Post Game: There Looks to be a Pattern

This season is starting to become somewhat of a predictable pattern. It’s almost as if the team and the fans know this before the game even starts. The Huskies are only 4 games in and many just assume the following scenario will happen throughout the course of the game.

The Huskies will score a ton of points. Keith Price will find ways to extend the play, Chris Polk will find his way to the end-zone, a bunch of different receivers will have a reception, and the offense will keep the Huskies in the ball game or will win them the ball game.

However, that is just what the offensive scenario looks like but the defensive one is quite the opposite. The Huskies will

give up a bunch of big plays, the defense will find ways to get the opposing offense to 3rd down but fail to stop them, they will let passing plays or running plays rack up more yards than seemingly possible, and they will allow the other team to stay in the game.

It’s almost like it is a sure thing. The offense will score a bunch, the defense will give up a bunch. That’s the recipe that the Huskies seem to be cooking with in every game. Thus, at the end of every game it is close and comes down to the final play or two.

This Cal game was no different as the Golden Bears had a chance to tie it at the end of the game if they could punch it in the end-zone and convert a 2pt conversion. And Cal had the right idea, it was 4th and short and who better to attack? The pass coverage. If it wasn’t for a poorly thrown ball, the bears would have had a legitimate shot at going for 2 and taking the game to over-time.

The Offense:

Keith Price once again put up amazing numbers going 19 for 25 with 292 yards and 3 touchdowns. Putting him at 14 touchdowns on the year. He is looks good too. He works through his progressions, he extends the play, he doesn’t just tuck it in run if a receiver is on the verge of getting open. He is just playing smart football.

Keith Price going into this game was averaging completions to over 8 receivers per game. He was able to hit 7 different targets this game. These receivers are helping him get to a 67% completion rate on the year.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Jermaine Kearse, Kasen Williams, Devin Aguilar, Kevin Smith, and James Johnson are all making big plays when called upon. They are running good routes and finding ways to get open. Chris Polk had 2 touchdowns, one was through the air the other on the ground. However, Cal was able to keep him under 100 yards for the first time this season and that was something Cal focused on all week in practice. This Husky offense at four games in, already looks like a well oiled machine.

The Defense:

The defense is not, coming into this game UW was among the lowest in the country in pass coverage, in yards given-up per game, and in points scored against. It didn’t look a whole lot better today as Cal seemed to be able to march down the field at will.

Cal had 24 first downs, 457 yards, and a 6.0 average gain per play. The Cal offense is good but not this good.

HOWEVER, in this game the defense was able to hold Cal to a field goal on multiple occasions. This was the difference in the game and something that Nick Holt’s defense should be proud of, the rest-not so much.

At the end of the day, this recipe for the Husky season is not a promising one because IT IS the defense that should be relied upon, not the offense. Yet, the Dawgs are always looking to their offense to lift them back into games. It has got them to 3-1 on the year but unless the defense improves UW won’t be able to take on some of the heavy weights in the conference.