Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

To no one's surprise, only one question was asked about Washington's next opponent, the Arizona Wildcats. Chris Petersen's Monday press conference was all about UW's 23-13 loss at Stanford, and Petersen's reaction to what he saw on tape. He opened up by saying the special teams were a push. Any time a coach talks special teams first, that's a bad sign.

Eventually Petersen did come to the offense and defense, noted that they probably should have run the ball more, was asked again about playing younger receivers, and thought the offensive and defensive lines played 'to a stalemate' on both sides, although he was quick to heap praise on Stanford running back Cameron Scarlett, calling him 'underrated'.

He was also asked about specific things the staff did to help prepare the team for what they expected to see at Stanford, but Petersen said the atmosphere and environment were not the reasons they lost.

"We worked on it," he said on Monday. "We talked about it. But we got out-played. We got out-coached. That’s what it was. Sometimes you have those games. It’s a frustrating game for everybody involved. Like I said, credit to Stanford. That’s all you can say is those guys did a better job across the board."

Washington Head Coach Chris Petersen and selected players spoke to the media Saturday night after the Huskies lost to Stanford 23-13. It was a night where, if something could have gone wrong for the Huskies, it did.

The Lineup (in order)

Head Coach Chris Petersen

Quarterback Jacob Eason

Tight End Cade Otton

Center Nick Harris

Defensive Back Myles Bryant

Don't call it Stanford Stadium; call it Washington's House of Horrors. The Huskies troubles in Palo Alto continued Saturday night as they lost to Stanford 23-13, and the game didn't feel very close to the scoreline.

Like the California game last year, Washington got off to a good start offensively, scoring a touchdown, but then wilted. For a defense that was giving up third-down conversions more than half the time, Stanford buckled down and held UW to 2-12. That's an impressive improvement if you're the home team.

And defensively, UW never had an answer for either Davis Mills or Cameron Scarlett, as a beat-up Cardinal offensive line physically manhandled Washington up front. And that's where the game was won.

The coaches also made some mistakes too. From Chris Petersen's strange decision to go for it on UW's first possession of the third quarter down only three, to a botched fourth-down play because of a miscommunication with the punt team, it was a brutal game for those in the Purple and Gold all the way around.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - give their thoughts on all the major talking points of the night, as well as where the Huskies go from here. Was that the worst defeat of the Chris Petersen era at Washington? It's definitely in the discussion, but more importantly - how to they respond? Do they rise from the challenge and take it out on an Arizona team that they also struggle with on the road?

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - wake up bright and early Saturday morning to talk about all things UW and Stanford, as the Huskies clash with the Cardinal at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The game is on ESPN, and you can find out how to watch, stream or listen to the game HERE.

The guys talk about the struggles that have befallen the Cardinal of late, losing quarterback KJ Costello, having only seven healthy scholarship offensive lineman, and putting up frankly some ghastly defensive numbers.

They also talk about what they expect Washington to do on offense and defense to get the job done down at the Farm. They briefly talk about a couple of the in-state players that signed with Stanford out of high school - Connor Wedington and Foster Sarell - and how their careers have gone so far.

Stanford has some offensive weapons, led by tight end Colby Parkinson and running back Cameron Scarlett, and the guys break down their games and what they expect UW to try and do to limit their effectiveness.

They also look at Stanford's defense and take a crack at why they aren't effective to date, at least statistically. They are decent stopping the run (44th nationally), but have been horrid with their pass defense (126th in the country in pass efficiency defense) and they haven't been able to get off the field either (127th in the country in third-down percentage defense).

Scott Eklund wonders, could this be a game where some of the younger UW receivers break out? Maybe Puka Nacua, Austin Osborne, or Marquis Spiker? We'll see.

The guys also talk about the atmosphere surrounding a game day experience at Stanford, the smaller crowds, the lack of noise and energy compared to the rest of the environments around the Pac-12, and how Washington will have to deal with that just as much as how they had to deal with a packed LaVell Edwards Stadium and a 'white-out' crowd at BYU.

To listen to the full podcast, click on the audio link above.

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds was joined this week by R.J. Abeytia, one of the football and basketball insiders for The Bootleg, the Stanford site on the 247Sports Network, and they broke down both sides of Stanford's football team, from their evolution offensively from smash-mouth to spread and also on the defensive side of the ball.

R.J. gave us insight into what's going on with Stanford right now, the genesis behind some of their current difficulties, who will start at quarterback this weekend, a ton of youth on the offensive line, as well as the saga of former in-state stars Foster Sarell and Connor Wedington, places where Washington should attack Stanford, as well as a position group-by-position group breakdown to give UW fans an idea of who and what they should watch out for from the Cardinal.

There has certainly been a lot of turmoil down on the Farm the last couple years, from a rash of injuries to recruiting difficulties, and more - and R.J. gives us the scoop on everything that's happened to Stanford this season, including the things Washington should expect see this weekend. 

