Latest / Say Who, Say Pod / Say Who, Say Pod, Ep. 210

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Say Who, Say Pod, Ep. 210 · Say Who, Say Pod

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, Pod, to another episode of Say Who Say Pod.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's Danny O'Neill in a sports coat.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Christian Caple.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'll have you know,
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: the first thing Danny said to me when we hopped on the call here was that he needed
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: to go get his jacket.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Then that meant that you saw me get up from my desk and you saw I was wearing shorts.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Believe it or not,
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: the question has been posed before,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: whether you are wearing a full-on suit or if you've got the athletic shorts on under
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: the business in the front, YMCA open run in the back.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it is a sartorial mullet, and we got business up top, party down below.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Although I'm not wearing full-on athletic shorts.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: I believe they're a khaki short.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: They're a prepster khaki short.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: So not quite as casual as it could be.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I'm also barefoot, which probably ruins.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, man, all the meetings I have, people look at it like, yeah, I look very official.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't be out of place at a croquet match then?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Some sort of lawn game?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: I do go to the U.S. Open each and every year, and I've become a very huge tennis fan.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do you wear the khaki shorts to the U.S. Open?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: I believe I did this year.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: They're from Bonobos?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is that how you say it?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Bonobos?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: I always thought it was Bonobos.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Bonobos?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Makes sense.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: What would I know?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's where they're from.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know what?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't because I wore my pink cord shorts.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: It was super preppy.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's appropriate, I think.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well...
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Last week we sat down and I said the Washington Huskies are 1-0 and nobody's happy about it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: The Washington Huskies are now 2-0 and I think even fewer people are happy about it
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: after a 16-14 win over Utah State.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote on Saturday,
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I can recall a 2-0 start that had people more concerned about
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: the direction of the season than this one.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that there ever has been.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know that Jed Fish has emphasized like,
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: hey, isn't it great to learn the lessons that we've had to learn?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: By winning and not losing, and perhaps there is something to that.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: They have not yet lost a game.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: But the concerns with the running game,
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: and particularly with the way the offensive line has played,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: to say nothing of the injuries that they've sustained at running back,
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: and now also at receiver, which is not going to make things any easier.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Got a lot of people wondering where this is going.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: I find myself in a unique position or an unusual position because I think I'm among
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: the more upbeat or less doomsday.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm less of a doomer about...
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: The trajectory of this Husky season than most people.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really not based on anything we've seen in the first two games.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's more based upon my belief that seasons don't have as much continuity as we like to think.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like we tend to think,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: especially in the first month of college football,
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: that here's where you build the momentum.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Here's where you show who you are.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Here's where.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you're going to build from here.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Everything's going to get better from here.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that happens.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times and college football is way more disjointed week to week
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: than we tend to think.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's if there's going to be a counter push for me today,
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: it's not going to be that Washington has looked good.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I think their defense has been really I think their defense has played really well.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to try to minimize or excuse anything we've seen from their offense,
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: but I am going to say we can't necessarily take these first two games as the sign
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: of coming attractions.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not sure how...
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Consistently,
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: it works where you say,
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: like last year,
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Washington couldn't have looked better in its final two non-conference game.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Couldn't have looked better.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like the offense was as great.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Did that tell us where they were going to be when the schedule turned to the Big Ten?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Not really.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that is going to be my theme is let's not jump overboard just yet.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can always find linear excellence at Chuck Olson, Kia, and Shoreline.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: You've done a lot of transitions.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: None have been as glistening as that.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Linear excellence.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because not only did you pull a theme from my half-cocked rant, but linear excellence.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Linear excellence is exactly what you can associate with Chuck Olson-Kia.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: There are times when I think, okay, I could transition off that.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: But then you keep going and I'm like, well, I might have lost it.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I need you to say something else that makes better sense for me.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you hit it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it all just came together.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Linear excellence.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Tremendous.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Locally owned and operated since 1964.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Family owned and operated by a family of University of Washington graduates with
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: a friendly low pressure sales staff and a competitively priced selection
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: of vehicles.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: We hope you'll make Chuck Olson Kia in Shoreline your next vehicle buying destination.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: When you do, ask for our friend Henry Olson.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: When you talk to Henry, tell him that Say Who Say Pod sent you.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: This episode of Say Who Say Pod also brought to you by our friends at Husky Mobile.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Husky Mobile is partnered directly with the University of Washington
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: to offer affordable phone plans for the Husky community with up to 7%
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: of each bill going back to UW Athletics.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribers can also enjoy game day perks like FastPass Lane,
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: seat upgrades, and giveaways, all while on T-Mobile's nationwide 5G network.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Use code ONMONTLAKE at checkout to get your first month free when transferring your number.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can do that at GoHuskyMobile.com.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again to HuskyMobile.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: That some of the errors are very easily fixable and correctable.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: John Mills called their play unacceptable.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: You heard from offensive line coach Michael Switzer after the Apple Cup,
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: before the Utah State game,
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: talk about how far below their standard they played physically and that that needed
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: to change and that he was surprised by that and all those things.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: If there's a bright side here,
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you believe that the Washington Huskies,
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: at least offensively,
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: because as you said,
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: the defense hasn't been perfect and they're going to play a hell of
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: a lot better offenses than what Washington State and Utah State has.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't done anything to make you think they can't be pretty good.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you believe that what Washington has put on film offensively in
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: the first two weeks is not truly what they are,
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you keep in mind that they are down to their third and fourth string tailbacks
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: and might be without two starting receivers.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly at least one Christian Moss is out long term with an injury he did on
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: the first play of the season.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, about as rotten luck as you can conceive of.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And now Rasheed Williams is week to week with what Fish said was like a hit point or
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: an oblique injury.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It has to start with the offensive line dominating against Eastern Washington, right?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, is there anything,
