Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

There is not a Husky football game to talk about this weekend, so Dawgman's Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund decided to sit down and chat about the conference and how things could play out of the next few weeks. Both opined on each game taking place today, from a snow-covered field in Boulder, to the rivalry game between UCLA and USC this afternoon, and a cold game set to kickoff at 1 pm between Cal and Washington State and then capping the night off with a conest between Stanford and Oregon State, and gave their thoughts on some rumors of the Apple Cup being played on New Year's Eve.

They also discussed the recent commitment of Emeka Egbuka, a five-star wide receiver from Steilacoom (Wa.), to Ohio State and how that impacts Washington's class. How big of a miss is it? Fetters and Eklund give their thoughts.

Through four games, the Washington Huskies (1-3) started out extremely slow, but on Wednesday broke through in a big way with a 32-point win over crosstown rivals Seattle University.

With UW set to host Oregon Saturday at 5 pm on the Pac-12 Networks, it seemed a perfect time to Dawgman.com’s Chris Fetters to catch up with the Head of Hoops, Aaron Beach, to get an honest assessment of where he thinks the program is right now, and how much to take from UW’s lopsided win over the Redhawks.

It all starts with Quade Green and what he brings to the team, as well as the surprising play of junior college transfer Nate Pryor this week. He has started to emerge as a genuine playmaking threat, perhaps sooner than expected.

But there’s others that haven’t taken their chances. Fetters and Beach talk about those players, what’s holding them back, and what they need to do to push past their difficulties.

They also talk about Mike Hopkins’ desire to play a 7-8 man rotation, and whether or not they can do that right now. And does Beach see a situation where Hop may switch up his lineup to take advantage of players showing up right now, including center Riley Sorn?

After a quick break, they come back to some quick recruiting news. Olympia’s Jackson Grant has already signed his letter of intent with Washington for the 2021 class. We talk about his skill set and how he fits into what UW is trying to do on both sides of the court.

And they finish up the conversation with Beach looking ahead and talking about what UW needs to do in order to push forward in the Pac-12. Here’s a hint: it doesn’t sound like a quick fix is available. He also talks about what he wants to see out of the Huskies early on against the Ducks on Saturday, and whether or not he’s taking the over or under when asked if UW will finish 9th in the conference, the place they were picked preseason by the media.

Well, Jimmy Lake can claim a Pac-12 North Division Championship in his first year as Washington’s head coach (assuming the rest of the Pac-12 games are played this weekend), and that can’t be taken away from him. But I suspect he’d put it on the line to play the Oregon Ducks Saturday in Eugene to settle it once and for all.

The Huskies (3-1) will be crowned as North Champions even though their game with Oregon (3-2) was declared a "no contest" Thursday afternoon by the Pac-12. That’s due to Washington “not having the minimum number of scholarship student-athletes available for the game due to a number of positive football student-athlete COVID-19 cases and resulting isolation of additional football student-athletes under contact tracing protocols,” per the issued Pac-12 statement.

Lake said it himself during his coaches show Wednesday night that the situation ‘wouldn’t sit right with me’ if they couldn’t play Saturday yet made it to the Pac-12 Championship game, yet here we stand. That’s the situation that has unfolded.

Because of that situation, the guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - talk about the cancellation, next steps, and whether or not the Huskies will even be healthy enough to play a game in a week’s time. The Pac-12 Championship game is scheduled for Friday, December 18.

In short, one of us believes there’s still a chance UW plays in that game, while the other two are following Lake’s own words Wednesday night when he said if Washington couldn’t play Oregon, they probably wouldn’t be able to play in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

And if you believe the Seattle Times report that has the Huskies well below the 53-man threshold to be able to play the game, you can draw your own conclusions.

Grinolds then brings up the original Pac-12 idea of playing a spring schedule. Could it work? Would the schools put their players through it after what they’ve just been through this fall?

After the break, the idea is also discussed pushing back the Pac-12 Championship Game, or Washington trying to come to an agreement with another school - could it be Oregon or Washington State? - to finish their season the following Sunday or Monday. Is that even possible? Would the media partners be able to move their schedules around to create compelling matchups if both teams were healthy and available to play by then? And what is the Pac-12 itself thinking about the matchups for December 19? At this point, they haven’t voted on what they’re going to do so it seems like all possibilities could be on the table.

Or what about extending the season by a week into Christmas? With the Pac-12 out of the Playoff conversation, is that something the conference should consider?

And what about bowl season? How many Pac-12 teams will even want to play a bowl game? Would the Huskies want to travel to Texas to play the Armed Forces Bowl during a pandemic? 

