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Trufant snags victory from the talons of the Eagles In the closing seconds of the game, Washington CB Desmond Trufant intercepted a pass thrown by Bo Levi Mitchell to ensure a 30-27 victory over the Eastern Washington University Eagles at Husky Stadium in Seattle. "We knew they were going to take a shot," Trufant was quoted as saying. "I'm just happy they threw my way. We softened up the coverage a little bit and the ball came my way and I just went up to go get it." Four Eagle turnovers were the key to the game, with the Huskies scoring 17 points off of the miscues. The Eagles rained the air with 69 passes -- an aerial assault rivaling one of Saddam's scud missile attacks -- their offense more than doubling the Huskies' total yardage and first downs. Unfortunately, defensive coordinator Nick Holt's Patriot missile system made just two interceptions. However, Trufant's pick was major, winning the skirmish as it turned out. Except for Chris Polk's outstanding performance (125 yards rushing), the Washington offense appeared sluggish and inept, managing just 250 yards of total offense. Although Keith Price completed 17 of 25 passes for 102 yards and 3 touchdowns, his longest completion of the day was only 10 yards. He suffered sprained a knee in the first half, but didn't seem to limp at all in the second half. Hopefully, he'll be healthy when the Huskies face more of the same next week, in a pass-happy Hawaii team. On special teams, Erik Folk contributed mightily, booting three field goals, coming from 40, 47 and 53 yards out. Folk had one touchback on kickoffs, matching half his total from 2K10. Punter Kiel Rasp punted five times, averaging 46.8 yards per kick. The turnover margin for the Dawgs was plus-4 and, surprisingly, they won time of possession. The young receivers looked good, showing promise. Price connected with 10 different receivers in all. Now for the bad news. The Huskies' defense yielded a whopping 504 yards, 473 yards coming through the air. Just plain inexcusable when considering all the pre-season hype about the Dawgs' improved defense this season. After all this was an FCS team Washington was playing. I'm not buying into this quote from Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times, "The Huskies are talented, but very, very young. That was obvious in this 30-27 season-opening win over Eastern." Okay, maybe Coach Sark had the wraps on young Price, but we're mainly talking defense here and promises, promises, promises. Although it is too soon make a prognosis for the year, the Washington team, as seen on Saturday, resembled some of the feckless teams coached by Tyrone Willingham (2005-2008), say a 2-10 rendition plucked somewhere from the Willingham era. His teams were also very, very young. I'm haunted by some burning questions. Has the mediocre transitional recruiting class of 2009 begun to show its affects? Does Keith Price have a strong enough arm? Is he robust enough and physically strong enough to last all season? What happens when the coach (Steve Sarkisian) gives him the green light to throw the long ball? What if Chris Polk goes down, the leader of what appears to be a one-dimensional offense? Where was the pass rush on Saturday? Mitchell threw 69 times and was sacked just once! Where was the closer, as an Angels' announcer might ask? The Huskies failed to run out the clock with 3:43 remaining and punted the ball away. With 1:03 left in the game and UW clinging to a three-point lead, the Eagles drove 70 yards from their own 5-yard line to the UW 25, from where Trufant intercepted Mitchell in the end zone to seal the deal. Where are the Locker knockers now?
Richard Linde, aka Malamute can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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