Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds and Chris Fetters - sort through the wreckage that was Washington's 45-38 loss to Arizona State. That's eight-straight losses for the Huskies in Tempe, an absolute house of horrors for these Dawgs.

Arizona State lost their quarterback, Emory Jones, in the second quarter, but just kept chugging along with backup Trenton Bourguet, who finished the game 15-21 for 182 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. And the Sun Devils were also dealing with their own program issues, as they recently fired Herm Edwards and RB Coach Shaun Aguano was put in charge of things for the rest of the season.

Elijah Jackson made his first career start for the Huskies at cornerback, and true freshmen Tristan Dunn and Jayvon Parker played a lot of snaps Saturday afternoon. In the end, the heat didn't make a huge difference, and the grass didn't either.

Because Washington tied the game up at 38 with 12 minutes to play and the game was there for the taking. But an inability by the defense to stop anyone on third down, coupled with UW's tepid final drive - one that included a 30-yard fumble that gave them no hope of trying to find the end zone - sealed their fate, a fate UW has suffered many times in Sun Devil Stadium.

Grinolds and Fetters broke down the problems that plagued Washington's defense, the plays that turned the game in ASU's favor, and where they go from here. Here's a hint; any UW fan that thinks the defense is going to miraculously get healthy or better before they host Arizona a week from now should re-think their opinion. This group of Dawgs is battered and bruised up, trying to figure out a way to get through the next two weeks before the bye week arrives.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - put together their final pregame thoughts before the Washington Huskies and Arizona State Sun Devils tussle this afternoon at Sun Devil Stadium. Kickoff is at 1 pm and will be shown on the Pac-12 Network.

To get a better idea of what Washington will see from their hosts, the Arizona State Sun Devils, SunDevilSource's Chris Karpman gave an in-depth update on the status of the program and also spoke with Kim Grinolds to give fans an idea as to what he expects from ASU today.

To begin the podcast, the guys go over the main storylines, namely the inability of Washington to win at ASU since 2001, the mid-day start and playing in the heat, as well as playing on another grass field. Talk then turns to what they expect to see when Arizona State's offense matches up with UW's Death Row Defense. Will turnovers play a role in today's game? The Huskies have been talking takeaways all week, so we'll see if they can force ASU QB Emory Jones into some poor decisions.

After a quick break, they switch sides and talk about what they think will happen with Washington has the ball on offense. Can UW exploit the fact that ASU is having a hell of a time getting off the field on third down? And what do they expect to see with the continued experiment of Troy Fautanu at left tackle and Jaxson Kirkland at left guard. And which players on that side of the ball do they expect to step up and have big games? Here's a hint; they all picked a different player from the same position group.

After the final break, Scott gives a quick recruiting update, Kim and Chris offer some more thoughts on the verbal commitment of top shooting guard Wesley Yates to the Hoop Dawgs, and all three give their final takes on what they expect to see at Sun Devil Stadium today.

The Dawgman.com Interns - Luke Mounger, Jack McCauley, and Josh Wodka - get together to preview Washington's next game, at Arizona State, a place they haven't won at since 2001. But that was also the same year the Mariners last made the playoffs. The M's are back, so does that mean the Huskies beak their desert jinx?

Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds spoke this week with SunDevilSource.com's Chris Karpman to find out as much as he could about Washington's next opponent, the Arizona State Sun Devils.

To start, they give UW fans an idea of some of the places to go after the game, since it's a 1 pm start. Should it be Mill Ave? Scottsdale? Karpman offers up a few suggestions.

Arizona State is going through some chaos at the moment, dealing now with a team without a permanent head coach, as well as an NCAA investigation into alleged recruiting violations. Karpman talks about what it's been like the last 18 months dealing with all the turmoil. And how is the coaching search going to go? Which names would intrigue Karpman in terms of taking ASU to the next level?

As for the game itself, they started out at the ASU offense, led by Florida transfer Emory Jones, running back Xazavian Valladay, and receiver Elijhah Badger. Karpman offers up some key offensive line information as far as injuries and who should start against the Huskies. And how comfortable is Karpman with ASU's offense if they need to convert third and medium?

