Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

It was paint-by-numbers for the Dawgman guys - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - as they sketched out exactly why Washington lost to Colorado 20-17 Saturday afternoon.

It was the lack of a run game. It was the lack of stopping Colorado when they absolutely had to in the fourth quarter. But more than anything else, it was the Huskies losing the turnover battle by minus-four that crushed any of the positives that could have come from a game where they were able to generate nearly 430 yards of offense and go 14-21 on third downs.

It all started with the offensive line, who continued their inability to give the Washington running backs room to run, but most of the ire has been laid at the feet of quarterback Dylan Morris, and rightly so. What's ironic about that is he threw for a career-high 387 yards and two touchdowns.

But it was his two interceptions, as well as a fumble that was returned 88 yards for a touchdown, that undid any of his good work.

After breaking down the key plays that led to Washington's loss, the Dawgman guys then turned their attention to next week's Apple Cup. With the Cougars bowl-eligible and the Huskies staying home for the holidays, will the Dawgs have any motivation to do anything next Friday, or will they roll over and play dead?

Finally, the guys offer up a coaching search update, of sorts. It's actually more about the mechanics of the search, who Jen Cohen is leaning on to help make the decision, and how seriously to take rumors this early into a search.

Heading to Boulder for their last road game of the season, Washington sits at 4-6 and on the brink of missing a bowl game for the first time in 12 years. They have to figure out a way to come out of this afternoon's game against the Buffaloes with a win. How do they do that?

Dawgman's Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund sit down and discuss some of the biggest keys to the game.

Will Sam Huard play? Will he start? How much will Dylan Morris play? Can the Huskies stop the run and run the ball? Can they force some turnovers?

There are a lot of things at play as the Huskies prepare to take the field, not the least of which is the absense of Jimmy Lake who was dismissed as the head coach after serving a one-week suspension.

The Dawgman.com interns - Jack McCauley and Intern Emeritus Luke Mounger - tackle the big news of the week; the firing of Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lake. They give their props to Lake, as well as their early takes on the coaching search. They each pick a candidate they like, as well as one they think is likely to get the job.

Moving on to the opponent preview, the guys start with the Colorado offense, which features a strong run game and a poor passing game. There are only two CU pass-catchers with 20 catches or more all season. Can the Huskies have success if they can force Colorado to be one-dimensional? And do the Huskies have enough talent on offense to do that? They've only slowed down one rushing offense in Pac-12 play, and that was Stanford. They're the worst in the conference by a country mile.

The talk then moves to the defense. With senior linebacker leader Nate Landman questionable for the game on Saturday, Jack breaks down the top Colorado defensive players to know about, as well as the places where Washington might be able to take advantage of a CU defense ranked 10th in scoring defense and 11th in total defense.

And what has taken place with the Buffaloes since their heartbreaking 10-7 loss to Texas A&M? They've gone 2-7 since.

The guys then take on the Sam Huard dilemma: do they play the true freshman in his fourth game of the season, which means he couldn't play in the Apple Cup if they wanted to keep his redshirt year intact? Or will they hold off playing Huard so they can use him against WSU? Or is the redshirt talk irrelevant at this point?

To finish up, the guys give their confidence levels of another UW road win.

Washington guard Terrell Brown, Jr. and Head Coach Mike Hopkins spoke to the media Thursday night after the Huskies lost a tough contest to Wyoming, 77-72 in overtime.

Interim Washington Head Coach Bob Gregory showed up for his Tuesday press conference with a shirt that had some telling words on it.

It wasn't 'run the damn ball'.

It was three words: PLAY WITH JOY

And that's the task ahead for the remaining UW staff, to get the team to block out all the outside noise and just play for themselves and their teammates. And there's still a lot to play for.

Now that Washington is in search of a new head coach, we are officially into "coaching merry-go-round season". There are two big-time jobs (LSU and USC) currently open and with Washington now in the market for a head coach as well, things are definitely speeding up to find the right coach for your program.

Also worth remembering is with the early signing period, programs now need to find a head coach much faster they they did before it was installed back in 2017.

To get some coaching search thoughts as well as its impact on the recruiting front, Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds sat down with 247 National Recruiting Analyst Cooper Petagna, a man with a lot of insight into Washington's football program, to get his thoughts on things and where the coaching search could be headed.

What should be the boxes that a head coach candidate checks? How hard is it for a midwest or east coast coach to come to the Pac 12 and have success in recruiting?

To listen to the 41-minute podcast, click on the audio link below...

There's a lot of (purple) smoke that Washington could tab Cal's Justin Wilcox as the next head coach, though that's not the move that has Husky fans rabid. But then again, could U-Dub even get Dave Aranda? Therein lies Washington's dilemma.

Host: Trey Scott  

Guest: Chris Fetters

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The Washington Huskies defeated the Texas Southern Tigers 72-65 Monday night. Washington players Daejon Davis and Terrell Brown, Jr., as well as UW Head Coach Mike Hopkins, spoke to the media post-game about the win.

Washington Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen met with the media via a Zoom call Sunday night after the school fired head football coach Jimmy Lake earlier in the day.

Here is Cohen's complete press conference audio regarding the firing. 

It's emergency podcast time! Again. It's become a regular feature the last week ever since Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lake was suspended for his actions during an 'interaction' with UW player Ruperake Fuavai in the Huskies' loss to Oregon.

It's a week later, and things couldn't be more off the rails. Lake has been fired without cause, Bob Gregory will be Washington's head coach the rest of the season, and AD Jen Cohen will conduct a search for Lake's replacement, starting immediately.

Where did it all go wrong? Who could have seen Lake getting blown out only 13 games into his head coaching career? Well, the Dawgman guys - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - give their initial reactions to the news and also go into the why's and how's of the situation to give their opinions as to when they could sense the beginning of the end for Lake. Was it the hiring of offensive coordinator John Donovan? Was it when he wore the 'Run the Damn Ball' hat? Was it the loss to Montana?

And to finish the podcast, each is asked to not just pick who they would like to see take over, but the important criteria Cohen will have to consider as she goes through the vetting process.