Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

It was a little somber in the Washington dressing room Saturday night, even though the Huskies had just beaten Arizona 51-27. It was that way because one of the players, linebacker MJ Tafisi, had been carted off with an injury at the end of the third quarter.

But the news came back positive after the game, as Tafisi joined his teammates on the charter back to Seattle.

Chris Petersen spoke to the media after the game, as well as offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and a number of players. They talked about Tafisi, but they also talked about a lot of the good things that happened in the game, including out-scoring Arizona 38-10 in the second half, the play of true freshman receiver Puka Nacua, the ability of the defense to get after Khalil Tate, and a lot more.

The Lineup

Chris Petersen

Bush Hamdan

Jacob Eason

Salvon Ahmed

Ryan Bowman

Myles Bryant

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - went overtime to produce a post-game podcast, but this one was so worth it. That's because Washington outscored Arizona 38-10 en route to a convincing 51-27 victory over the Wildcats at Arizona Stadium Saturday night.

It looked like it was going to be a big game for the Huskies from the start, as they were able to get a couple of special teams plays via punt block and muff recovered by UW defensive back Kyler Gordon, but they only were able to parlay those Arizona miscues into six points.

It looked like it would be even tougher sledding for the Dawgs heading into the half, as Arizona would score 17 second-quarter points to take a 17-13 lead to intermission. But Washington, who hadn't had a comeback win from halftime since 2015 at USC, roared back with some big-time plays on offense from little-used players like Puka Nacua and Jordan Chin, mixed in with some solid running from Sean McGrew and Salvon Ahmed.

And defensively, what a show! Death Row came to the desert with their bags packed, ready to do damage. They forced Khalil Tate off his spot all night with myriad different pressures, causing Tate to throw the ball away a lot.

Add to it some special work from the special teams (the only blight a muffed punt by Aaron Fuller), and it was a complete performance, especially the final 30 minutes. But the UW coaches will have plenty on tape they can show the team, like missed tackles, red zone execution, etc... that will have them laser-focused for next week's task, taking down the Oregon Ducks.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - got up early again to record a full pregame podcast breaking down all the main storylines ahead of Washington's Saturday night game at Arizona.

The Huskies, desperate to right all the wrongs that came out of their 23-13 loss at Stanford, need some positive momentum heading into a big crunch game the following weekend against Oregon. And it has to come in Tucson.

The Dawgman guys talk about the expected atmosphere and environment around Arizona Stadium, which should be much different than what Washington experienced last weekend at The Farm.

They also talked about Hugh Millen's breakdown of Washington's passing attack against Stanford and how that might play into what the Huskies need to show against the Wildcats in order to bounce back.

Going into the game, will Washington use more defensive backs, and if they do, will Arizona try and take advantage by running the ball until UW stops them? And how do you slow down Khalil Tate? The Dawgman guys all take a crack at these questions.

And when talking about Washington's offense, how do they account for the loss of Richard Newton? What does it mean for their short-yardage and red-zone offense, and could we see different faces enter the frame - like true freshman Cameron Davis? Is this the game where he is unveiled? Or will Kamari Pleasant come back into play?

And what of Jacob Eason? Can he rebound from a rough outing at The Farm? Can he get together with his receivers and show what they're capable of doing?

The Huskies got Jacob Kizer back, last week, but he wasn't able to make much of a difference. Can he make an impact on Saturday night?

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds is already down in the desert, so he was able to track down Jason Scheer, the publisher and senior writer for Wildcat Authority, the Arizona site on the 247Sports Network.

Scheer broke down Arizona's top offensive skill players, starting with Khalil Tate, JJ Taylor, and their potent stable of running backs. He also talked about the turning point with Arizona's run game and how the opposition has tried to take it away, as well as how Washington might be able to get to Tate, especially in the passing game.

Tate threw passes to 11 different players against Colorado, and there isn't a true 'go-to' receiver for the Wildcats, so Scheer talked about a few of the guys he expects will get the majority of targets for UA Saturday night.

Defensively, they talked about what happened against Hawai'i and how things have changed since then. Scheer talked about some of the big differences between then and now, especially with regard to Arizona Defensive Coordinator Marcel Yates and decisions he's made that's helped the Wildcats on that side of the ball.

They also broke down the defensive difference-makers at all three levels. Scheer loves the linebackers and also defensive backs Jace Whittaker and Lorenzo Burns.

Scheer did give some insight on where he thinks Washington quarterback Jacob Eason could attack to do some damage, as well as the game intangibles, like game time, weather, the expected crowd and overall environment at Arizona Stadium.

