UW@BSU - Game 1

[WizardHawk]

Opening day is here.

Lots of uncertainty and questions going into this season. Maybe more so than any season going back to Sarks first year. We don't even know who the QB will be taking the first snap of the game.

UW lost quite a few of their big play makers on both sides of the ball. Both to the NFL and injuries to key players like Ross. Both lines will be young and inexperienced and playing a decent team as their first game is less than ideal.

Lots of angles on this game. Petersen's return after leaving Boise. Broncos looking for revenge for the thumping they took at Husky stadium to open the year two years ago. Both breaking in new QB's and trying to figure out where they stand as a team. Both are entering the second season under their current coaching staff.

BSU started out a bit shaky last year, but finished strong and was ranked at the end of the season. Their best win was vs a mediocre Arizona team that never quite met their potential.

UW didn't have any upset or major wins although they barely lost a couple that should have given them that type of win. Even an average QB last year and that team finishes with 10 wins. Clearly there is no love loss that Miles left the program. Easily the worst QB I've seen in at least 20 years at the helm of this team.

On paper you have to love BSU's chances here. More experienced veteran players. New staff, but running more or less the status quo vs a total reformation at UW that still has to be a work in progress. It's a home game for them so everything is setup about as good as it can get for this kind of a game for them.

The question is can the young, but probably more talented staff of UW come together and play 4 quarters. Tall task for sure. New front 7 leaves plenty of room for BSU to run trick plays designed to get these eager kids to try to be heros and leave their lanes. And if Browning does get the nod, how is an 18y/o going to respond in his first collegiate game in such an environment when he's likely not going to have much time to react given his young line?

There are always 4 outcome possibilities in every game: win/blowout win/loss/blowout loss. Of those 4 the least likely is a blowout win. Hard to imagine that happening unless a lot of turnovers and bad bounces go their way. Any of the other 3 are possible. Just too many unknowns with this team to really predict either way.

I sure hope Petersen has something up his sleeve, because he's going to need it.

 

[TheDayMan]

Gameday!

 

[uwdawgfan]

ummm....ya

 

[uwdawgfan]

Showing some pride.....lets steal this thing!

 

[WizardHawk]

On the bright side, the defense started out more or less so-so, but entirely shut down BSU in the second half. They already show signs of being an aggressive and opportunistic bunch. Most of their early issues were simply not wrapping up and getting tackles on first contact. Some of that was cleaned up a bit in the second half. Those things are teachable. Really feel a lot better about that unit after this game.

Special teams? Obviously they show signs of improvement as well. Any time you have a return for TD you are doing something right, but their coverage on kicks, blocked punt, and overall kicking show signs of promise to come. Sure VW missed the game tying kick, but a 46y was asking a lot and it barely went wide. He had the leg.

Offense? FIRE SMITH. Wait, did I not say that loud enough? FIRE SMITH

 

[WizardHawk]

They had better figure out how to adjust and manufacture some kind of running game if they want to beat Pac 12 teams. That was some seriously bad play calling. Epic bad.

 

[mcnabb7542]

Yep a win would have been better, but a 3 point lose there its still a win, they got work to do, but I'm curious as to this season playing out and the young QB

 

[WizardHawk]

I have a lot of optimism for Browning moving forward. I don't think he debut was horrible, but he does have a lot of growing to do. You could put the loss on his shoulders taking those sacks. He did make a lot of good decisions in a hostile environment and managed the game as well as could be expected for more plays than not. They will fix most of those little things as he gains confidence.

The running game is utter and complete garbage with no hints that it can improve. Neither the play calling nor the execution leaves you to believe they can gain 100y rushing against any team after week 3. Without that they are too one dimensional and Pac12 defenses are going to cause all sorts of problems for this young crew.

Before we get this 'they are young' stuff, so is the defense but they had a plan and they adapted. They are more young on the defense than offense. Only one returning member of the front 7 and they were miles ahead of the offense.

We sat through 3 years of Holt's defenses and the excuses that they would get better, have patience. Wilcox came in and turned it around in one off season. The right coordinators/scheme/coaching and these kids would be playing way better.

 

[TheDayMan]

I have a lot of optimism for Browning moving forward. I don't think he debut was horrible, but he does have a lot of growing to do. You could put the loss on his shoulders taking those sacks. He did make a lot of good decisions in a hostile environment and managed the game as well as could be expected for more plays than not. They will fix most of those little things as he gains confidence.

The running game is utter and complete garbage with no hints that it can improve. Neither the play calling nor the execution leaves you to believe they can gain 100y rushing against any team after week 3. Without that they are too one dimensional and Pac12 defenses are going to cause all sorts of problems for this young crew.

Before we get this 'they are young' stuff, so is the defense but they had a plan and they adapted. They are more young on the defense than offense. Only one returning member of the front 7 and they were miles ahead of the offense.

We sat through 3 years of Holt's defenses and the excuses that they would get better, have patience. Wilcox came in and turned it around in one off season. The right coordinators/scheme/coaching and these kids would be playing way better.

We're going to like Browning. Like you said, they'll get better. Could be a frustrating year as far as wins go, but there will be other things to get excited about. And yeah, the lack of a running game has to be the biggest concern at this point...

 

[seahawksfan234]

Saw a lot to be happy with during that game.

I expected either:

A. Petersen's crew would surprise everyone and put together a hell of a game and scrap out a win or make it close
B. We would lose by 3 scores

Especially on the road in Boise, I gave a 70% chance of B.

There were a lot of positives to take away from that game, including that the defense looked a lot better than expected despite losing 3 guys in the first round.

Browning I was extremely impressed with. I don't care what his stat line was, I don't think I've ever seen a true freshman QB throw away as many balls as Browning did. He already looked like an upgrade from Cyler Miles.

I'm really excited to see what he can do against a softer team.

 

[WizardHawk]

Saw a lot to be happy with during that game.

I expected either:

A. Petersen's crew would surprise everyone and put together a hell of a game and scrap out a win or make it close
B. We would lose by 3 scores

Especially on the road in Boise, I gave a 70% chance of B.

There were a lot of positives to take away from that game, including that the defense looked a lot better than expected despite losing 3 guys in the first round.

Browning I was extremely impressed with. I don't care what his stat line was, I don't think I've ever seen a true freshman QB throw away as many balls as Browning did. He already looked like an upgrade from Cyler Miles.

I'm really excited to see what he can do against a softer team.

It wasn't just his throw aways that make Browning an upgrade. He can actually complete screen passes and quick hits to guys in stride. Amazing!