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: anything less than blowing an FCS D line off the ball and dominating in
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: the trenches?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think only, only makes those alarm bells louder, right?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not like dominating Eastern Washington is going
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: to suddenly make everybody feel better either.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that like that now has to be the minimum expectation.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you think that this is something they can turn around.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: When you're a team that's struggling with something,
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: what you look for is an inflection point, something to bounce back from.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Some sort of, like, hey, we've got it fixed.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: This is one of the things that Pete Carroll was best at,
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: was constantly throwing to his teams the possibility that,
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: hey, this is where we get right.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: And people would always say to him in the press conferences, they're like, how do you know?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And he would, I just, I see things, I feel them.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: And the truth was, like, he's really just giving opportunities.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: He's trying to stage a narrative for his team.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: So what you just laid out, that's what Eastern Washington is right now.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is the chance for the offensive line to start to come together,
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: to start to show Some level of continuity, cohesiveness, being able to get a push.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like this is where it starts.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I 100% agree.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they absolutely should.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: It won't fix everything,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: but they've got to find a way to be able to start showing some progress
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: and feeling some progress.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that has more to do with how they feel about themselves than about anything else.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: And this is where I tend to become fascinated by football fans.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe just fans in general, is that you spend all this time looking forward to the season.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: The season starts,
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: and there are some issues or holes,
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: and the immediate answer is, well, so much for this season.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's pack it in.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Let's throw.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, obviously,
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: the injuries,
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: so they're down their top two tailbacks,
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: but they're really down their top three if you throw Jordan Washington in there
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: because he's not back yet.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: They've lost two starting receivers, one of whom is out for an extended period of time.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the offensive line still doesn't have Landon Hatchett.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Really has been under what, like, really surprisingly...
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Unable to get much of a push up front.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody's like, oh my God, we've drastically overestimated this team.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, or maybe they kick themselves in the butt and they start putting something together.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So this is version one of my,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: let's not throw everything out just yet and declare this an utter and total failure.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is worth noting and reminding they haven't lost a game.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: True.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And there have been,
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: so if I was going to say, what are the good things we've seen from their offense?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: What are the good things that we've seen?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, Damond Williams has not been pressing, right?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how to evaluate.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually thought you had a line in your recap On Montlake that was really,
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: really good, which is he hasn't been as great as a lot of us expected or played.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how has he played?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's played good.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: But then you said he's the only one that's been making plays.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that is 100% true.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like they've had some great catches.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Lawson's had one incredible catch that he made, one he almost made.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: But the guy who's made plays is DeMond Williams.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: He hasn't made mistakes, though.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: For all of the different stuff, he's not getting impatient.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: He's not forcing things.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I would list that as if you're looking for positive signs,
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: it appears that their quarterback is kind of unrattled by all of this.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: This hasn't thrown him for a loop or made him start to press.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think he's made mistakes,
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: but more critically, I think what you really mean is he hasn't given the ball away.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: He hasn't made the backbreaking,
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: you know, hey,
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: here's a play that turns a two-point win over a group of six teams that you need
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: to bat down a Hail Mary on the final play into instead like a devastating loss.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching these first two games...
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And thinking,
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: he's in a similar position as the rest of the team,
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: as the rest of the offense,
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: in that if you want to believe Washington is going to be this better offense
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: against really good defenses,
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how much they can do against Washington State,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Utah State, and Eastern Washington to make you believe that, right?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you mentioned last year, I mean,
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: they didn't punt against UC Davis, they didn't punt against Washington State.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: They had a whatever 16 consecutive possessions of scoring points.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Could not have looked better.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we know how it looked against the elite defenses they faced.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: So they could have scored 63 points the last two weeks and the jury would still be out on that.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that they didn't score anywhere near 63 points the last two weeks,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think has raised very reasonable concerns that like, look,
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: this doesn't look like The version of Daman Williams Jr.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to go out and give you a better chance to win against Indiana,
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: against Oregon,
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: although Oregon's got its own issues now, certainly, against USC, right?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so like the throws he's missed,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: like the throw to Roebuck in the flat,
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: where it's like that's,
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: if you're thinking this is going to be the next step,
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: like elite,
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: at least fringe Heisman candidate type of quarterback, like Got to make that throw.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: The third and 28 or whatever it was to Rasheed Williams in the end zone
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: against Washington State where they, you know, they should have.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Scheme worked.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't call it luck because it was a wide open throw,
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: but on a third and 28, you're not expecting to convert necessarily.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Should have had a touchdown right there.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, right there on, on the, it's on the table.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Also probably should have thrown a touchdown pass to Trey Cooley,
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: who was wide open on a fourth and two, and it's a cold drop.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: A couple other plays where maybe you see DeMond execute where the receiver does not.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of plays where,
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: you know, they,
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Jed Fish noted this too, you know, talk about the inexperience at running back.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Brian Bonner's fumble.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Looked like a touchdown from behind.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: You see the camera angle that shows that gap open wide up.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Jed Fish himself said he probably fumbled because here is
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: a true freshman playing in his first college game who just sees that lane.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And thinks, oh, touchdown.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And didn't secure the ball.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Desmond Roebuck,
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: a guy who they talk about,
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: and maybe we talk about like he's a veteran, but he's not.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's his second year playing college football.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's sort of in a role in their offense that treats him like a veteran because now,
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: especially now with the injuries, he basically is in that receiver core.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Drops two passes in absolutely critical moments.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you can get into the decision on should they have thrown it or not on that first down.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: You haven't seen from Damond Williams,
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: the progress that you would hope to see from a guy,