During preparations for their first road game of the 2019 season, Washington couldn't have reasonably replicated the crowd noise, the white out environment they saw at Brigham Young a couple of weeks ago. But they were able to successfully navigate the pitfalls of going on the road and dealing with uncomfortable situations.

This Saturday, Washington are Road Dawgs once again, but the challenges this week couldn't be any more different than what they saw in Provo, Utah. But they'll still find themselves feeling a bit awkward at times. In Provo there were 62000 screaming fans in white pressuring their every move. This weekend in Palo Alto, Calif., the Huskies will be dealing with a crowd not much more than half that size, and they won't be pumping out the volume at nearly the level UW heard against BYU.

But UW Head Coach Chris Petersen reiterated Thursday that Stanford's environment may be a unique one from that perspective, but the Cardinal have cultivated a football program that has one more games in the Pac-12 Conference the last decade for a reason, and part of that reason is how they've been able to operate at home.

And the Huskies understand this as well as anyone out west. They haven't beaten Stanford in their house in 12 years.

During Petersen's Thursday press briefing, he talked about Stanford's unique game-day atmosphere, the respect he has for the Cardinal and their head coach, David Shaw, the development of the defensive backs, rotating running backs, and the idea of being comfortable with being uncomfortable, something the Road Dawgs will certainly experience this weekend in the Bay Area.

The Huskies seem to be hitting their stride a little bit on the offensive side of the ball.

They exploded for 52 points against Hawaii at home and then put up 45 points on the road against BYU before coming back home to score 28 against a tough USC team.

The Huskies are getting a lot of productivity from their tailbacks including redshirt freshman Richard Newton and Salvon Ahmed has shown a lot of progress as well, as evidenced by his 89-yard touchdown run against the Trojans on Saturday, a play that featured his ability to make someone miss and then use his breakaway speed to run away from the secondary.

By the way, that run was the longest for a Husky since Napoleon Kaufman broke off a 91-yard jaunt against San Jose State back in 1994.

Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan isn't ready to say the offense is where he wants it to be, but he is happy about the progress the team has made, especially quarterback Jacob Eason and tailback Salvon Ahmed and he hopes it continues..

Senior left tackle Trey Adams says he's feeling good about the way he's playing individually and how the offensive line has come together and what it was like doing 50 push-ups as his penance for getting a personal foul in the Trojan game. Fellow senior, center Nick Harris, talked about the transition from guard to center and helping out Matteo Mele when he came in for Harris against Eastern Washington.

Tight end Hunter Bryant ranks second on the Huskies with 23 receptions, but he's leading the team with 334 yards through the air and he talked about his progress as an every-down tight end while Cade Otton talked about watching Will Dissly succeed with the Seattle Seahawks.

Offensive line coach Scott Huff relayed his thoughts on the communication for the offensive line and where things can break down at times.

The Washington Huskies are about to play their sixth game of the 2019 season, so we're getting a better sense week-by-week about the collective personality of the team, as well as the players that make them go.

In talking with Washington Defensive Line Coach Ikaika Malloe and junior defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike, we got to know a little bit more about the guys they call the 'twins' - Tuli Letuligasenoa and Sam Taimani. And after speaking with junior defensive back Elijah Molden, you see just how competitive their room is, how the challenge to win the 'best hands in the room' in practice crosses over to production the field during games.

We also talked with Washington Linebackers Coach and Special Teams Coordinator Bob Gregory to get a sense for how the veteran nature of his starters - Brandon Wellington and Kyler Manu - has helped them so far this year, as well as when the moment was for redshirt sophomore placekicker Peyton Henry when everything came together, and how true freshman Tim Horn has already helped the kicking group as a whole.

In the past, going week-to-week from USC to Stanford wouldn't be considered that big of a change. Both were usually athletic, physical teams that would try and run at you and play stout defense.

Things have changed a little bit. Now USC runs a wide-open Air Raid-style offense, while Stanford still tries to run it at you but will also utilize their tight ends a lot down the field. And Stanford's defense isn't quite as stingy as it has been in the past. They're currently 92nd in total defense and 127th in third-down percentage defense.

Definitely un-Stanford like numbers.

Washington Head Coach Chris Petersen was asked about the defensive drop-off for the Cardinal, whether or not they have to game plan differently for Davis Mills compared to K.J. Costello, the hassle that playing night games on the road presents, and also about the sideline interference penalty assessed to UW Saturday in their 28-14 win over USC and whether or not it was on him, which led into a humorous back-and-forth about his policy toward unsportsmanlike calls and especially when they're levied against linemen.

It was a solid win for the Washington Huskies, as they defeated USC 28-14 in front of a paid house of nearly 67000 fans at Husky Stadium, and the players and coaches had plenty to say about it.

The Lineup

Head Coach Chris Petersen

Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan

Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake

Quarterback Jacob Eason

Tailback Salvon Ahmed

Defensive Back Elijah Molden 

Defensive Back Myles Bryant