And finally, Grinolds asks Scheer for his pre- and post-game tailgating tips for food and drink in Tucson.

Chris Petersen called it 'smelling salts'. It's that wake-up call you get when you put the tape on and all of a sudden you see all the things that went wrong with technique, fundamentals, scheme, and everything else a coaching staff picks apart after a win or a loss.

In the case of this particular week, the smelling salts probably went hand-in-hand with endless cups of coffee as the Washington coaches set about trying to game-plan against an Arizona offense and defense that's playing as well as anyone in the Pac-12 right now.

Petersen talked about that with the media on Thursday, as well as updated the status of injured tailback Richard Newton, the task of trying to replicate UA quarterback Khalil Tate with their service team, the players overcompensating by trying too hard to make plays, and more.

Questions abounded, especially on message boards and talk radio, following Washington's frustrating 23-13 loss to Stanford on the road on Saturday and that's continued all week long, but fans and pundits aren't the only people looking for answers. The Husky offensive players and staff are also trying to figure out what went wrong and how they can fix it.

Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said he expects more out of the offense and that starts with him. Why weren't they successful against Stanford? Hamdan eluded to missed opportunities by the Huskies and that the Cardinal made more plays than the boys in the purple and the gold.

For his part, tailback Salvon Ahmed said he understands his role with the offense and that there are good backs on the roster besides him, so he knows he'll need to share carries and when he gets the opportunity to have the ball in his hands, he will do his best to make things happen, but he also said the game just came down to the fact that Washington didn't get it done when they had their chances and that's something they are working to fix this coming week.

After a lot of frustration on Saturday night, quarterback Jacob Eason was ready to move on and look ahead. He knows that he and the offense need to be better and he feels like they are making strides in that direction and he talked about what he's seen so far from Arizona and he knows that the Huskies will have their hands full with their defense.

Junior Adams continues to stress that the young receivers are making progress, but he also said he's not ready to throw them into the fire, at least full time, at this point although Terrell Bynum and Puka Nacua have seen their reps increase during practice and he's seen more improvement from Austin Osborne as well.

Jordan Paopao likes to be multiple and he loves the versatility that Jack Westover gives him being able to play fullback, H-Back and tight end. He also talked about Hunter Bryant and what some of his struggles were last weekend and what he needs to focus on to be better this week.

Kim Grinolds was able to spend some time one-on-one with Washington Men's Basketball Coach Mike Hopkins during Pac-12 Media Day Tuesday in San Francisco and they ran down all the newcomers like Isaiah Stewart, Jaden McDaniels, Marcus Tsohonis, RaeQuan Battle, as well as players like Nate Roberts and Quade Green, and the outlook for the season compared to things a year ago. And lastly, they spoke about Matisse Thybulle's move to the NBA and what he's going to be able to do as a pro.

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds spoke with junior forward Nahziah Carter during Pac-12 Media Day, and Grinolds asked Carter for scouting reports on some of the new Huskies, as well as his summer trip to Italy with the team. Carter also revealed that he picked up a trophy this past summer, but it's probably not the kind of trophy you'd expect. He explains it all in the conversation.

Carter, a New York transplant, loves Seattle and talked about being a part of the Seattle basketball community, and more.

One thing became very clear Tuesday afternoon when talking with the Washington defensive coaches; they aren't waiting around to figure things out. There's no question the Stanford offense ran and threw circles around them in their 23-13 win over UW Saturday at Stanford Stadium, but the Husky coaches quickly looked at the tape Sunday, identified with the players what went wrong, and now are on to Arizona week.

As Washington Defensive Line Coach Ikaika Malloe said, you can't feel sorry for yourself and you have to get past things quickly, because the next opponent sure isn't going to feel sorry for you. And Arizona definitely won't be feeling charitable this Saturday night in Tucson. Quarterback Khalil Tateis playing as well as any quarterback in the Pac-12 right now, and the Wildcats are second in the conference in points scored and total offensive yards.  

Not only do the Huskies have a ton of problems to work on, but they're going back on the road for another night game, so it's a little less sleep for the UW coaches this week, but one gets the sense in talking with Jimmy Lake, Pete Kwiatkowski, and Malloe that they wouldn't have gotten much shut-eye this week anyway. The frustration is apparent, but so is the focus and determination to set things right.

Washington Head Coach Mike Hopkins spoke to the media during Pac-12 Media Day Tuesday in San Francisco, and he talked about the strength of the conference, the youth movement on Montlake with players like Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels, the Italy trip and mixing in man-to-man with their patented zone defense, getting picked third in the Pac-12 preseason poll, the development of senior Sam Timmins, and a lot, lot more.