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: you're the kind of guy you're expecting him to be in the first two games.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: But to your point, if you need someone to make a play, it's really just him.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: They forced as a team, three missed tackles against Utah State, none by pass catchers.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: So nobody caught a pass.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And broke a tackle, juked a defender.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, all their yards after catch were unimpeded, basically.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're not seeing guys take the ball from the quarterback or catch a pass from
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: the quarterback, make somebody miss, make something happen.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, it really is just DeMond Williams Jr. who has shown that capability.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's another concern going forward, right?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's independent of the offensive line.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: The one question,
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: if the thing I feel best about is that DeMond Williams is not pressing
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: on their offense, the thing I'm most puzzled by is Desmond Roebuck.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And this isn't I'm even going to take the drop passes off the table.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's not something he's shown is a tendency of his.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think that drop passes are funny, weird.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: They can be a problem for some guys.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: They also, unfortunately, will just happen sometimes.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to do my best to just treat that as an aberration or an act of God
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: and not discuss it.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: I did expect him to be more productive than he's been.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm a little puzzled as why.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it has made me wonder about the switch to slot for him.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: If that, and there could be any variety of reasons that it's not going as well.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think I even brought it up on the podcast when the season started.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Could he set a school record for catches?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Which is an insane, like it's an insanely high number.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: We went and looked it up and I think it's Reggie Williams.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's a huge number.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: That connection hasn't been there.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's probably been the most surprising thing,
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: and maybe the most concerning,
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: is that given all of the offensive struggles,
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that was the one thing I was most certain of about this offense,
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: and it just hasn't been there.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's just everything has been hard for them offensively.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to...
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jump to conclusions and start to like reference 2021 every week.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it feels a little bit like that with just how every time they gain more
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: than four yards, it just feels like it takes everything lining up perfectly.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And again,
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know I've mentioned before that like,
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Chris Peterson's first Pac-12 media day at Washington.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was talking about their previous season at Boise State,
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: and they lost their starting quarterback early in the year.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And he says,
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: it's funny,
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: everyone panics when the starting quarterback gets hurt and says,
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: oh, well, great, we're not going to be good now.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is really ugly,
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: and you can kind of understand why,
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: but then it still just comes back to the offensive line, right?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think running back was maybe not a concern in the sense that you didn't know who
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: the guys were going to be,
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: but you didn't really know what to expect from Quake Carr.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was a huge unknown, yes.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jayden Lamar is coming in with some experience,
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: but never having been the guy,
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: and he's coming off of a surgery, and how involved is he going to be?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: But you had such confidence in what Washington's offensive line could be and what
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: the coaching staff believed them to be and what they believed they could be
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: that it kind of seemed like that mattered a lot more.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And well,
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: you can't just put anybody back there,
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: but you would think of the two or three guys who rise to the top.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be the O-line giving them a chance and creating at least
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: the initial opportunities.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you still got to be able to read the blocks.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: You still got to pick the right lane to run through, the right cutback to make.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And experience,
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: both playing experience and practice experience and reps matter a lot in that too.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that was...
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Really where they thought Quade Carr's strength was.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Jed Fish has mentioned that multiple times and even dating back to like reps he got
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: in practice last year,
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: that wide zone running scheme where they're moving their offensive line laterally
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: and trying to use their athleticism up front to create those cutback lanes.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: they really felt like that was a strength of Quade Carr is his shiftiness
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: and his vision was going to be a nice match for that.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so it could just be the case that,
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Brian Bonner and Trey Cooley and their limited practice reps and everything,
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: like, just aren't there yet.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: But it also clearly is not being blocked well up front,
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: which gets us into what I thought were some
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: of Jed Fish's more interesting comments this week.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Here was,
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: it was the first,
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: he acknowledged sort of the challenges in the run game as part
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: of his opening statement at Monday's press conference.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: But overall,
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: the running game needs to improve for us to be the type of offense that we want
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: to be.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: Understanding that complementary football is the most important thing we can do.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: So we want to make sure that we continue to stay on the field a long time
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: and continue to end in the end zone.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you talk to him,
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: this was the most interesting answer I thought Fish had when he was,
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: you asked him basically,
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: like how feasible is it to expect these are things that can be fixed?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like how big of a project essentially is it?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And he spent a lot of time talking about execution or how the blocks were being executed.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: And in the middle kind of panned back a little bit for a bigger picture.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's not mental errors that are occurring.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's more fundamental physical decisions of, hey,
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: if I stay on this TE game a little bit longer,
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: if I pass this off,
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: if I stay on an equal level,
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: all of those things are correctable and we'll spend a lot of time in practice.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: We did yesterday individual,
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: but tomorrow,
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: Wednesday and Thursday, of really trying to continue to improve in those areas.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And some of the examples he gave were,
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: you know, hey,
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: securing the first level,
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: the offensive line securing the first level before moving to the second level,
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: staying on a combination block a little bit longer.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: He referenced their final play from scrimmage at third and eight,
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: which was a wound up just a keeper by DeMond Williams,
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: where he sort of just went down.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was muddled.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: There was,
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: it sounds like it was an option play and, um,
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: The guy that they wanted to leave free for the quarterback to read the option off
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: of was blocked.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, which, I don't know, to me that sounds maybe a little more like a mental error.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's,
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: there are some nuances within there that
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: where Jed Fish would interpret it differently.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: On one hand,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: the head coach is not going to get up after a performance like that and say like,
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: no, none of this is correctable.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is just who we are.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be terrible all year.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what you're going to see in every game.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, it's going to be worse against the good teams we play.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: So buckle up, right?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he's...
