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Articles
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Bad dogs no longer naught-y
Gilby to get a free pass from us By Richard Linde, 11 October 2004
But some fans won’t be letting Gilby off the hook. While they should be enjoying the fruits of victory, fans are questioning Gilbertson’s call at the end of the first half. Leading 7-3, with 16 seconds left and the ball on the Spartans’ 46-yard line, Gilbertson elected to punt the ball, a decision which drew loud boos from the fans. Gilbertson said he was worried about San Jose State getting the ball at midfield and completing a long pass, which they had success doing in their 70-63 win over Rice last week. Obviously, the naught-for-four Gilbertson was hungry for a victory and wasn’t going to let what might have been a defensive breakdown get in his way. Seemingly playing it safe, Gilby pulled starting quarterback Carl Bonnell after he threw his second statistical interception in the second quarter, replacing him with Casey Paus. Bonnell threw an interception to start the game, which was negated because of a defensive hold, and last week looked shaky passing the ball against Stanford. Bonnell, who aggravated a groin injury in the game, obviously needs more experience with the play book, a book that Junior Casey Paus has committed to muscle memory. In seven-on-seven drills, each of Washington’s four quarterbacks looks the same to us fans. It’s game action that spells the difference. Defensively, the Huskies played their best game of the season, surrendering just 133 total net yards (111 yards rushing and 22 yards passing). The Huskies recorded four sacks, and DE Manase Hopoi had 5 tackles for a loss, including two of the sacks. RB Kenny James had the best day of his career, rushing for 189 yards on 26 carries. He scored on a 52-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, which extended the Huskies’ lead to 14-3. He added an 18-yard touchdown 4 1/2 minutes into the fourth to cap the scoring. On the down side, Washington’s passing attack looked downright inept, the Dawgs throwing for 75 total yards against a team that ranked forty-sixth in pass-efficiency defense. Really, though, it wasn’t much of a day for throwing the ball, being cold, bitter and rainy at times. Paus (5-9, 155 yards) finished the game with a pass-efficiency rating (PE) of 106.9; his season’s PE stands at 97.98 (one hundred represents an average college quarterback’s rating). Bonnell’s rating is 57.69 and Stanback’s is 13.60. Collectively, the husky quarterbacks have an efficiency rating of 82.52 on the season. Due to his two interceptions, Bonnell (2-7, 20 yards) finished the game with a rating of minus 4.6. At this point in the season, I have no idea who the best is of the U-Dub quarterbacks. Each of them has something to special offer; yet, none of them comprise the complete package. Where were we? Audrey and I, along with Officer Lee Groinman and his deputy, Mikey, sat high in the overflow press box area, in a box reserved for corporate sponsors. Going up in the elevator my ears popped and, once in the press box, the seagulls circling the field seemed to be one entire length of the space needle below. Although there were no more than 50,000 fans in attendance (65,000 tickets were sold), the noise they made was deafening at times, reverberating off the cantilever steel roof, which provided cover for us and the south upper deck. The boxes at that level are partitioned off from each other, and we viewed the game looking over a sheet of Plexiglas that is about 4-feet high. Looking over a wooden wall behind us, we could see the fans seated at the highest part of south upper deck. As we descended a steep step from our seats, we were careful not to pitch teapot over Plexiglas into the crowd below. The press box, which was built in 1950, needs some serious remodeling. For one, it should be completely closed off, with the individual boxes having their own ceiling and glass windows. On cold days, some heat would be nice, along with some posh seats befitting of a corporate sponsor, of which I am not. Someone needs to put a lid over the restrooms, too. You've got it. I belong in the Don James Center, along with the "quiet" ones. On the other hand, the open atmosphere was spectacular, lending a breath-taking view of the game, mingling us part and parcel with the crowd and the game-day boats moored at Union Bay to the East. Maybe that’s the way it should be? In this stratospheric Mecca -- this may be as close to Dawg heaven as one can get -- we ran into former Husky QB Sonny Sixkiller, Softy Softerson and Hugh Millen (KJR), Bob Condotta (Seattle Times), and announcer Lou Gellerman (photo above). I wore the band jacket that Sixkiller covets, the one I won during the silent auction at Band Day, and it did its job of keeping me warm. Groinman and Deputy Mikey behaved themselves for the most part; however, at the end of the game, they were almost too hoarse to speak. Also, they treated us to a spectacular tailgate party before the game began. I owe Groinman big time for driving us back to our hotel in his truck. Groinman viewed the game through some World War II Navy binoculars (what else?); his two Mals (Elisa and Eli) have left his wallet in taters. The quarterback controversy is about to start again. Deputy Mikey did a hilarious imitation of Paus handing off the ball to his running backs after one of the two touchdown drives in the second half, a drive that tracked the ground the whole way. Paus did manage to draw the Spartans offsides and he called an opportune audible, "opportune, at the right time," as Yogi Berra would say. Thanks, Janet, for your wonderful hospitality. We appreciate it. (This article is in the process of being written).
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