So many questions; do the Dawgman guys have any reasonable answers? 

UW guard Nate Pryor and Head Coach Mike Hopkins talk to the media after the Huskies won their first game of the season, a 73-41 blowout of crosstown rival Seattle University.

When Naz Carter informed Mike Hopkins he was leaving Washington last week, there was already an appeal underway challenging a university student code of conduct. When that appeal was denied, the rest came out in short order.

The university investigated two sexual assault charges levied against the senior guard, so whether he was leaving to try and play hoops in Australia (that later fell through), or somewhere else, it was clear Carter would never put on the Purple and Gold ever again.

"The process with our administration to dismiss Naz from the program was underway last Wednesday upon learning that his appeal of a university student code of conduct policy has been denied,” Hopkins read to the media Tuesday from a prepared statement. “I take allegations of this nature extremely seriously. Wednesday night Naz informed me that he would be leaving the program to pursue a professional career. As the leader of this program I hold myself, our student-athletes, and our staff to the highest standards on and off the court, and we hold ourselves accountable to those standards. And for that reason, Naz is no longer part of this program."

And as far as the basketball side of things goes, that was that. And with the dismissal of Carter also goes 12 points and nearly five rebounds a game, as well as a veteran presence on the floor.

Hopkins acknowledged how a loss of a potential all-league performer can affect a team struggling to find its offensive identity, but he harkened back to an old refrain that remains tru no matter the situation: Doesn’t Matter, Get Better.

And he feels like that has happened the last 4-5 practices after the team returned to Seattle after their 76-62 loss at Utah. With the dribble penetration ‘stagnant’ based on trying to space things out more, they’ve worked lately on more offensive flow and also balance. They weren’t sure they were going to be able to get as much inside at the beginning of the year, but the play of Nate Roberts and Riley Sorn has shown Hop they have options now.

The Huskies will have a chance to show their improvement Wednesday when they host Seattle (3-3).

“Every game is going to be different,” he said. “We're just going to have to figure out during the game or when we're doing the scout where our advantage is and where we can have an advantage to win the game. Figuring that out was really important for us."

After two sub-par games, the Huskies know they need to get better on the defensive side of the ball and stopping the run is their first priority. Obviously it's a team game and no single position group is fully responsible for their lackluster performance in stopping their opponents' ground games, but defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe knows his guys need to improve and they have another tough test this weekend when they take on Oregon.

In addition to what he thinks needs to improve, Malloe was also asked about the rivalry with the Ducks and what is the key to helping some of the younger players understand why this game is so important on many levels, not just the opportunity to win the Pac 12 North, and the fifth-year Husky assistant also talked about the Polynesian culture and why the Hawaiian connection has been so good at Montlake for so long.

Senior defensive back Elijah Molden, whose father was a star at Oregon, also took the time to meet with the media and he said that even though his family has deep ties to the Duck football program, he wanted to carve his own path and Washington was the place he felt where he could maximize his talents and make a name for himself.

He was also very succinct in what he knows he'll see from Oregon quarterback Tyler Shough this weekend when the two teams face off in the final game of the "regular" season.

To listen to the 23-minute podcast, click on the audio link below.

In almost every way, Jimmy Lake is an extension of the things Chris Petersen is known for as a head coach. He's tough, he's honest, he's as much about excellence off the field as on it, and he's certainly not going to give anything away to his opponent.

But Lake was not in a shy mood Monday when asked about possibly playing up the stakes for this weekend's UW-Oregon game in Eugene, with the winner headed to the Pac-12 Championship game. It's a question Petersen would have likely bobbed and weaved around to the press, talking more about the process and doing things right to achieve the ideal outcome.

Lake is all about the process too, but in his words, he doesn't have to remind anyone in the football offices about what comes with a UW win this weekend. So they might as well embrace it.

"We're always telling the truth to our guys and those guys know I'm always going to hit them right between the eyes with constructive criticism or the truth about something positive," he said when talking with the media during his usual Monday press conference. "This is positive. Yes, we are definitely playing that up. We know what's at stake here and that's the beautiful thing about all the hard work that our team has put in this year and all the ups and downs and rollercoasters of emotions...we're playing football, we're not playing football, we're doing this, we're doing that. And now, here we are. We're in position. We control our own destiny. We take care of business, we are right where we want to be for our goal, which is to win the Pac-12 Championship. That's known throughout this whole building and I don't think I have to remind anybody about that."

