What We Learned: Utah State Aggies

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It was once again a sloppy performance for the Husky offense, but they ultimately prevailed 16-14 over Utah State, thanks to a last second interception. Let’s get to what we learned.

Herculean Efforts

So, are we bad?

No, seriously. Is the offense bad? Because by my count, we’ve had 8 quarters of football played this year and the offense has looked good in precisely one. That’s 12%, which even by new age grading standards is still failing. Obviously, I’m not privy to what goes on down on the field, nor am I qualified from a coaching perspective to criticize play-calling in a way that isn’t qualitative (eg “that didn’t look like a good play”). I’m just a fan. But I’ve seen a lot of good football, and a lot of bad football too. That looked like it belonged in the bad column to me. Everything offensively looked labored, the execution wasn’t crisp enough for me to say with confidence that this can be even a good offensive unit. Obviously there’s some external factors at work here, the top 2 backs (Quaid Carr and Jayden Limar) are out long term with not a lot of experienced depth, and there’s been some shifting with the line (Dietrich’s out of position, and Landen Hatchett’s still sidelined with a wrist injury). But that doesn’t excuse how many stupid mistakes there were. Trey Cooley and Dezmen Roebuck both are experienced and they should know better than to look the ball in and not drop it. If all those plays were converted, this conversation about the offense is a little bit different but not much, at least in my view. But the fact is that they weren’t and we as fans are left stunned, wondering where the heck this vaunted offensive unit is supposed to be. As with last week, I didn’t see any fight or cohesion with this offensive line. They weren’t making any holes for the running backs, and the rush offense had no answers other than improvisation by Demond Williams.

Speaking of which, Demond’s decision making is not where it needs to be in his third year. I think after the portal fiasco, we as a fanbase were ready to move on, and see whether or not his play could silence the doubters. I have since joined the chorus of said doubters, as the Demond of the first 2 weeks is not someone who can win you a lot of games, at least not by himself. He’s got to have a scheme that can take advantage of his best ability, which in my opinion is throwing on the run. He did that to a degree in the first half, but for the rest of the game, he just looked hurried, like he was trying to take the game on his shoulders and win it himself. He’s a dynamic athlete but that’s a tough ask for anyone. I think most of the blame goes to Coach Fisch, who stubbornly persisted on running Bonner and Cooley in the zone scheme that he’s known for instead of simplifying, and making Demond throw from a standstill in the pocket. It just feels like this scheme hasn’t evolved to take advantage of the talents we have, and instead is making Fisch’s players play within Fisch’s system. And it’s difficult to say what the answer is, because we know what some answers could be (hiring an offensive coordinator who calls plays for one), but they’re not workable. And the lion’s share of the blame for that lies with Coach Fisch. We know what his team’s are capable of when they’re humming, which is why this is so disappointing. The passing numbers for Demond were there (26-41, 249 yards), but the most important thing in football is points, and right now, they’re not there!

Near Perfect

The Huskies cut their penalties in half (6 for 44 yards), and other than an inexplicable late hit by senior Alex McLaughlin, looked crisper overall, and wreaked havoc to the tune of 3 turnovers, holding Grady Brosterhous to 17/28 for 196 yards and 2 touchdowns and 3 picks. Not just that, the designed QB run was tried a lot by Robert Anae’s offense, and each time it was bottled up by the defensive line. Freshman Derek Colman-Brusa got his first career sack, Freshman Jeron Jones had 4 tackles, plus a half tackle for loss, and Ramzak Fruen added 3 tackles of his own, again highlighting the young core and the bright future they surely have if the unit can stay together. Elsewhere up front, Darin Conley and Kai McClendon each had at least 1 TFL as they also caused fits to the Aggie O-Line and quarterback. But the overall MVP of the game, in spite of his penalty was Alex McLaughlin. 9 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 pass breakups and a pick in the third quarter.

I say near perfect because of 2 things. One, the 78 yard touchdown by Javon Robinson, who was in the middle of the field wide open and sprinted to the end zone. And two, Utah State was getting the defense to bend in the final seconds, with the Aggies only needing a field goal to pull off a shocking upset. On that final drive they allowed a 12 yard run, a 13 yard run and a 21 yard pass before Rahshawn Clark picked off a heave to the end zone to end the game. Rather than go down, or take it a few yards and then go down, Clark ran with the ball for 57 yards, ending the game with another head-scratching decision. The game is already over, just go down! I realize that in the grand scheme of things, it’s fine and it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it’s still sort of baffling. Overall, the defense carried the Dawgs to a win and will no doubt continue to be very good as they continue to get ready for Big Ten play.

Punting Problems

After a great week one, punting was the one area of the team I had confidence in, with Hunter Green looking really good in Week one. After this week, I remain optimistic, if less confident. There was a 59 yarder (good), but that was followed by a 29 yarder (bad). A 56 yarder (good) was followed by a 28 yarder (bad). As with everything on this team, it’s a matter of cleaning things up, and with each of the three phases, I have varying levels of confidence. With punting itself, I have a medium level of confidence right now. I have less confidence in punt returns, however. On the third punt of the game, Rahshawn Clark caught it at the Husky 7 yard line, but a holding penalty moved it back, leaving the offense in a deep hole. Later, Clark caught a punt at the 13 and returned it one yard, his only return yardage of the game. I don’t know who sets the punt return depth chart, whether it’s Fisch or Petrilli, but I think conversations need to be had, because I don’t think Clark is the man for the job. But again, as with everything, it’s still early! Though soon, it won’t be early and fans will demand answers, in all facets of the game. If we struggle against Eastern, it might be time to have several conversations.

We have Eastern Washington at home at 4:15 on Saturday! Go Dawgs!

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