TERRY MOSHER
TOP OF THE TOWN ‑ It wasn’t pretty but the Washington Huskies debut under first-year coach Jimmy Lake was a success on the football field, a 27-21 Pac-12 victory over a much-improved Oregon State team. My view of the game is that for the first time in years (I covered the Huskies for the Bremerton Sun for nearly 30 years) I saw a sideline that appeared not to have much discipline. Players were laughing and goofing off even as the game became tension-filled as the Huskies on the field struggled to find their footing. Lake has stressed to the media that he will instill discipline and toughness, but it didn’t look like it Toughness? Maybe. I liked what I saw from running back Sean McGrew, defensive back Elijah Molden, wide receiver Terrell Bynum, linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, running back Cameron Davis, defensive back Trent McDuffie, linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui and, maybe, quarterback Dylan Morris. I’m not perfectly sold on Morris, although I don’t quite know how good a leader he is, although Lake said he is a good one. I know he was not asked to throw a lot, but he did have three passes knocked down by defensive linemen, which isn’t good. McDuffie is really, really good. He’s headed to the NFL someday. Davis is a freshman and looked awful good for a guy that didn’t start. Lake has an offensive line that weighs on average way over 300 pounds and has repeatedly said he wants a team that pounds the rock behind that mammoth line. I didn’t think for all its size that the line did that well. You can be big and slow and that won’t work well. I’m not sure if it was just first-game jitters, but the line looked slow. We’ll see as the shorten season goes along whether they will get a bit quicker. The secondary, led by McDuffie and Molden, looked good. For sure, if this game is going to be typical of the 2020 Huskies, we are in for some boring games because it looks like Lake wants to run the ball first, second and third, which goes against what college football is in today’s world. The days of Woody Hayes and three yards and a cloud of dust have been gone for decades. Teams regularly throw the ball around from 30-50 times a game. So we’ll see how this all works out as the Huskies host its second game Saturday at 5 p.m. against Arizona, which looked good in a last-minute loss to USC. As for the Seahawks, forget it. You can’t win if you don’t play defense. And now their MVP candidate at quarterback, Russell Wilson, suddenly looks like he’s having trouble at home and bringing that to their games. He may be in solid at home, but something is bugging him because he now has 10 turnovers in the last three games and looks like he’s lost. Somebody needs to get him a map. What I have seen is that teams are locking down his receivers and putting a lot of pressure on him with blitzes and that has not allowed him to throw those deep bombs he had used to get wins through the Hawks’ first five games. It has him rattled and he’s trying to create something out of nothing and that is not like him. It didn’t help in Sunday’s loss to the Rams that the Hawks’ top two running backs were out with injuries. If you can’t take the pressure off with some timely runs, you are going to get hit repeatedly attempting to pass. That’s what has happened to Wilson. He’s been forced to hurry up his delivery which takes away the long bombs. I’m not making an excuse for him. Football is a violent sport and injuries are part of the game. You have to play with what is available, and if you can’t win with back-ups that’s tough. It’s part of the game. I don’t see a path to victory for them on Thursday night. That little guy – Kyler Murray – will be tough to hold down in the best of circumstances and with the Hawks playing defense as if they just discovered it, it could be a long night. That’s it for today. I had a fairly good predicting week, especially among colleges, so maybe I’m back in my usual groove.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.
Last week ‑ 21-9
Season ‑ 162-87-1 (62.8 percent)
COLLEGES
Syracuse at Louisville (Louisville)
Perdue at Minnesota (Minnesota)
UCLA at Oregon (Oregon)
Indiana at Ohio State (OS)
Clemson at Florida State (Clemson)
Illinois at Nebraska (Nebraska)
LSU at Arkansas (LSU)
Cincinnati at UCF (Cincy)
Iowa at Penn State (Iowa)
California at Oregon State (OS)
Kentucky at Alabama (Alabama)
Kansas State at Iowa State (IS)
Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh (VT)
Tennessee at Auburn (Auburn)
Mississippi State at Georgia (Georgia)
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma (Oklahoma)
Liberty at North Carolina State (Liberty)
Michigan at Rutgers (Michigan)
Arizona at Washington (Washington)
USC at Utah (USC)
Washington State at Stanford (WSU)
PROS
Arizona at Seattle (Arizona)
Philadelphia at Cleveland (Cleveland)
Cincinnati at Washington (Washington)
Detroit at Carolina (Detroit)
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville (Pitt)
Tennessee at Baltimore (Baltimore)
New England at Houston (NE)
Miami at Denver (Miami)
New York Jets at Los Angles Chargers (Chargers)
Green Bay at Indianapolis (GB)
Dallas at Minnesota (Minnesota)
Kansas City at Las Vegas (KC)
Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay (Rams)