Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

While he was ecstatic to get his first win as a head coach last Saturday night against Oregon State, Jimmy Lake isn't one to dwell on the past. Heck, he even admits the fact that losses stick with him more than wins do. Even with that in mind, Lake was able to give his thoughts on how a handful of individual players played in the first game of the season, a 27-21 win over the Beavers, and he said he expects the team to build off of what they did well and to improve on what didn't go so well in game one.

Asked about the play of the offensive line, Lake said that as a whole, that group had a very good game and he feels that M.J. Ale and Henry Bainivalu are two of the better guards in the conference. Both were dominant in a 267-yard effort on the ground for the Huskies and he also felt like Luke Wattenberg, who made the move from left guard to center during the offseason, had an outstanding game at center where he was able to be the leader of the offensive line and make the calls to help out a young signal-caller.

Lake admitted that he got a big grin out of the fact that a coaching friend of his called and said that the first third down conversion of the season came on a fullback dive play to Jack Westover. That's his kind of football and he noted that while Westover may not have gotten many carries before he set foot on a college campus, the sophomore tight end told the media he got just one carry as an eighth-grader, that during training camp, he probably got 150 as they worked on those dive plays over and over again, so it wasn't something they were worried about.

Overall, the first-year head coach said his team has practiced well this week, they've come in and focused on preparing for a good Arizona team that has a lot of weapons that can hurt you.

He may have only been in the eighth grade, but it's not like Jack Westover hasn't had his chance to tote the rock.

And yes, it was just that one time against Bainbridge, but clearly, the Washington coaches thought enough of Westover's athleticism and ability to have him carry the ball three times Saturday night in UW's 27-21 win over Oregon State.

The sophomore tight end, now on scholarship, talked about those carries, his initial reaction when his name was called, as well as whether or not he considers himself a tight end or fullback. He spoke on his versatility and how basketball trained him to become a good football player.

The media also spoke to senior running back Kamari Pleasant, who talked about the work he put in during the off-season to become UW's number-one running back. Now at 221 pounds, Pleasant has reshaped his body and his mind, never once losing focus on his goals.

He spoke about John Donovan's new offense and how he feels like it can exploit the talent that UW has on that side of the ball.

Kamari also broke down the strengths of each of the running backs in Coach Keith Bhonapha's 'stable'.

Both Kamari and Jack talked about Dylan Morris's first game as Washington's starting quarterback and what makes him ideally suited for the job.

Washington sophomores Edefuan Ulofoshio and Trent McDuffie each spoke with the media following their practice on Tuesday and they were asked several questions about what was the difference in shutting down Oregon State in the second half as opposed to the first half when the Beavers gashed Washington on the ground. While there were obviously some finer points to the endeavor, the root cause was a succinct 'Do your job'.

What does that mean?

Ulofoshio said there were players who were out of position and were trying to do too many things and that led to open creases in their run defense.

For his part, McDuffie said the secondary felt like they played really well and they are looking forward to the challenge of playing Arizona this weekend, a team with a tailback in Gary Brightwell who has a similar running style to that of Oregon State's Jermar Jefferson, but also a boatload of big, athletic wideouts and a young gun-slinger at quarterback in Grant Gunnell who can hurt you with his arm of his legs.

Looking back on his opportunity to return punts in the game against Oregon State, McDuffie said it's something he did all through high school and it is something he has confidence and comfort in doing.

It's a ritual that most college football fans have the luxury of nowadays; re-watching the game on their DVR. So that's what Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund did Sunday, but they waited until they got a chance to hear UW Head Coach Jimmy Lake's thoughts on what he saw on both sides of the ball before putting out their own takes.

First, they talk about Lake's decision to not report on any player that didn't play in the game, injury or not. This isn't necessarily a departure from how Chris Petersen handled the injury question, but Lake went a little further, issuing a blanket statement for strategy concerns, rather than just for secrecy.

Then they go through the game itself, from quarterback Dylan Morris's game as a first-time starter, to Lake's admission that, upon further review they probably should have used Sean McGrew more in the game late to salt things away. They go through John Donovan's debut as Washington's offensive coordinator, as well as Lake's comment about Cade Otton having his best blocking day as a Husky on Saturday.

We go in-depth with our thoughts on the power run game, as well as Lake's comments about how championship teams start with running the ball.