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: They obviously have to believe that it's fixable, that it's correctable.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: You heard some confidence also from John Mills at Tuesday's press conference that,
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: hey, it hasn't been where it should be.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: He took ownership of the fourth and goal against Washington State.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Talked kind of the same thing about securing that first level and staying on blocks
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit longer.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Talked too about identifying defensive fronts a little bit better.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it does seem like there has not been total clarity and understanding
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: among all five guys on who is going where and who has which blocking responsibility,
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: exactly which zone is being blocked, which guy is being blocked.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know...
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to excuse really any of it because, look, John Mills is a returning starter.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Drew Azapardi is a returning starter.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Garen Hatchett is a returning starter.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: These guys have played collectively a lot of college football.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Colt Dietrich has never played center before.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: I do wonder how much of a factor that is on multiple levels right now.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And this is Cody Green's first foray into college football.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, they were very, very high on him.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't,
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: they have not talked about him in a way that suggested, like,
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: we'll pump the brakes,
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: we are starting him,
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: but it's going to be rough to start,
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: or like, oh,
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: he's going to need some,
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: you know, going to need some time, let's, you know, he's playing, right?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's the guy who's out there, so...
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: These five,
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: at least five plus one,
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: if you throw in champ Talia Lea,
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: who did not play in this game,
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: but it sounds like they want to do a better job,
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Fish said, of getting him some snaps and rotating with Garen Hatch at a right guard.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that five of...
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I love Cody Green, John Mills, Colt Dietrich.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was champ for most of camp and drew as a party,
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: like really did take the vast majority of
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: the reps together throughout training camp.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you did at least have them together for that period.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Training camp's worth of snapping at center with the line
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: for Colt Dietrich is not nearly the same as Landon Hatchett's experience playing
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: that position.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe once they get Landon Hatchett back, it looks different.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: I would be concerned, though,
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: that you just don't see a ton of instances
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: of I think that's what really gives you concern about Big Ten opponents coming up.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's 100% of if it's tough against this level of competition.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way,
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Washington State went on the road against Kansas State and didn't look like that was
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: a lights out defense.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: That was not what I saw watching that game in Manhattan.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is what it looks like.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Of what can you expect?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's going to have to be some level of improvement that occurs.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's, it's an unknown.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I also,
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: teams do change and improve over the course of a season,
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: especially when you have a young team.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm, all of the, I think the question of like, how do you adjust expectations?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I adjust my expectations.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm aware that I may have been and looks like I was overconfident
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: about this offense's ability to like its potency.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: It looks like I underestimated the uncertainty at running back.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: I overestimated how good a pretty young offensive line was going to be or a younger
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: with a very young left side of the line.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm also intrigued to see and watch how they grow because I do think
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: that there is some talent there.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like Jordan Clay was someone who looked like he was fairly...
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: It looked like he was in danger of not really having a role in this offense.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And injuries have kind of thrust him into it.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it looks like he might be a player.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: That would be one of the more encouraging things to come out of the game.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, I don't know.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not at the hang my head resigned point.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: The thing I think I'm maddest about is that I was not able to properly enjoy...
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oregon getting dragged around Stillwater.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Washington's difficulty with Utah State and then its Houdini escape at
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: the end mitigated my ability to truly savor the egg that Oregon laid
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: at Oklahoma State.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have, I forget who it was,
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: but someone posed the question, like, whose problems would you rather have?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oregon has a loss.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're looking at the two rosters and like who's certainly who's available
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: at least on the two rosters from a health perspective,
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: like who's your money on in terms of who's more likely
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: to get it going going forward?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: It feels heretical to me to say I'd rather have Oregon's problems because
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: that emphasizes how hollow a 2-0 start at Washington feels.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know what's wild about Oregon is watching how that defense got dragged around.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: That was crazy because Oklahoma State,
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if people know the quarterback they have,
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Mestamaker, he didn't start as a high school senior.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: He went to North Texas as a walk-on and a punter, pretty much.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: And A, he looks really good.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to say like, hey, because he's been really productive.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: But man, that Oregon team is...
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: All of the talent that people have had,
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: and they've got a linebacker who is absurdly fast that he showed in a couple
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: of instances, but God, they just got smoked.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you care to guess how many receptions per game Desmond Roebuck is off
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: of Reggie Williams per game average in the year where he set the record?
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's got to be like,
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: he's going to probably need to average 12 the rest of the season to be able
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: to get up to it.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what did Reggie average?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Reggie must have averaged eight.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, he probably, it might have been, yeah.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Reggie averaged eight receptions a game.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: Came out to 7.2.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So Desmond Roebuck is two-tenths of a reception per game off of that pace.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's caught seven passes in their first two games.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Got 14 catches.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: So he's not that far off.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he could rally.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't give up on that prediction yet.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what I'll say about Oregon.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's possible I'd choose Washington's defense over Oregon's defense,
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: and that's not something I ever considered at the beginning of the season.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, honestly considered.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: The caliber of recruits that Oregon has,
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: especially at corner,
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: those two defensive ends that everybody talked about,
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: but based on what watching the first two games,
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: if you give me a choice right now, it's possible that I take Washington's defense.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and, you know, we talk about with whose roster would you be more likely to turn around?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: If it were just about the roster,
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: they wouldn't have given up 500-some yards in Stillwater, right?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously,
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: there's a lot of heat on Dan Lanning about his decision to promote internally
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: an offensive and defensive coordinator after losing both his guys
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: to head coaching jobs and so forth, so...