Lake also talked about what he saw when he watched the tape of their 31-26 defeat to Stanford, their first loss of the season. It was a game marred by another slow start and an inability to get off the field for the Washington defense. Lake talked about those things, as well as the emergence of some young receivers and also how quarterback Dylan Morris is starting to show his leadership chops.

Washington receiver Ty Jones, linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, and Head Coach Jimmy Lake spoke to the media after their 31-26 loss Saturday afternoon to the Stanford Cardinal at Husky Stadium, and you could tell the loss - the first of the season for the Huskies - was going to be one that might take just a little bit longer than 24 hours to absorb. In fact, the UW coaches may want to allow this one to sting just a little bit longer to make sure the lessons were learned.

And they were hard lessons too. Whether talking about execution in all three phases of the game; from another slow start, to not being able to run between the tackles, to not being able to stop the run and get off the field on third down, to giving up big returns in the kicking game and also a blocked extra point - there’s going to be a lot of film study the Huskies can use to grow and get better.

But they still had their opportunities to come back from another 24-point halftime deficit, and almost made it happen. But the Cardinal made plays on both sides of the ball in the moments that mattered to keep the Huskies at bay.

Jones talked about not having teammates Terrell Bynum and Puka Nacua there today, as well as the big day for freshman Rome Odunze. Ulofoshio’s frustration was evident as he talked about the things he felt they didn’t execute that could have spelled the difference in the game.

And Coach Lake was asked about the slow start, but couldn’t pin-point any one thing that stood out that would have given him pause during pre-game. He was also asked about energy being an issue, the growth of players like Zion Tupuola-Fetui and getting more pressure to get Stanford QB Davis Mills off his spot. Did he think the hold call on M.J. Ale was legit, the one that cost UW a chance to potentially tie the game in the fourth quarter?

It was deja vu all over again, according to Yogi Berra. Not only did Washington fall into a 21-point halftime hole for the second week in a row, but they just couldn’t figure the Stanford Cardinal out on either side of the ball - much like it was last year.

And even though the Washington offense finally got on track in the second half, it was not enough to overcome mistakes in all three phases. The result? A 31-26 win for Stanford, their eighth win in the last 10 games against the Huskies, as well as Jimmy Lake’s first loss as UW’s head coach.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - work their way through the game from the start, beginning with the defense’s inability to get off the field. Stanford was 10-13 on third downs, and even when they had very good chances at the end of the game to get the ball back and pull out another miracle come-from-behind win, the Cardinal simply made plays when they had to.

The guys also talked about Washington’s inability to set the tone at the line of scrimmage, their difficulty on setting the edge and getting off blockers. Those things proved costly, because UW was not able to force a successful third down stop into a punt until there was 14 seconds left in the third quarter. We're seeing guys like Zion Tupuola-Fetui and Sav'ell Smalls take their lumps and grow up right in front of our eyes, just like Joe Tryon last year. 

Edefuan Ulofoshio led the Huskies again with 18 monster tackles, but he was visibly frustrated in how the game unfolded. With his heart on his sleeve, he pointed to the unit’s lack of belief in their film study and preparation that slowed down their attempts to keep the Cardinal at bay. The guys talked about the play at all three levels and what needs to get done for UW to turn this learning experience into a lesson they can take with them to Eugene next weekend.

They also talked about the offense, how the running backs were used (or not used), the absence of Terrell Bynum and Puka Nacua, and the reaction to the sudden change play that found them at the Stanford 10-yard line with a chance to potentially tie the game with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter. 

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - waited until the last moment before putting together their pregame podcast. You’d think this was simply some shrewd scheduling on their part, but it was more serendipitous than anything. We had decided to wait until the last moment to record, and literally, 10 minutes before the start, the high sign came down from Montlake; the game is on.

It means a happy ending to a week that was even more topsy-turvy than normal, and that’s saying something in 2020. It means a football game will be played between the Stanford Cardinal and Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium this afternoon, and that’s all that matters.

In the first half of the podcast, the three break down the Cardinal and the matchups they see as key to the outcome of the game. Stanford and UW both want the ball; they want to possess it and keep it away from the other team. That’s their modus operandi. But they do it in different ways. Stanford has a handful of big receivers they’ll lean on, while Washington has their stable of running backs they’ll employ behind a massive offensive line. And then there’s the matchup of two quarterbacks at extremes: senior Davis Mills for Stanford and redshirt freshman Dylan Morris for Washington.

After a quick break, Scott breaks down a QB and WR camp he recently went to, headed up by local QB guru Lavelle Durant and former WSU WR star Brandon Gibson. 2021 QB commit Sam Huard was there, as was 5-star athlete Emeka Egbuka.