UW-OSU Post Mortem: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good

Jimmy Lake was able to keep a secret.

The University of Washington football coach surprised everyone outside the program when he sent redshirt freshman Dylan Morris onto the field as his starting quarterback against Oregon State.

In his college debut, Morris looked cool under fire while directing a run-oriented offense. He threw it deep just once, but committed no turnovers. He picked up a victory in his Husky debut.

With no practice access, we were left to guess at the quarterback progress in a month of scrimmages. The limited glimpses provided by the program in video and photo imagery posted on social media seemed to highlight grad transfer Kevin Thomson and leave a pecking order of Thomson, sophomore Jacob Sirmon, Morris and freshman Ethan Garbers.

While Morris took the first turn, the rest of the quarterback room seems as muddled as ever. Morris, because of the pandemic intrusion, could play four more seasons following this one.

Thomson was in street clothes for the opener, with no explanation given to whether he was injured or not.

Garbers, everyone could have surmised, has plenty of talent but he was never going to beat out three older players and start.

That leaves Sirmon, whose career appears to have stalled in his third season in the program, in his third time in the QB competition. He couldn't beat out Jacob Eason last year or Morris this time. He put his name in the transfer portal 19 months ago. He probably isn't long for the program now.

The Bad

The Husky defensive line of Zion Tupuola-Fetui (shown in the video), Sam Taimani, Josiah Bronson and Ryan Bowman didn't do much. These guys rang up 11 tackles total, among them 3 tackles for loss and two sacks.

This not-so-fearsome foursome got pushed off the ball and didn't get much pressure on OSU quarterback Tristan Gebbia. However, Taimani came up with the play of the game, when he stopped OSU's Jermar Jefferson on a fourth-and-one at the UW 4 early in the fourth quarter, to prevent a Beavers' go-ahead score.

To be fair, the Huskies were missing two starters in sophomores Tuli Letuligaseno and Laiatu Latu, with the former in uniform and the latter not, both presumably injured. Lake said he wouldn't address their situations until Monday.

Redshirt freshmen Jacob Bandes and Faatui Tuitele were rotated in as the Huskies repeatedly tried different combinations.

The Huskies need all hands on deck on the D-line or they won't last long against a better team.

The Ugly

Surprisingly, wide receiver Puka Nacua had an unforgettable game. The sophomore from Salt Lake City didn't start because the Huskies went with Terrell Bynum and Ty Jones as the wideouts and used a two tight-end set initially with Cade Otton and Jack Westover.

But once on the field, Nacua dropped a couple of passes and fumbled one of his two receptions. He looked a little disinterested.

Long snapper Jaden Green, a true freshman, won't forget his debut. He sailed his first Husky snap over punter Race Porter's head and watched as Porter ran the ball and had his punt blocked for a touchdown. Green nearly threw his second punt snap over Porter's head, too, near the end zone before settling down and getting the job done.

Green was one six freshman who played, joined by wide receivers Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze, outside linebacker Sav'ell Smalls, outside linebacker Cooper McDonald, tight end Mark Redman and walk-on defensive tackle Brad McGannon.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Daniel Heimuli made his college debut on special teams.

Curiously missing in action was sophomore safety Cam Williams, a seven-game starter as a true freshman. He played in 12 of 13 games last year. He didn't get on the field against Oregon State.

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