After a quick break the talk moves to the defense. Miami transfer DL Nesta Jade Silvera is a name the Washington coaches have already identified as a problem. Does Karpman think the ASU defensive coaches will dial up pressures to get after Michael Penix Jr? And does Karpman think the ASU secondary will go more zone or man against Penix?

And finally, if ASU needed to kick a 40+ yard field goal to win the game, how confident is Karpman that the Sun Devils will pull out the win?

Grinolds asks Karpman; has he seen visitors struggle from turf to the natural grass of Sun Devil Stadium? And does he think that will factor into the end result of the game Saturday?

As far as other intangibles, does Karpman think the game will be well attended? Will the weather impact attendance? He also adds a couple of other game notes that UW fans should take note of.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - broke down the main storylines heading out of Washington's first loss of the season to UCLA, and how those storylines may change as the Huskies prepare to go back on the road again to play Arizona State. UW has not won in Tempe since 2001.

The first storyline was how the team has bounced back from the UCLA loss, their first of the season. Starting with Kalen DeBoer, the guys talked about the things that plagued the Huskies on the road at the Rose Bowl and what they have to clean up before they go back on the road to face Arizona State, including penalties and sudden change plays.

One of the other big storylines coming out of the UCLA game was the move of Jaxson Kirkland inside, which meant another start at left tackle for Troy Fautanu. Is Kirkland better suited inside or outside, especially with a look forward to his potential as a professional?

The next storyline centered around the offensive miscues against UCLA, namely the interceptions thrown by Michael Penix, Jr. and the fumble by Wayne Taulapapa near their goal line that resulted in a safety.

After a break to pay some bills, the talk turns to the upcoming Arizona State road game, where it's going to be hot and humid. Add a mid-day start (1 pm) to the mix and the Huskies have to be on point with their hydration.

Another point of emphasis will be getting after ASU on offense and quarterback Emory Jones, a Florida transfer. Why do their statistics not match up with the fact that they have a number of top skill players that can make plays?

Talk then moved to some big hoops news this week, the verbal commit of Wesley Yates to UW. Yates, a 6-4, 210-pound prospect from Beaumont, Tex., is 247Sports' No. 2 shooting guard nationally. How will Yates fit into the Huskies' personnel, especially knowing the only player they will lose for sure after this upcoming season is Jamal Bey.

Scott Huff, Eric Schmidt, Chuck Morrell, Julius Brown spoke to the media this week ahead of Washington's trip to Arizona State.

Michael Penix, Jr., Jalen McMillan, Jaxson Kirkland, Alex Cook, Jordan Perryman, and Jaivion Green speak to the media ahead of Washington's game this weekend at Arizona State.

William Inge, Ryan Grubb, and Kalen DeBoer spoke with the media Monday to talk about what they saw in UW's 40-32 loss at UCLA last Friday, what they need to clean up, and what challenges lay ahead as they are on the road this weekend to Arizona State.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds live from the Rose Bowl and Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund from home - broke down Washington's 40-32 loss to UCLA, a game that certainly could have been won by the visitors except for the fact that they dug themselves a 33-10 third quarter hole they couldn't fully get out out of.

They start out talking about the first half, one where UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson was able to pretty much do whatever he wanted on the field. Couple that with two interceptions thrown by UW's Michael Penix and a safety, and the Bruins were able to go into the half up 26-10.

The second half of the podcast talks about the adjustments made at halftime, which saw UW outscore UCLA 22-14 (including 16-0 in the fourth quarter), but all the mistakes they had made up to that point - including penalties, poor angles and tackling, and UCLA playing a strong field position game - just could not be fully overcome. And DTR was able to run UCLA's offense and possess the ball in such a way that eliminated any chance the Huskies had of evening the score even after they had crawled all the way back to make it a one-score affair.

So what lessons were learned? What Washington team do we expect to see a week from now down in the desert when the Huskies try and regroup at Arizona State? The guys talk about that in their final thoughts.

Michael Penix, Jr., Alex Cook, and Kalen DeBoer all spoke to the media Friday night after the No. 15 Washington Huskies lost at UCLA, 40-32.