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Dawgs help scramble BCS, beat No. 7 OSU CenturyLink Field. Behind a rousing defense and a somewhat resilient offense, the Washington Huskies -- clad in black -- beat up on the No. 7 Oregon State Beavers, 20-17, on a rainy Saturday night in Seattle. Helping to ameliorate the pain from the 52-17 thrashing suffered in the desert the previous week, the Washington defense picked off four passes. UW (4-4, 2-3 Pac-12) won the turnover battle, 4-1, while "physically" beating up on the Beavers, its effort somewhat mitigating the bitter memory of three straight losses, where the Huskies were outscored by a combined 128-52. The Seattle Times quoted UW TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins as saying, "It was a physical game and we were the most physical team and that's why they lost, because they are not physical like us. We knocked them out, we punched them in the mouth and they didn't want to do anything about it, and that's why we won." The Huskies certainly "out-Mannion-ed" the Beavers' starting quarterback Sean Mannion and his offensive line, picking Mannion off four times and holding him to a pass efficiency rating of just 93.72. Moreover, the Beavers accumulated a paltry 109 rushing yards -- which, however, is near their season average of 108.43 yards per game (111th in the FBS). Back from minor knee surgery, Mannion threw interceptions on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter, his last pick leading to a Husky touchdown and a 17-10 lead. Replacing Mannion, backup quarterback Cody Vaz threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Conner Hamlet to tie the score with 4:38 left. Vaz finished with an efficiency rating of 167.71 on the game, which makes one wonder why he didn't start. Travis Coons kicked a go-ahead, 30-yard field goal with 1:09 left following a 63-yard Husky drive led by Washington quarterback Keith Price. Measures of offensive line play (running game and pass protection): -- The Huskies accumulated just 293 yards of total offense (now ranking 105th in the FBS), with just 99 of them coming on the ground. -- Quarterback Price had a so-so performance throwing the ball, his passing efficiency rating being a tepid 107.65 on the game. He was sacked twice. Last season, Price had a 13-game cumulative rating of 161.93. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly The Good: -- The four picks -- Bishop Sankey had 92 yards rushing and two touchdowns, his stout effort standing out on a mediocre rushing night. -- Travis Coons averaged 41.9 yards per punt on seven punts (two inside the 20). -- Kasen Williams' brilliant catch on the fourth-quarter field goal drive. The Bad: -- OSU had 427 yards of total offense and limited Washington to 293 yards. -- Eight penalties for 84 yards, among them a personal foul penalty in the fourth quarter that erased a pick six. The Ugly: -- Only 99 rushing yards. -- Just 2 of 12 third-down conversions; too many punts: 7. Last year's top-25 opponents annihilated the Dawgs on the ground. See Table 1 below. Table 1. Last year's rush defense against top-25 teams bodes ominously for the Dawgs in 2012. Emboldened rows are from this year's defense.
Table 1. Keith Price's cumulative passing efficiency.
Richard Linde, aka Malamute can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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