Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

Chris Petersen has never had any time for smack talk, even if some of his coaches seem to enjoy it from time to time. Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake has had some interesting things to say about Washington State over the years, but Petersen isn't giving anything to the enemy - even after the game has been played.

He talked about having that opinion, one he admittedly can't really explain, plus his appreciation for Mike Leach and what he's been able to do with his Air Raid offense, as Washington gets back on the field ahead of Friday's 112th Boeing Apple Cup.

He talked about the failures in their 20-14 loss at Colorado Saturday night, especially on the offensive side, and what they're trying to do to fix what is clearly a broken offense.

He was also asked a question of a couple of his senior offensive linemen - Trey Adams and Nick Harris - ahead of their senior night.

Washington used a 12-2 run the final 3:32 of the first half to jump out to an 11-point lead at intermission, and they would never look back, eventually taking down the San Diego Toreros 88-69 Sunday night at Alaska Airlines Arena.

In their most complete performance of the season to date, the Huskies (5-1) shot 58 percent from the field, including 7-17 from three. They out-rebounded USD 33-27, only committed 10 turnovers while producing 20 assists, and also came up with 4 blocks and 8 steals.

Isaiah Stewart scored 14 of his team-high 25 points in the first half, also adding 7 rebounds. He was one of three Huskies scoring in double-figures. Jaden McDaniels scored 20 points for UW, while Nahziah Carter chipped in with 16. Sophomore guard Quade Green only scored six points on the night, but he led the offense all night, eventually tallying 10 assists.

Here's post-game audio from Stewart and McDaniels, as well as UW Head Coach Mike Hopkins

It's a special edition of DawgmanRadio, Kim Grinolds was joined by his youngest son Kyle, who was in Boulder Saturday night. It was supposed to be a celebratory weekend, but the only ones doing the celebrating at Folsom Field were the Colorado Buffaloes, as they beat Washington 20-14.

It was a huge win for the Buffaloes, who got one step closer to bowl eligibility and especially for the seniors, who had never beaten the Huskies. In fact, the last time Colorado beat Washington was back in 1996. The Huskies had beaten the Buffs nine times in a row before Saturday night's disaster.

Kim and Kyle break down what went wrong for Washington, so they were busy. They gave props to Colorado's Laviska Shenault, who was a play or two away from breaking the game open. They also talked about how Colorado played the field position game, often starting drives deep and having to play out of the shadow of their end zone.

But mostly, they talked about a broken offense. Where is it going wrong? Where isn't it going wrong? It started with Jaxson Kirkland limping off the field early in the game, eventually watching the rest of it on the sidelines on crutches. Henry Bainivalu was Kirkland's replacement, and Kim and Kyle discuss his night.

The Huskies couldn't get anything going with their running backs, running 25 times for 61 yards. They also talked about Jacob Eason's tendency to lock in on receivers and go backward under pressure instead of stepping up and through the pocket.

What is going on with the junior quarterback? With NFL scouts in attendance, both Kim and Kyle talk about Eason's game and what's missing. And where were the younger receivers? Everyone heard Chris Petersen talk about doing a deep dive into why the offense was broken as far back as after the Rose Bowl. Well, it's still broken. 

And lastly, what does this performance mean for Friday's Apple Cup game? Will Washington be able to even score enough points to beat Washington State, who just gave up 53 points to Oregon State?

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds was at Folsom Field Saturday night as the Washington Huskies lost to the Colorado Buffaloes 20-14, and he spoke to Head Coach Chris Petersen, quarterback Jacob Eason, tight end Cade Otton, and defensive back Myles Bryant about what went wrong in the loss, and what they can do on a short week to fix it before taking on Washington State in the annual Apple Cup next Friday.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Scott Eklund and Chris Fetters - got up extra-early Saturday morning to record a full Colorado preview. They break down the Buffaloes on both sides of the ball, including how they think Washington might be able to attack them. Both teams are coming off a bye week, so there's no advantage gained there.

Eklund and Fetters talk about Colorado's top offensive stars, including Steven Montez, Laviska Shenault, Tony Brown, K.D. Nixon, Dimitri Stanley, Alex Fontenot, and Jaren Mangham. Will Washington be able to show that their dominant defensive performance at Oregon State wasn't a fluke?

Defensively, they talk about what has gone wrong for the Buffaloes on that side of the ball this season, but also how they've improved of late. Some of the players to look out for on that side of the ball include DL Mustafa Johnson, DL Terrance Lang, LB Nate Landman, OLB Davion Taylor, safeties Mikial Onu and Derrion Rakestraw, and DB Delrick Abrams, who missed the Stanford game.

