc. But so far, I can't make it happen -- I still pretty much want them to lose every week.

Who are these children coming down, coming down.
Like gentle rain though darken skies.
With glory trailing from their feet as they go.
And endless promise in their eyes!
Who are these young ones growing tall, growing tall.
Like silver trees against the storm.
Who will not bend with the wind or the change,
But stand to fight the world alone!
These are the few, the warriors
Saved for Saturday, to come
The last day of the world
These are they, on Saturday.
These are the strong, the warriors
Rising in the might to win
The battle raging in
The hearts of men, on Saturday.
Strangers from a realn of light
Who have forgotten all.
The memory of their former life.
The purpose of their call.
And so they must learn why they're here
And who they really are.
They must learn why they're here
And who they are!
These are the few, the warriors
Saved for Saturday, to come
The last day of the world
These are they, on Saturday.

I love you MarkGrace!

[MarkGrace]

I've tried to become something of a UW fan as my secondary team. The stadium is right down the street, they're obviously on TV a lot around here, most of my friends are Dawgs fans, etc. But so far, I can't make it happen -- I still pretty much want them to lose every week. That said, cheering for them to beat Utah should be easy enough.