5 Keys to the Alamo Bowl

Being in college I am used to Keys referring to something entirely different than what I am about to talk about. Being in college has also limited my ability to post as often as I would have liked the last few weeks and for that I apologize. But the point here is that Sark and company have a rather large bowl game tonight (6PM ESPN) against Baylor and Heisman trophy-winning QB, Robert Griffin III. The Dawgs have their hands full no doubt, but I’ve watched Bill Krueger diagnose a winning formula on ROOT Sports telecasts with his keys to Mariner games enough times to come up with one for the Huskies. Here we go…

Bill Krueger: Singlehandedly keeping Just For Men in business

1. Execute on Offense
Anyone with an ounce of optimism about the Alamo Bowl will have told you that Baylor is one of the few teams in the nation with a defense that is actually worse than the one Nick Holt put together this season at Washington. And therefore, that UW would be able to score enough points to hang with Baylor’s potent offense. That is certainly true but in order for that to happen UW has to truly take advantage of Baylor’s porous defense. Keith Price has to orchestrate this offense at its highest level and not just expect a Baylor defense, that has had a month to prepare, to lay down and let Washington get the ball down-field.

2. Run, run, run
There is no stopping a team that can get 5 yards every time they hand the ball off. UW may be burning the midnight oil with Chris Polk as this could be the last time you see him sporting Purple and Gold with a big decision for the NFL Draft looming. We all know Polk is a monster deserving of a classic nickname (which never happened during his career, and anyone that tells you “Polkswagen” was a good one is a fraud). But if he can carve up this Baylor D and keep the ball out of RG3′s gloved hands, UW will be in business. If UW is shy to give him the 30 carries he can handle and should get in this game, it could be a different story. A sub key to this would be to hang in the ballgame early so that the running game isn’t abandoned in favor of a catch up pass attack.

Just feed the bid daw

Goodbye, Nick Holt

After giving up 38 points to an Oregon State team that had been averaging 17, I am officially done with Nick Holt being the defensive coordinator for UW football. This is Holt’s third year — normally a good threshold of time to give someone in sports to determine whether or not they are worth keeping around — and there has been little to no improvement in the UW defense. You are about to read all you need to know about why Nick Holt should be fired. I expect him to take it a little like this.

I realize that when Steve Sarkisian and his staff took over for Tyrone Willingham heading into the 2009 season, the cupboard was the definition of bare. Like, the bares can smell the menstruation bare. Willingham, who has a great cat (no link but Willingham was once asked how he copes with stress at home and he replied with, “we have a great cat”), struggled in recruiting big time defensive players. So Nick Holt’s first two seasons are basically with all Ty’s players, which would in theory be an excuse for sub-par play. But how sub-par can you be before you have to take a closer look at things? Holt got very close last season, when UW gave up 56 points and over 300 rushing yards at home against Nebraska, or giving up 44 at Arizona, or 41 at home against Stanford. But Holt won a lot of his critics over with the four game winning streak UW had to make and win a bowl game last season, in which UW gave up less than 13 points in all but one of those four games. Things looked great heading into this season, with Holt’s D hitting a stride and the guys he had recruited starting to develop in his system…

Enter this season, where all of that went down the crapper. UW’s defense has been atrocious this year. UW ranks 105th (out of 119) in points allowed this season, having had several terrible defensive performances. 504 yards allowed against Eastern Washington, 51 points (464 yards) allowed against Nebraska, 457 yards allowed against Cal, 65 points (615 yards) allowed against Stanford, 424 yards allowed against Arizona, 40 points (426 yards) allowed against USC, and Holt’s latest gem 38 points (484 yards) against Oregon State. That ticks out to a 430 yards per game allowed average. But how has Holt improved since he got here? Well, let’s see.

UW vs. Cal Game Recap

In the fourth game of the season for the Huskies they began conference play against the California Golden Bears. In another close game, the Dawgs were able to pull out the victory, improving to an impressive 3-1 record on the season. As selfish as it may sound given the state of this team a few years ago, the win was a little bittersweet.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited about where the Huskies are right now in the season. You really couldn’t ask for more in the win/loss column. We all knew traveling to Nebraska was going to be a daunting task, and we performed valiantly in defeat. What irks me though, is once again the performance by the defense…excluding anyone named Cort Dennison. The Washington defense gave up 400 yards for the third time this year. Some may point out the fact that they held the Bears to only 3 points in the second half. Yes, that is a sign of improvement, but when we face the likes of Oregon, Stanford or even Utah, we won’t be so fortunate. Cal was unable to finish their drives, and give some credit to the Husky defense especially their goal line stand at the end of the game. That’s the kind of swarming defense I want to see for four quarters, and we have yet to witness that performance. Was the Holiday Bowl a fluke? Why can’t Alameda Ta’amu be that force in the middle that made Taylor Martinez scared for his life last December?

Nick Holt continues to give me reasons to yell his name angrily from the upper deck of Husky Stadium. It seems as though he is just learning what a Nickel package is. He stubbornly stays in his base 4-3 defense as we continually get torched through the air as the opponent throws out of three and four wide receiver sets. Now I will admit, I don’t know everything there is about X’s and O’s in the game of football. One thing I DO know is a linebacker on a wide receiver is considered a “mismatch,” and this has yet to be noticed by the Washington defensive coordinator. When I see two wide receivers being covered by our outside linebackers and continuously beating them in coverage, I begin to question his play calling. It would be one thing if Gilliland, Fuimaono, or Timu were able to cover wide receivers, but they sadly can’t. Hey Nick! Get Ducre or Gobern in there. That’s what they are on the team to do!