How will Washington be able to attack the Buffs? With their serious issues in the pass game, is this the time where Jacob Eason and the UW receivers work things out? Can they get confident going up against a Colorado pass defense allowing an average of nearly 310 yards per game?

They also talk about CU's special teams, which could end up being an interesting feature to the game. The Buffs' normal placekicker, James Stefanou, is out, so that means Evan Price takes his spot. Price was the one who made the game-winning kick two weeks ago against Stanford.

To wrap up the podcast, Eklund and Fetters also talk about the implications for the Oregon State-Washington State game on Saturday and what it might mean for next week's Apple Cup, as well as Washington's current bowl outlook. There's three bowls that the majority of analysts have predicted the Huskies could play in, and they all fall between Christmas and New Year's.

Here's the post-game media session with Washington players Sam Timmins and Jamal Bey, as well as Head Coach Mike Hopkins, after the Huskies defeated Montana 73-56 Friday night at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Every week we rifle through our rolodex of contacts to try and get the latest scoop on Washington's opponent. This week it's the Colorado Buffaloes, so we caught up with Adam Munsterteiger, Publisher of BuffStampede.com, the Colorado site on the 247Sports network.

We asked Adam about CU life under first-year head coach Mel Tucker, what to expect from the Buffaloes on offense and defense, the health of players like Laviska Shenault, and more.

The press got a chance to meet up with Washington Head Coach Mike Hopkins and sophomore guard Quade Green, who both talked about the season to date, and what needs to happen moving forward. The Huskies (3-1) host Montana (1-3) Friday night at Alaska Airlines Arena, and then San Diego (2-4) on Sunday.

They'll have Thanksgiving week off before returning to Alaska Airlines Arena for games Monday, Dec. 2 versus South Dakota (5-0) and Wednesday against Eastern Washington (2-2).

The next four games are games the Huskies should win handily if they plan on being Pac-12 contenders. And they set Washington up for their last big non-conference tilt against Gonzaga in Seattle on Dec. 8. Both Hopkins and Green know there's plenty they can get out of this homestand before they get their shot versus the Bulldogs.

UW is experimenting more with different modes on defense instead of just sticking to their 2-3 zone. They are still feeling things out offensively, where they're trying to fit a few blue-chip pieces in place to create a cohesive whole.

He's trying to keep his sense of humor about him, but Chris Petersen knows that's very difficult to do when things aren't going your way. And on offense, that's become doubly difficult because things aren't clicking in the pass game.

Are the schemes too complex? Is the quarterback playing up to standard? Are the receivers thinking too much instead of just relaxing and taking care of the basics?

These are all questions that have been asked, over and over, this season. The off-season was supposed to be the time when Washington's offensive woes would get solved, but that hasn't happened. If anything, things have gotten even more inconsistent.

We saw at Oregon State the defense finally come of age. Will the game at Colorado on Saturday night be the offense's time to shine? Petersen isn't sure, but he's curious to see how another week's worth of work will show itself.

On Thursday he spoke to the press about the lessons learned this season, taking those on board and using them to progress through adversity. It's something the coaches take pride in when it comes to teaching the players life skills, ways to overcome obstacles when things don't go as planned.

Petersen also talked a little about the Colorado Buffaloes, how impressed he is with first year head coach Mel Tucker, Laviska Shenault, and even throws a little olfactory dig at Ralphie.

With their second bye week in the rear-view mirror, the Husky coaches and players have definitely turned their focus to their final two regular season games and they definitely had some thoughts about what the Buffaloes' defense will do on Saturday that could throw them off, but, as always, they said no matter what the opposing defense does, it's more about them and their execution of the plays that are called.

In addition to his focus on the Colorado defense, Jacob Eason was asked about his future and where he is at in the decision-making process as far as the NFL is concerned and he gave his thoughts on that as well.

Tight ends coach Jordan Paopao echoed the "execution" refrain, but also talked about how Jacob Kizer has come along, not only as a player, but as a blocker and the strides that Devin Culp has made after narrowly missing out on making a big catch against Utah while also focusing on Hunter Bryant and what he's done over the past few weeks to see more targets.

Some of the youngsters along the offensive line got a lot of reps during the bye week and Scott Huff talked about their progress and what he's seen from them and also talked about having Trey Adams for a full season (knock on wood) and what it's meant to the overall play of the offensive line.

Adams and Hunter Bryant also talked about executing the game-plan as it's laid out and how the team knows they have an opportunity to close out the regular season well with two wins, but each team they face will present unique challenges and they need to play well in order to get wins.