Moving to defense, they talk about the difficulties faced by having to try and stop OSU's Jermar Jefferson, and Lake's comments about run fit and technique things that need to be cleaned up. And is Zion Tupuola-Fetui going to have the same kind of season that Joe Tryon did last year? We'll see.

Jimmy Lake spent his Monday press conference praising his team's efforts and their ability to handle adversity in their win over Oregon State on Saturday night. He was especially effusive in his praise of offensive coordinator John Donovan and redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan Morris, the latter of which he felt played as well as he could have considering the conditions.

A big reason Lake was so encouraged by what Morris was able to do was the fact that even in rainy and windy conditions, the South Sound native was able handle the ball well in the running game, carrying out fakes and making sure the ball was placed where it needed to be so that there were no errors in ball-handling and he said he made good decisions, used his legs when needed and he commanded the huddle.

Lake said that Donovan did exactly what he asked him to do which was to implement a gameplan that was built for the conditions and adapt things as necessary during the game. He felt that the first-year coordinator was able to do of this despite the weird year they have had where they didn't have spring football and they weren't able to meet in person until September.

Cade Otton was another player Lake singled out for his efforts, saying while he wasn't targeted much, the junior tight end's efforts as a blocker may have been his best since arriving on campus.

Defensively, Lake said that middle linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio and outside linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui were both players who had great games with Tupuola-Fetui getting a game ball and Ulofoshio being named the defensive player of the game, but he said they had some work to do on stopping the run and felt like they were both "fit and technique" related.

Lake also talked a little bit about Arizona, Washington's upcoming opponent this weekend, and what makes their running game so hard to defend.

It was Dawg weather out there at Husky Stadium; temperature in the low 40's and raining. And Jimmy Lake was bound and determined to make it even uglier for the Oregon State Beavers.

Washington held on to the ball for 37 minutes, ran for nearly 270 yards, and eventually put the Beavers in a position where they were forced to throw the ball late to make up ground, and it was there where Death Row put OSU away.

Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund break down all the stats and the moments that mattered, including the debut of Dylan Morris at quarterback, the lack of some defensive starters, and how that may have altered how UW wanted to do things from the jump, Jaden Green's eventful Pac-12 debut, and John Donovan's pro attack straight out of the smash-mouth era of the Hogs and those NFL teams that were dominant at the line of scrimmage.

When Lake told the media early on he wanted to predicate his offense on an aggressive, physical downhill run game, he wasn't kidding. They ran 51 times for 267 yards and three touchdowns.

Morris finished his day 14-24 for 141 yards, no scores, but more importantly no interceptions. His long play was to Terrell Bynum for 42 yards.

But there were some obvious moments where the Huskies stumbled in their season debut. The blocked punt touchdown by OSU to start the game was a major black mark, and Washington had opportunities to do more on offense but was let down with drops and pass blocks at the line of scrimmage. That can happen sometimes when your quarterback is 6 feet tall and it's pouring rain.

In the end, Grinolds, Fetters, and Eklund break it all down, including what the next game might hold for UW's new offense, in this 37-minute post-game reaction pod.

It was a late night and an even later post-game, but everyone was in high spirits after Washington's 27-21 win over the Oregon State Beavers to get the Jimmy Lake era off to a successful opening in the most unique of circumstances.

Forty-eight hours ago, the game was up in the air because the Beavers had one player test positive for COVID-19 and had three other players in quarantine. It was to be the fourth time Washington would try to open up their season, but eventually, the storm clouds cleared.

And even though they did play in the rain, it was perfect Dawg weather for Lake and his team, who used a sizable clock advantage and the defense pitching a second-half shutout to earn a hard-fought win over OSU (1-1).

Senior running back Sean McGrew ran 9 times for 91 yards, including a 21-yard first-quarter touchdown run to open up the scoring. On defense, sophomore outside linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui had 4 tackles, including 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks for 14 yards, and 2 forced fumbles. One of those fumbles led to a Washington score.

The media spoke to both post-game, as well as Jimmy Lake, who couldn't have been more enthused about how his team did, even true freshman Jaden Green, who airmailed a deep snap that ended up an Oregon State touchdown. But Green came back and handled the rest of his duties, overcoming adversity along the way.

Lake talked about the new run-heavy offense, naming Dylan Morris his starting quarterback, and overcoming some stumbles on defense early to come out on top.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - settled in Saturday morning with the knowledge that the Washington Huskies would be playing a game tonight. It's not a drill, it's really happening.