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how little credence I led to the idea that they might be worse on
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: the field after losing Taj Lapoy.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's impossible for me to overstate.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe I drastically underestimated the strategic acumen of one Taj Lapoy.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Just saying.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was something else.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: The offense, definitely.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Oregon's,
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: the question between Oregon and Washington's offense,
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: like Oregon's,
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oregon's certainly got a lot more talent on that side of the ball,
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: and you would expect them to get it together.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: But maybe the question there becomes is you really don't know about that play caller
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: and about the guy that's there.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Lanning is facing a ton of heat.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: He was kind of feisty this week
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: with his local media.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe nobody is good, you know?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Look, if you're an Oklahoma State fan, It's like a lot of first year transitions, right?
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Eric Morris comes in,
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: he brings a bunch of North Texas guys with him, including the starting quarterback.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's a total roster overhaul.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows what it looks like, right?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: But there's some excitement.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: You feel like it's got to be better than what they were the previous year,
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: certainly,
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: and multiple years before that under Mike Gundy as things kind of cratered.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go out in your opener and you lose by two scores to Tulsa.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you're thinking, oh, great.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, this is not going to be an overnight turnaround.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be tough.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: What, they score 10 points?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is an offensive head coach with his guy,
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: his own quarterback, who was pretty damn good last year.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: What is this?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then you beat Oregon a week later.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a weird sport, man.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: I could get into this.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's any good.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, nobody's good.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Michigan,
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: oh my God,
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: they wanted to fire Kyle Whittingham after their win in the first week
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: over Western Michigan.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: How bad did they look offensively?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not like their offense went out and won them the Oklahoma game,
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: but they still turned around and beat Oklahoma.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel a little bit of vindication after all of it because it's hard
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: to downplay John Mateer because he's the kind of personality and competitor
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: that you always want at quarterback.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I feel like going back to watching him,
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: even when the Cougs beat the Huskies,
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was like,
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that guy can be a starting quarterback on a high level,
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: like a playoff caliber team because he can't throw.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, he's not a good enough passer.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: I feel a slight amount of vindication after the Michigan game.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he had some just absolute, like, wow, like, incredible throws that he put on tape.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: But he was,
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: you're right, I mean,
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: he just never proved to be a guy who was going to put the passing game on his back
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: against a legit defense and go, I mean...
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: Unbelievable playmaker,
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: even in that Apple Cup,
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: even in their 2024 win over Washington,
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: the third and 19 that he turns into a touchdown and he's so great running with
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: the ball.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: He was great off platform, right?
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, just that kind of that cowboy back there who He could really hurt you in
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: the passing game,
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: freelancing and in certain situations,
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: but asking him to be that passing quarterback over the course of four quarters and
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: over the course of an SEC schedule,
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: even look at his passing numbers against that Washington team in a game
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: that they won and they won in large part because he made some really big plays.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: He still didn't throw the ball great.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what did he complete?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: About 50% of his passes in that game.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it was an okay Washington defense, but they weren't awesome.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just came out like, again,
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: like he did have some games against a pretty soft schedule that year
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: where he put up some big numbers.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I think kind of like we talked about at the time,
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: like going to Oklahoma and playing that schedule.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I don't know.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that's going to look like.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Looked like what we saw,
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: two really,
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: really good defenses,
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: and the battle of quarterbacks of who is going to be able to make five plays to win
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: that game, and Matera is only able to make four.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to your point about just building confidence and
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: the Pete Carroll reference about always selling your team on,
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: hey, this is when you turn it around.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is when you get right and show everybody what you really are.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think the confidence thing is real.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, especially for this offensive line.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Drew, as a party, has...
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Data that he can tap into that, hey, I'm a good right tackle.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: I am better than this.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm better than I've played.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: John Mills does have,
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: though he is still 18 years old,
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: some data to tap into that like,
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've played at a really high level at left guard and right tackle
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: against Big Ten opponents, let alone...
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just college football opponents.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: I can, I can do this.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm better than this.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: I can be better than this.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Cole Dietrich is playing at a much higher level of football than he has previously.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: And Cody Green is playing football for the first time.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: I just wonder generally from a confidence standpoint about how valuable,
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: from the outside looking in,
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: is any kind of performance against Eastern Washington going to make
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: a Husky fan feel better,
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: like suddenly everything's fixed and oh,
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: this means they're going to score 50 points against Indiana now.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, of course not.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: But from an individual level, like...
