Often after a game you get a lot of posts about what went wrong. In spite of that sentiment (which is important) let’s highlight what went right.
ZTF
Yes he’s got 7 sacks against some of the weaker tackles in the Pac-12. The most important part is we’re seeing consistency in his play. He doesn’t take a lot of plays off and he keeps himself involved in the play. ZTF is no fluke. Sure he’s going to run into a Tackle that makes it harder for him but his persistence is always going to get him where he wants to be and that’s near the QB or ball carrier. He’s the game changing 3-Star talent that teams like the UW rely on.
Smalls
Savvy is making some great plays. 5 tackles and some QB rushes. This is only his 3rd collegiate game and he’s not a starter. He is as advertised. Wait until he has a Spring/Summer camp to focus on technique and a full year of S&C. Looking really good
Eddie Fa’Sho
It felt like a quiet game for Eddie and he ends up with 14 tackles. He just makes it effortless.
Tuli
Tuli back made my heart sing. Other than Levi he was a lightning rod of that interior. It’s hard to those who aren’t UW fans that our Defense is playing so well given we expected to have Levi and Letuli there are the bulwark of the interior. Tuli back gives our rotation a much needed boost.
Coaching
A lot of negative discussion about the coaching but let’s be clear. We replaced a significantly less talented WSU team with a Utah team that has been stockpiling defensive talent for a few seasons. Because Utah wasn’t ranked you don’t get the credit for it but the game is tough one. We learned about this team. They don’t fold when adversity strikes. All the players were tweeting about how much they love this team. Some of the press were trying to dig to see if Jimmy went nuclear at half time or did “Friday Night Lights” type of speeches. Jimmy is a different type of HC. He doesn’t need the Fire and Brimstone and his team responded by coming back from a huge deficit. These players weren’t alive the last time that happened at this scale.
This game was a resounding victory. It showed this year’s team has heart, it showed your coaching staff knows how to handle young players dealing through adversity and it showed the leadership of players like Molden, Bronson and the energy of the next leaders in ZTF, Smalls, Tuli and Eddie.
I don’t need to spend a lot of time being critical. This team is pretty special. They’re two games from potentially making the Championship game.