The Oregon State Beavers (0-1) come to town fresh off a 38-28 loss to Washington State in their season-opener, and now OSU Head Coach Jonathan Smith will try and match wits with one of his former staff mates at Washington, Jimmy Lake. It's Lake's first game as a head coach, so he will be feeling the butterflies tonight.

The Dawgman guys break down both depth charts and take some educated guesses on not just what Washington will look like on offense - including the much-anticipated quarterback debut - but also how the Beavers might line up and play based on what they did against the Cougars.

Washington has a decided edge when it comes to their size along the offensive line; will they simply try and ram it down Oregon State's throat with their stable of talented running backs? Will Oregon State throw it as many times tonight as they did against WSU, or was that more a function of how the game went and their need to make a furious comeback after the Cougars built up a sizable second-half lead?

On defense, everyone pretty much knows how good the Huskies have been over the years with what Lake and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski have put together. Now it's simply a matter of seeing who has made the big strides during fall camp and will become the impact players. We all know about Elijah Molden and Keith Taylor, but how will Will Harris and Terrence Brown divide up the playing time among the rest of the talented defensive backs? And there are a lot of them. Will Edefuan Ulofoshio continue to impress in leading the inside linebackers group? And will any of the redshirt freshmen linebackers come in and back up their recruiting ratings?

Lastly, there's a little recruiting update, as Scott recaps Brandon Huffman's recent article on J.T. Tuimoloau, and he also talks about the NCAA's decision to extend the recruiting dead period through April 15.

There are so many questions, and we do our best to try and provide some answers as it gets closer to game time. Game time, the two most wonderful words in the dictionary.

The Dawgman interns, Luke Mounger and Jack McCauley, are back to chop it up again. They thought they were previewing Washington's first opponent of the season, but as it turned out Mother Nature had other plans. So they're back at it again, and this week's opponent is the Oregon State Beavers.

The Beavers already played one game, losing 38-28 to Washington State at home, and Luke and Jack give their initial impressions on what they saw from OSU that night. And they didn't mince words, starting with their strong takes on Oregon State's new quarterback, Tristan Gebbia.

They had praise for OSU RB Jermar Jefferson, and that should come as no surprise. But where is their second back?

Jack broke down the OSU receivers and their connection with Gebbia against the Cougars. Their main question is; is the OSU offense a sleeping giant that simply needs the right guy behind the controls? Or will they simply go as Gebbia goes in 2020?

After a quick break, Luke and Jack come back with their breakdown of the defense, mostly done by Mr. Mounger. They start with a younger, smaller defensive front, then move to a talented group of linebackers, and then finish it off with the secondary.

They also give their thoughts on where UW can possibly exploit the Beavers on defense, based in part on what Washington State was able to take advantage of. It should come as no surprise that it starts up front with their size advantage along the offensive line.

And then they talk about a couple of the Oregon State players UW fans need to know about that could make a difference for the Beavers Saturday night.

Kim Grinolds of Dawgman.com spoke this week with BeaverBlitz Publisher Angie Machado, who filled us in on what to expect from the Beavers after Oregon State lost to Washington State 38-28 in their season-opener.

Machado talked about media access in Corvallis, how the team is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, whether or not Jonathan Smith's seat is warm, and the loss to the Cougars. She digs into the slow start from the offense and what she was expecting to see from the game, including her breakdown of how new QB Tristan Gebbia compared to former OSU QB Jake Luton and the continued strong run game led by Jermar Jefferson.

Grinolds asked about OSU's skill players, including 5-foot-5 Champ Flemings, and also the Beavers' tight ends group. Oregon State is also replacing three offensive linemen from last year, so Machado goes into how their replacements fared last Saturday.

Defensively, Machado breaks down what went right and also how the Beavers struggled against Washington State. The Beavers went with some schematic changes from their base defense, presumably a wrinkle for the Cougars. That started up front, where they only used two defensive linemen.

How will that philosophy fare against arguably Washington's biggest offensive line ever? Machado talks about that, as well as OSU's deep linebacker crew and who she expects to play a bunch Saturday night.

Oregon State likes to play nickel, but Machado has some thoughts on how much the Beavers will stick to that scheme against Washington, as well as the personnel OSU will use to try and stop the Huskies' passing game.

Finally, Grinolds gets Machado's thoughts on what it's going to take for the Beavers to pull out a win, and what she thinks will happen if the Huskies hold serve at home.