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: It is an opportunity for Cody Green,
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: for Colt Dietrich,
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: and for the remaining members of that offensive line,
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: who I'm sure all feel like they have underperformed and have played
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: below their expected standard in both of the games so far,
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: to feel like the dominant O-line that they believe they are,
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: that they think they can be, regardless of who the opponent is.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know,
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: it Can kind of cut the other way too,
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: in that if you don't have that performance and you really don't go out and prove
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: against an FCS team that like, okay,
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: it can look dominant,
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: it can look the way that you thought it would, maybe that doesn't help either.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is like a disclaimer.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to come off like excusing what has happened the past two weeks.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll accept that.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take that.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because you can look at how the offensive line has performed and say,
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Week one against Washington State,
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: you had a guy playing center for the first time,
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: taking a huge step up in sort of level of play in Colt Dietrich.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: And you had a freshman left tackle, which is a huge ask.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when Trey Adams was starting left tackle,
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: they had a quarterback and a Left tackle, who were a true freshman.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's 2015, Peterson's second year.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: And a running back.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and a running back.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: They lose the season opener to Boise State.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember coming out of that game feeling like that was great,
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: considering how much inexperience was on that offense.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I actually was really encouraged by that.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: And Washington's 2-0,
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: and I feel very differently, even though there's a true freshman at left tackle.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: But in that game against Washington State,
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: you have a pretty experienced defensive coordinator on the other side who kind
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: of threw everything he had at a first-time center and a true freshman left tackle.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it looked like it.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Washington's offense struggled and suffered some injuries.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then the next week against Utah State,
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: suffered an additional injury in Rasheed Williams,
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: but was missing,
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: you didn't have Christian Mosh,
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: you didn't have Jaden Lamar, and you didn't have Quaid Carr.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: And Washington just has yet to get out of that rut that they got knocked into early
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: in the season.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: And one reaction is to say, these guys aren't as good as we thought they were.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's a totally accurate and fair assessment of how they played the first two games.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is where the Captain Sunshine is going to step in.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: The measure of a lot of teams and when you have a really good team is the ability
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: to solve problems and improve over the course of a year.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get out of this?
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's how when you get into how people evaluate coaching,
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: especially in the NFL, where talent acquisition isn't.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: You can't recruit yourself to a talent advantage in the NFL in the same way
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: that you can with college.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: College, huge part is recruiting.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: But the ability of a coach to help a group improve and get a group to improve
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: without, oh,
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: we need to go get someone else that's better at this spot, that's part of coaching.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's part of the job.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: And if...
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Cody Green is as good a player as you think he is.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: And as it appears,
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: like as the coaching staff believes,
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: you're going to see a massive difference between him and the end of the season.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it hasn't been a good start.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I realize that this sounds like sort of trying to minimize that, but I do believe that
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: Every team,
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: even really great teams,
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: will have periods in a season where something stops working for them
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: or they're unable to deal with something.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in 2013, it's one of the best defenses ever.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: In the middle of the year,
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: they were giving up 200 yards rushing to some guy named Mike James from Tampa Bay.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: Their run defense had a real serious problem, and there were reasons for it.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: The ability to fix those.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: The ability to get the players on the field to be able to adapt
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: to what is being done to them and counteract it.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's what the measure of a good team is.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Not whether or not you get thrown for a loop at one point or struggle with something.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jake Browning used to kind of roll his eyes at us when we would ask about why
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: the running game was struggling early in the season.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: But
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: They always had Myles Gaskin.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then Savon Ahmed and some LaVon Coleman in there.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was easy to be like, ah, yeah, it's kind of not gelling up front.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're not blocking it as well as you'd like.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: But like, look, it's Myles Gaskin.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you know who the O-line is.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, they'll get it going.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think this again, I mean,
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: not to keep harping on it or even to use it as an excuse because it is what it is.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's got injuries,
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: but the state of their running back room is just is a massive concern
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: until they show that that.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Won't be a limiting factor or until the offensive line picks them up in a way
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: where it's like, hey, this is, they're really coming together.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: All five of these guys are finally playing their best and at the level you expect.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: And anybody could have run through those holes, you know, but they're a long ways from that.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: You ever listen to Hugh Millen when you do the blame pie?
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Hugh Millen,
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: by the way, had some things to say about the offense on Softie's show this week.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_01: He will have some opinions.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: I love Hugh.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: Blame pie in the running game.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Offensive line or running backs.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not really talking about even like the quality of personnel
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: because both groups are dealing with injuries or absences.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: But just to break it down,
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: is it injuries,
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: absences,
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: performance of the running backs or injuries,
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: absences,
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: performance of the offensive line that has a greater share of responsibility for
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: the running game struggles so far, Christian?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: I got to say it's the offensive line.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the offensive line would tell you it's the offensive line.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they were not gangbusters with Quaid Carr and Jade Lamar back there either.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think that the more experience,
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: and again with Quade Carr,
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: it's not really,
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: the experience is he's been the number one tailback through pretty much all
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: of spring and then training camp.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all practice,
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: which does matter,
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: but also not someone who had ever really played college football before.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: But Jaden Lamar had.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so the experience slash confidence in ability more with regard to Quade Carr is,
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Gives you probably more belief that like you can turn it around and that,
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: okay, maybe things don't need to be blocked perfectly on every play.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Quaid Carr is a guy you trust to find yards.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Jaden Lamar is a guy you trust to find yards.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: But we didn't know that, right?
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we hadn't seen proof of concept.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: Jaden Lamar had a couple nice runs.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: Quaid Carr did get loose a couple times for some double-digit gains.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know,
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: that was really a very extremely limited,
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: extremely limited sample size against an opponent who,
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: you know, it's TBD on really how good that defense is.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: They looked good that day.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't, as you mentioned, did not look good in the...
