TERRY MOSHER
JUSTIN WILCOX
AROUND THE COUNTRY ‑ My first impression of Washington’s stunning 20-19 loss to California Saturday and Sunday (lightening strikes postponed the game two hours and 38 minutes and it didn’t get over until way past midnight) is that California coach Justin Wilcox is one heck of a defensive whiz. For the second straight year his Golden Bears have beaten Washington (12-10 last season) and seems to have it over his former boss. Husky coach Chris Petersen was the head coach at Boise State and hired Wilcox to be his defensive coordinator from 2006-2009. In his four years with Petersen, Boise State went 49-4 and the defense ranked high in the country. Wilcox then held the same position with the Huskies under coach Steve Sarkisian from 2012-2013 so he’s acutely aware of the Washington program. The current Cal secondary is one of the country’s best and proved it against the Huskies, holding Jacob Eason to162 yards on 18 of 30 passing with one interception and no touchdowns. So far, I’m not a big fan of Eason. He is not quick on his feet and should not be considered an effective runner when in trouble. Eason also does not throw touch passes. He has a canon for an arm, but even his short passes are like bullets and receivers that normally have sure hands dropped five of them against Cal. Give Cal a lot of credit for taking away his receivers, but Eason has to back off some on his velocity. Going into this season it has been clear that the Husky secondary could have some trouble because it is young and inexperienced. Sure enough, its youthfulness showed up against Cal. The Golden Bears exploited that youthfulness in the second half and especially picked on redshirt freshman corner Kyler Gordon, who was charged with a pass interference penalty that set the Golden Bears up on the Washington 45 as time ticked down, setting up the eventual winning field goal with just eight seconds left. The loss dropped the Huskies to 23rd in the Associated Press poll and 21st in the Coaches Poll (Washington State, 2-0, moved to 20th in both polls). I think the Huskies are in trouble until their young and talented kids get used to the college game and to playing together. That may take a few more games. In the meantime, the Huskies host high-scoring Hawaii this Saturday and play at BYU the following week and then things get real serious with USC at home, Stanford on the road, at Arizona where they always seem to have trouble, and then hosting a very good Oregon team (15 in the AP Poll and 17 in the Coaches Poll) before having an open date and then entertaining Utah, a team many feel will win the Pac-12 championship. … I was very impressed with 19-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu who prevented Serena Williams from winning her record-tying 24th singles title in a stunning 6-3, 7-5 U.S. Open victory over the 37-year-old Williams, who just about everybody expected to win. Andreescu was poised and calm through most of the match, but Williams looked like she was tired and again and again failed to return serve. Open fans were cheering Williams on, but even their loud clapping and enthusiasm could not deter the winning teenager, whose parents immigrated from Romania and became somewhat of star attractions during the Open. That’s it for today.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.