It was a frustrating effort by the Dawgs as they were far from perfect in a week one Apple Cup. Nevertheless, they persisted through adversity (oftentimes adversity of their own making), to pick up a 24-10 win over the Cougs in the 118th Apple Cup. Let’s get into what we learned!
I was in a pit of despair throughout most of this game, and I think the main reason for that was the lack of execution by the offense. They’ll do this for stretches, and then most of the time right the ship (I think the Colorado State game last year was a good example of that). With that in mind, I can excuse a bit of a slow start. But one slow quarter turned into two, which snowballed into three. It took a 6/6, 115 yard performance in the fourth quarter to get Demond and the offense going, but before then, it was not a fun watch if you like explosive offense. I think that boils down to 2 things. First, it felt like the line couldn’t get any push up front. With new starters (Kodi Greene and Champ Taulealea), it’s kind of excusable. But for Mills and Azzopardi, there’s expectation, there’s preseason accolades, there’s experience. You can’t be getting pushed around like that! Especially not on the goal line, that’s when the unit as a whole has to buck up and bear down! To his credit, Fisch was frustrated, throwing his headset after the Cougs got the 4th down stop, and stating in his halftime interview, “if you can’t get one yard on the goal line, you don’t deserve the points”. Secondly, the play-calling left a lot to be desired. I get it, when the offense can’t get out of its own way, a lot of times you go back to basics, which is why we saw a lot of screens but those looked labored, and didn’t get a whole lot of yards. Some decisions Williams made were also baffling, but that’s easy for me to say as I’m an armchair quarterback. It seemed like Fisch and Demond were trying to show to the fans that he had taken that leap and it felt forced. Williams wasn’t taking the easy stuff as often as I would’ve liked, instead hunting for the backbreaker way too often! Even when the big play was there, Williams threw it behind Rashid Williams! I like big plays as much as the next guy, but even I know that sometimes the medium plays can set up the big shots! The good news, such as it is, is that this is only week 1, and there’s ample time to get it cleaned up. Let’s hope this lights a fire under the Dawgs offense and Utah State and Eastern feel the full brunt of this attack that was hyped up in the preseason!
The other frustrating thing is all the penalties. Twelve flags for 130 yards is absolutely inexcusable, untenable and unsustainable for Big Ten play. Champ Taulealea committed 2 holding penalties on the Huskies’ second drive, pushing them out of the red zone when combined with a Demond Williams delay of game. That led to a 48 yard field goal which got the Dawgs on the board, but sometimes the breaks don’t bounce your way. Plus there was other stupid stuff, the Ramzak Fruen late hit, the Lawson taunt near the end of the game. Fruen’s infraction is less excusable because that’s a basic football play that he should know, even if he is a Freshman. And RDA…