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: In the other Manhattan.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are looking on the bright side,
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: if we were to hash out a glass half full versus glass half empty column live on
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: the air here,
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: You'd say, well, look,
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: at least the freshman receiver stepping in for Christian Moss is someone
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: who I think profiles as one of your more talented playmakers.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean there's not going to be mistakes with Jordan Clay.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jordan Clay has battled his own injuries, even just since being here since January.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: Missed a big chunk of training camp, missed a big chunk of spring.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, first and foremost, you need him to stay healthy.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: But you talk about like the ceiling and the talent of guys in that room,
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: you are now going to be giving a bunch of opportunities.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: I
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: think he's proven he's someone you can put the ball up to and it doesn't need to be perfect.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: He can go and make a play.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably one of your faster guys after the catch.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think you assume that what you saw on Saturday was
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: the very worst Desmond Roebuck will ever play.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that,
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: that certainly I think is the assumption Jed Fish is operating under going forward.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: He gave a pretty full-throated defense and endorsement of Desmond Roebuck.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you assume that the offensive line can't be as bad as...
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, not,
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: Not suggesting this should set off alarm bells or anything.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: In two games now,
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: you've seen DeMond Williams Jr.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: get worked on on the sideline for some cramps in week one,
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: which can be a one-off, easy to dismiss.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily... That doesn't imply anything beyond that week.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then week two, you saw him...
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Put on a glove after the first quarter because he banged his left hand in
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: a collision there and said he needed to just felt like he needed to protect it.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I asked him about it on Tuesday.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: He said that he doesn't anticipate having to wear that going forward.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: He kind of laughed it off.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: But like.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: I only point those things out just to note that the more you rely on this one player
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: to create for you and to kind of make your offense go,
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: whether on script or off script,
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: like the more he is exposing himself to those little,
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: you know, they've been very minor so far, been very easy to shrug off.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: Neither of those two things might be anything that affects them at all going forward.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't bring it up to suggest that they will,
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: but just that little bumps,
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: little bump here, little ailment here, playing through this, playing through that.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout the course of a season,
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: you've got to be very cognizant of those things,
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: especially when it's your starting quarterback you're talking about.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: He has been a huge part of this team's run game.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the more tempting it is,
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: or even the more necessity it is to involve him, is only going to amplify the risks.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not even going to say the risks,
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: because that implies that you're going to take a chance that he's going to get hurt
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: and miss time.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, the toll that that takes.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: The more he runs the ball, the more of a toll it's going to take.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: The more physical discomfort and...
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: Not an injury that will knock him out.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: At the very least, hurt he's going to have to play through.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: What's Ian got for us?
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: Our weekly conversation with IP McFarlane.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks to everybody who...
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: We emailed in regarding tickets.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: We gave them to a worthy tandem,
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: a worthy tandem who got to go see the Utah State game and everybody else who sent
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: in requests.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: I will be keeping those in case we have future opportunities.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: I like the parent-child pairing.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a cool way to reward people.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you guys very much for writing, and we will be keeping track of those.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: Here's our conversation with Ian McFarlane.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_02: Good morning, guys.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_02: I normally don't prepare, which I think is abundantly clear based on the way I ramble here.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm looking at my screen behind me, behind my phone, and I have a whole back and forth.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, on one hand,
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_02: you're looking at the guys you thought were your fourth or fifth options heading
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: into the spring at running back and expecting one of them to suddenly turn
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: into Marshall Falk.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: But on the other hand, Oregon lost.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's not even funny.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_02: I mean,
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: especially when you weigh it against expectations heading into the season,
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_02: which were sky high.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we all knew the team had some flaws,
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: but scoring points in these first three games,
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_02: no one saw that coming in, the inability to do so.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_02: Even with the injuries.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, to avoid repeating my question from last week about
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_02: whether your expectations have shifted,
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_02: because I assume they have, what would even mark a good season at this point?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm asking this question at 2-0, which is wild.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_02: What would mark a good season?
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: Are you already looking at 2027?
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_02: And saying the mark of a good season would be if Clay and Davis, hey,
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_02: Clay Davis,
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_02: that's fitting given the term I would use for UW's offense right now.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_02: But is it developing them and hoping you get them on back and having a good 2027?
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_02: What would mark a good season?
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_02: Because forget SC and Indiana and Oregon, even with the loss.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_02: I don't see this team competing with Minnesota.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_02: Minnesota just got their tails kicked at home by Mississippi State.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: We're in bad mode.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's my question.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_02: What would mark a good season?
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_02: For the first time in a month, I'm not...
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_02: Traveling up to Seattle this weekend, I just, I need a break, I need to stay home.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_02: Or this week, pardon me.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: I have two on the 50, we'll do the same thing as last week.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: If anybody has a story to tell me about a parent and a child wanting to go to
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: the game, we want to do the first, we'll just do my favorite.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_02: IPM at IPMcFarland.com or And McFarland is M-C-F-A-R-L-A-N-D.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: For those folks who are audio only and won't see my clever little title
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: for Ian's video segment.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: Email Ian for a chance and those folks that have emailed me,
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be passing your emails along as well.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: Ian's general downer or like major disappointment.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's a huge bummer.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not expecting Washington to lose to Minnesota because of how the first two weeks have gone.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: Are you out of your mind?
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, I mean,
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: the way that they played the first two weeks,
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: like there's not a team on their schedule, I would say they would definitely beat.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I do want to like acknowledge Ian's point there.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's pretty indisputable, but it is very easy.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you're a Washington fan, you are not looking for
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, it's, you know...
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's happy.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can find, unless you're an Oklahoma State fan, you're happy.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are still wondering a little bit how you lost to Tulsa by two scores.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's good enough in the preseason.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody can prove anything.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: All you can do is disappoint.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: Take heart, Ian, that you are disappointed in your 2-0 team.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: That
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: Might well prove to be exactly what you're worried they're going to be,
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: but other teams got concerns too.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: My answer to that question of how do you adjust expectations,
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: and I think you said it really well.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't adjust my hopes.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that this team wins 10 games and makes the playoff.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: That seems fairly unlikely, given what we've seen over the first two weeks.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't change that that's my hope.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't ruled out that that's impossible.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_01: What would constitute a good season?
