The Monday Moaning Quarterback

Since his Huskies lost to UCLA on Saturday, Malamute—who plays “Husky golf” because he goes ruff, ruff and gets a few barkies—takes a look at the game with UCLA, detailing its ups and downs, while grieving silently, and er hum, providing an objective opinion. Hopefully, he isn’t too “ruff ruff” on the Dawgs. UCLA CB Matt Clark is at the left.

Defense wins ball games:

This game carbon-copied last year’s game in Seattle, which the Dawgs lost 34-24, a game in which two key statistics stood out, those being rushing yards and turnovers. In Seattle, the Bruins had the better of it rushing (127 to 69 yards) and intercepted QB Cody Pickett 4 times, which led to 17 of their points.

In the game at Pasadena, the Bruins out-rushed the Huskies again, compiling 137 yards to just 78 yards. Again four turnovers led to Bruins’ scores, this time to 25 points.

Although the game got out of control quickly in the second half, not being able to run the ball effectively in that half cost the Huskies dearly. Not being able to run the ball in the first half of last year’s game in Seattle proved costly. In all fairness to the coaching staff, after the game went down the proverbial tube, the UW was forced into a passing game.

Going into both games, UCLA led the Pac-10 in defense. The Dawgs rank second in defense this week.

In their last three games against UCLA, the Huskies have averaged 46.3 yards on the ground, while UCLA has averaged 196 rushing yards.

The WCO

The Huskies' West Coast Offense—I’m sure offensive coordinator John Pettas calls it something else—played to a text-book first half, enabling the Huskies to take a 16-7 lead at the break. Mixing a short passing game with just enough running to keep the Bruins honest, the UW posted 17 first downs to the Bruins' 5 and amassed 271 total yards to UCLA's 139. Walsh’s numbers were alive and well with the Dawgs.

In that half, QB Cody Pickett mixed passes to his receivers well, completing passes to his tight ends, running backs and wide receivers.

In the second half, while the Bruins' defense put the collar on the Dawgs, its version of the WCO came to life for the first time this season, mirroring Washington's version of the same in the first half—only with a longer passing game and a better running game to make it more effective.

Because of Washington’s short, precision passing game, when the Huskies fall behind they find themselves in deep yogurt, especially when the running game is absent. The Huskies like to play run after catch; the receivers were catching but not running a bunch.

Pickett was 5 of 13 for 63 yards in the second half, and just two of those passes went Reggie Williams' way. Should Pickett have thrown more to Williams in the second half? Well, yes, but then again, CB Matt Ware (6-foot-3, 213) was covering him instead of Matt Clark (5-foot-9, 170), who was on his case for much of the first half. Obviously, Pickett didn't want any part of Ware, and who can blame him. The C-town cowboy is, forgive me, "Ware-y" of bull riding.

How many guys named Matt are on the UCLA football team? While I'm in the mood, I could say, the Blue took the Dawgs to the Matt.

Sideline Imagery:

Near the end of the game, Reggie Williams' and Tank Johnson's gratuitous outbursts on the sidelines made the other UW players look bad. The Dawgs never gave up, but were physically outmatched. Remember the Bruins have out-recruited the Huskies in 4 of the last 5 years, that fact being quite apparent in the second half.

Clichés: Football is a game of emotion; defense wins ball games. Have I said it enough, defense, defense, defense. UCLA’s defense scored two touchdowns all by its lonesome.

Standouts:

Senior quarterback Cody Pickett played a splendid first half. RB Rich Alexis is having his best season since 2000. Jon Lyon and Ben Bandel give the Dawgs a couple of versatile tight ends.

Washington’s defense played its best half of the season, with offensive turnovers affecting its play in the second half. UCLA’s Craig Bragg (8-142) and Junior Taylor (1-38) combined for some clutch catches under tight coverage to keep drives alive.

The Huskies’ defense was on the field for too long in the second half, and still ranks as number two defense in the Pac-10.

RB Kenny James knows how to hold onto the ball.

The hang time on some of Chris Kluwe’s punts (43 yards per punt) was bodacious. One punt hung 5.6 seconds in the air. The UW’s Garth Erickson averaged 45.8 yards per punt. The hang time on a couple of Erickson's punts, I noticed, was over 4 seconds.

It will be hard for Coach Karl Dorrell to replace QB Drew Olson with Matt Moore, when Moore is fully recovered from injury. Both of them are standout quarterbacks.

Drive of the game

With the ball on its own 19, with 1:10 to go in the first half, the UW worked the ball to the Bruins' 19 and then kicked a 37-yard field goal to climax a brilliant one-minute offense. Gilby can thank senior quarterback Cody Pickett for that.

The front four

Although USC fans will disagree, the Bruins arguably have the best defensive front four in the Pac-10. Because their front four controlled Washington’s offensive line in the second half, the Bruins speedy linebackers were able to roam freely and make big plays. DE Dave Ball and DT Rodney Leisle gave the Bruins half-life when they combined on a touchdown play of their own making, turning momentum. If that play hadn't happened and the Huskies had scored on their first possession of the second half, the score would have been much closer. Well, by at least 10 points, say.

The Axman effect:

On the subject of Bragg's deep catches (long 41), former Washington assistant coach Steve Axman said, "We felt going into the game we could get some deep isolation on Washington. We feel Craig Bragg is as good as there is going deep. That was a big part of our game plan. Actually, I think we should have done it more."

John Mackovic's buyout

According to the Arizona Republic, Angel owner Arte Moreno picked up the tab. He told the newspaper that "I'm a Wildcat and I'm supportive of Jim Livengood." (Editor's note: Please, Mal, no more puns on names.)

Where have we seen this game before?

The most famous one from an historical perspective was back in 1974 (Notre Dame versus USC), when the Irish bolted to a 24-6 lead at halftime. In this game, USC scored 49 unanswered points in the second half.

TB Anthony Davis ran the opening kickoff of the second half back 102 yards and the crowd went berserk. During the next 16 minutes the entire crowd at the Coliseum was on its feet. With 13 minutes left in the game, the score USC 55-24, John McKay mercifully sent in his reserves. It was Ara Parsegian's last game as a coach at Notre Dame; he’d seen enough of that white horse galloping around the track.

The rest of the way

Nevada (home): Win
Oregon State (road): Win
USC (home): Loss
Oregon (home): Win
Arizona (road): Win
California (road): Loss
WSU (home): Loss

The Dawgs should finish 7-5 or maybe 8-4 with a win over Cal. At Olympia, I told Softy the Huskies would finish 8-4 because the Dawgs are lost in a sea of parity. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the strongest conference in college football has not won a BCS championship since its inception.