Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

Washington got their first win of the season last weekend when they blew out Arkansas State 52-3 at Husky Stadium. Today, they kickoff conference play with a game against Cal, a team that has had their number of the past several seasons. From 2019's "Lightning Game" to Marshawn Lynch and his post-game ride on a cart to "God's Play", the Huskies and Golden Bears have had some doosies over the years.

Both teams head into the game with 1-2 records although Cal's 1-2 looks a little bit better than Washington's, considering the Huskies lost to an FCS opponent and were blown out by Michigan while Cal lost a close road game to TCU and suffered a tough, opening week loss to Nevada at home.

As Jimmy Lake has said many times, Washington's goals are still within reach as there is still a lot of football left to be played, but the sense of urgency needs to be there for the players.

Will John Donovan call plays that can exploit some of Cal's defensive deficiencies? Can the Huskies get their running game going while still pushing the ball down the field to big-play receivers like Terrell Bynum and Jalen McMillan?

Do the Huskies have a plan to keep Cal quarterback Chase Garbers in the pocket and can they shut down a strong running game that is led by Damien Moore and Chris Brooks?

A matchup to watch is Washington's talented secondary and the Cal receiver group led by Nikko Remigio and Trevon Clark as well as tight end Jake Tonges.

Dawgman's Scott Eklund, Chris Fetters and Kim Grinolds talk about some of the top matchups they will be keeping an eye on tonight, some of the keys to the game and also discuss some recruiting as well as their impressions from new Pac 12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff's meeting with the local press at Montlake on Friday.

He must have been saving the best for last. New Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff is in town this weekend to take in the California-Washington football game, and also to visit the Huskies as part of his 'getting to know you' tour. The visit is the 11th already for Kliavkoff, who has a history with the area.

Kliavkoff spent 10 years from 1995-05 in Seattle working for Real Networks. During that time he had season tickets to the Men's Basketball games and shared football season tickets.

The interns of Dawgman.com - Jack McCauley and Intern Emeritus Luke Mounger - go through their weekly breakdown of how they see the game going between the Washington Huskies and that weekend's opponent. And this one is a big one.

The Huskies host the California Golden Bears (1-2) on Saturday night at Husky Stadium, and both teams are smarting a bit from their non-conference schedules. Cal lost to Nevada and TCU and just beat Sacramento State this past weekend. Washington also got their first 2021 win last Saturday against Arkansas State after back-to-back losses to Montana and Michigan to start the season.

Jack and Luke go through both sides of Cal's program, starting with the offense and then moving over to the defensive side of the ball. They talk about the top players to watch, how the Huskies might be able to slow them down, and also how the Huskies might be able to exploit some of Cal's perceived weaknesses.

We are still in information gathering mode, and each week we like to talk to someone who knows Washington's opponent inside and out. This week, the Huskies are playing their first Pac-12 game of the season, so Dawgman.com's Kim Grinolds reached out to Bear Territory's Jackson Moore to find out what makes the California Golden Bears go on both sides of the ball.

They start out with the offensive side of the ball, starting with new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and a pro-style attack similar in style to what Washington is doing with John Donovan. In fact, what has happened at Cal offensively the last few years mirrors the same struggles that UW has gone through. They talk about quarterback Chase Garbers and his career with the Golden Bears, and the other aspects of the offense UW fans should watch out for. Who are the possession guys? Who are the guys that will try and take the top off of Washington's defense? Moore talks about those players and more.

After a quick commercial break, Grinolds and Moore talked about California's defense and the struggles they've gone through so far this season, especially when it comes to trying to stop the pass. Moore talks about the players they've lost on that side of the ball, including Kuony Deng, and the players that are trying to replace them.

Here's what Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lake said about Emeka Megwa's decision to leave high school early and enroll at UW early, including a scouting report and recruiting Texas, as well as the running back room and seeing Sean McGrew and Kamari Pleasant in the backfield last weekend for the first time all season. It was part of Lake's normal Thursday media session, the last one before the Huskies host California on Saturday night.

Defensive Back Alex Cook, Nickel Bookie Radley-Hiles, and Defensive Line Coach Rip Rowan spoke to the media Wednesday ahead of Washington's first Pac-12 game of the season. They host California Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.

In last Saturday's 52-3 win over Arkansas State, Washington's offense took some positive steps, rolling up nearly 600 yards on the Red Wolves. While there were a lot of positives to take from the victory, there is still a lot of work to do. Head coach Jimmy Lake said as much on Monday and on Tuesday, two players, Sean McGrew and Henry Bainivalu concured.

McGrew talked about the first two games and having to watch from the sidelines as his team struggled to move the ball and how he just continued to keep working and knew his time would come. Once he got on the field, he felt good about the plays that were called and knew his first touchdown was coming.

Now in his second season as a starter, Bainivalu has settled in at right guard and says he knows he still has a lot left to prove and continues to work at his craft to become a better player. He also noted how the offensive line needs to lead the way for the offense and that they are all working toward become a better unit altogether.

We are starting to familiarize ourselves with Jimmy Lake's lexicon. The Washington Head Coach is fond of calling himself an 'equal opportunity employer' when it comes to assigning starting positions, and win or lose, the Washington Huskies will always be 'bricklayers'.

"Whether we're being highly successful and everybody thinks we're great, we need to go back to work and get our team ready to go win the next one," Lake said Monday after the Huskies got their first win of the season this past weekend, a 52-3 win over Arkansas State. "Or, we're struggling and we don't know how to coach football or play football anymore - we're going back to work. So we need to have that urgency, whether we're having success or we're struggling. What I've seen from our team, our whole staff and our players is, we've gone back to work. And we're going to continue to go back to work."

Washington quarterback Dylan Morris and defensive back Brendan Radley-Hiles spoke to the media after Uw's 52-3 win over Arkansas State Saturday at Husky Stadium.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - break down what happened during Saturday's 52-3 demolishment of Arkansas State at the hands of the Washington Huskies. It was a breakout performance for a program sorely in need of one. But how did it happen? And why did it take two weeks for it to happen?

The first segment focused solely on the offense, from the improved play of the offensive line, to better decision-making from quarterback Dylan Morris, to more balance using more running backs in the run game, to Jalen McMillan and Terrell Bynum having phenomenal games catching the football, often in less-than-ideal conditions.

But mostly it started with throwing the ball early and getting the ball downfield early, which opened everything else up.

After a quick break to pay some bills, the Dawgman guys came back to talk about the defense, including our defensive player of the game - Brendan Radley-Hiles. The Oklahoma transfer was all over the field, coming up with 9 tackles, including 2 tackles for loss, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery.

They also talked about how Washington's front was able to stymie the Red Wolves potent passing attack, and how 49 passes thrown by the opponent led to turnover opportunities. And there were some other standout performances, including defensive lineman Faatui Tuitele, and inside linebacker Carson Bruener, who came out of nowhere to finish the game with 8 tackles and a forced fumble.

There were also some special teams standouts, including Alex Cook, who blocked a punt for the Huskies. It's the first time UW has come up with a punt block since Levi Onwuzurike did it at Arizona in 2019.

But what does all of this mean as Washington now sets their sights on California, a team that has beaten the Huskies the last two times the teams have faced off?