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_01: Winning eight or nine games.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: If they don't win eight games, this season is a disappointment, is a big disappointment.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: I feel very comfortable and confident saying that.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: If they win eight, I'm not going to be thrilled.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to call it a good season with eight wins,
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: no matter how many people try to explain it away to me.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: I just look at it more as how likely...
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: Were the expectations you had to be fulfilled.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, not real likely based on the first two weeks, but it could change, man.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe Vegas was on to something with that seven and a half number.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's always such a funny thing because I've thought about that at least three times
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: in the past week.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's sort of like Vegas knows, man.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that was the dumbest number I'd ever seen,
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_01: and now I'm just stumbling around like,
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: Vegas knows,
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: Vegas knows,
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: Vegas knew, Vegas is on to some, I shouldn't dismiss Vegas so out of hand.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: And yes,
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: before you leave angry comments,
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: we know the over-under numbers are not predictions,
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: just Vegas trying to encourage action, I understand all that.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think you look at, like, do they get better?
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do they improve?
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do they look like a different team three weeks from now than they did last week and so forth?
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: As personnel,
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_00: available personnel continues to be a challenge,
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: does the coaching staff get creative and highlight what they do have
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: and prioritize getting the ball to the playmakers that they do have available?
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_00: scheme things up that play to their remaining strengths
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_00: while protecting DeMond Williams.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: And, um, look, Iowa wins eight or nine games every year without a quarterback, right?
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it can be done.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: Washington's got a quarterback.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: They do have a quarterback.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: And they still, you know, yeah, they, hey, Baron Niones look good.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, So I kind of thought this team profiles as a play really good defense,
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: punt the ball well and play a good field position,
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: make field goals, win in the margins.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do enough offensively to be a pretty good team.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like if they're going to be a pretty good team, that kind of felt like the profile to me.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now it kind of just feels like it times a thousand, right?
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_00: Where, well,
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_00: now they're going to have to be like really good on defense,
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: play really good field position,
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: which by the way, the punting took, took a bit of a step back in week two.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: Punting did leave, did leave some room for improvement.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know,
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe this is just going to have to be a very Big Ten type of team
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: that plays awesome defense and offense is hard.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: I say Big Ten type of team.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_00: In 2026, the Big Ten has evolved.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't the mid-90s, but...
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe they got to win a little more like Iowa than like 2023 Washington.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just going to look a little bit different than it ever has.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I kind of already thought coming into the season that...
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: If they were going to be that 9-win team that was,
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_00: at least in the playoff conversation in November,
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_00: it was probably going to be with a lot of really good defense
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_00: and doing enough offensively, but not necessarily putting up 30-plus in every game.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_00: And now it feels like that a lot more.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: The glass-half-empty view is, well, what are the odds they have that kind of defense?
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because their defense hasn't done anything the first two weeks
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_00: to make you think they won't be pretty good, but there's also been...
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: They're down like Emmanuel Carnley right now.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe Elenius Davis has been banged up.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: And those aren't like killer injuries.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like Elenius Davis won't be out long term anyway.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Carnley is week to week.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, they haven't been tested either.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: At all.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like they haven't been tested at all.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: They've looked good, but they should look good.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think I took the express.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: I thought the offensive line would be better.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew that there were questions even,
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_01: even before at running back, even before Quade Carr and Jade Lamar got hurt.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_01: You just didn't have experience in that part of the team and you lost your top receiver.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I also, I tended to like, that's why you get paid the big bucks, Jed.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's your big brain's got to go figure out the offense
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: and it should come out firing because you've got a good quarterback.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I, I've,
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that their defense profiled as being the stronger side of the football going
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_01: into the season, but I had a lot of faith in Jet.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I haven't lost that faith entirely.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: I have been surprised by the offensive line.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's the counter to the Iowa thing.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_00: Iowa also always has an NFL O-lineman or two and a really good running back.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I've been pretty good about not turning this into a gripe fest.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: Can I just have 15 seconds?
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want me to time it?
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: One second.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_00: Ready?
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_00: Go.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: Throwing the ball on first down when the other team only had one timeout
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_01: and there was fewer than two minutes remaining was
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: the single most maddening thing I've ever seen a Husky football coach do
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_01: since I enrolled at the school in 1993.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, dead on 15 seconds.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can hear the timer there.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_00: That was pretty good.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_00: The single most,
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to extend this,
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: but the single most maddening thing,
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_00: so that supplants punting in the Oregon game in 2021 in the fourth quarter.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: Down eight points.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, now that I'm thinking about it,
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: maybe the pun in the Apple Cup with Tyrone when he punted it.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_01: Was that like fourth and eight and they were like the 36th?
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was fourth and three.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: Fourth and three, and they were at the 36.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's, it doesn't supplant that.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so pissed about Fish passing the ball there still.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_03: Just furious.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just furious.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think attendance will be for Eastern on Saturday?
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: 4.30 kick.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_01: 4.30 kick.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think it'll be about the same as it was Utah State.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's going to be less than Utah State.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I should correct.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_00: 415 kick.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_00: 415!
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: Tune in 15 minutes late.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_00: 415!
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you enjoy the game.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: Peace!
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk to you next week.