A furious fourth-quarter Washington comeback couldn’t overcome a disastrous third quarter as Nebraska topped the Huskies Saturday, 51-38.

Momentum shifted in Nebraska’s direction when the Huskies appeared to recover a muffed punt deep in Huskers territory with 1:53 remaining in the second quarter and the score tied at 17. Cornhuskers punt returner Tim Marlowe, surrounded by Huskies at his own 20 yard line, called for a fair catch but stumbled just before attempting to field the ball. The punt hit the ground, skipped off of Marlowe’s leg and was recovered by Jamaal Kearse at the Nebraska 24.

The officiating crew, however, proclaimed that Husky linebacker Cort Dennison had interfered with Marlowe, resulting in a 15-yard kick-catch interference penalty and giving Nebraska possession at their own 41. Nebraska finished with a field goal; instead of great position to take a lead into the locker room, the Huskies got a 20-17 deficit. (Replay showed that the ball might have hit Dennison’s foot just before glancing off Marlowe—if that had been the case, it would have been Nebraska ball at their own 26. That was not the call, however: the officials said Dennison touched Marlowe as he tried to field the ball.)

Nebraska dominated the third quarter. After opening with a three-and-out, Washington was flagged 15 yards for a second inexplicable kick-catch interference penalty, this one going against Desmond Trufant. There has been no official explanation of the call yet, but the foul was assessed to Trufant for leveling Rex Burkhead after he caught the punt with no evidence of a fair catch signal. Tack on a 5-yard sideline interference penalty (ostensibly against defensive coordinator Nick Holt for screaming) and the foul netted Nebraska 20 yards. Twelve plays later, Burkhead plunged one yard for six, putting the Cornhuskers up 27-17.

Then, nine seconds and a Bishop Sankey fumbled kickoff later, Burkhead plunged one yard for six, putting the Cornhuskers up 34-17.

The wind appeared completely gone from the Washington sails at that point. Nebraska added a field goal and a touchdown, running the unanswered-points meter to 27.

But Keith “Teeth” Price, Chris “Keith” Polk and the Husky offensive line refused to give up. Price carried the team on his two gimpy knees, leading the Dawgs into the red zone on four consecutive possessions and totaling 21 points for his efforts. His totals for the day read 21/37, 274 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Polk continued to run like he can, putting on a bit of a show en route to 130 yards and a score.

But the Huskies fell short, an ill-fated deep ball resulting in an interception with 1:32 to play sealing the win for Nebraska-----NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS AFTER THE JUMP!

Washington Huskies (2-0) @ #10 Nebraska Cornhuskers (2-0)
Saturday, 12:30 p.m., Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.
TV: ABC; Radio: KJR; Internet Audio: Huskers.com
Line: Nebraska -17.5

There are two challenging things about writing this preview. The first is writing what hasn’t already been written about this matchup, the third in 12 months between these two teams. The second is predicting a Husky victory over a heavily favored, 800-win opponent on the road. But I’m going to try to do both. (I suppose paying attention in genetics lecture is also difficult while writing this preview. That I will not attempt. If you're reading this, Dr. Shields, I'm 35 percent sorry.)

The Nebraska defense is laden with NFL talent. The offense is among college football’s most explosive. But here’s the thing. The Cornhuskers needed several minor miracles to beat a very average Fresno State team in Lincoln last week, and that was no fluke: the Bulldogs did what they do (run the ball in a slightly-above-average and perpetual fashion, do a little pro-style passing), and Nebraska simply couldn’t stop them.

The Huskers struggled some on offense, too—without six plays that went for 38 yards or more, they averaged only 3.8 yards per play. They went three-and-out six times, their longest drive only seven plays. Subtract the huge plays (and if there’s one thing Nick Holt’s bend-but-don’t-break defense is effective at, it’s limiting big plays), and they looked an awful lot like the Nebraska team that gained only 189 yards in the Holiday Bowl.

Also: if Fresno State can nearly ride 40 carries for 190 yards to a victory, what do you think Chris Polk can do? What did Chris Polk do last year?

Scouting the Cornhuskers:

• Everything begins on defense for Nebraska, and the defense in turn begins up front with Jared Crick. The 6-foot-6 defensive line hybrid already has two first-team all-conference selections and a bachelor’s degree under his belt; he’s out for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year this season and will likely find his way into the first round come April. He overwhelms interior linemen with his quickness and offensive tackles with his size, allowing him to accumulate a Suh-like 19 career sacks. Nebraska lacks a true nose tackle, however, as the 285-pound Crick’s 4-3 running mate is 290-pound Baker Steinkuhler. But Crick’s effectiveness against the run eases the lack of a gigantic human in the middle. There’s a reason he’s preseason first-team All-America, folks.

• Somehow, Crick is not the only preseason All-American on the Blackshirts defense. Weakside linebacker Lavonte David set a school record with 152 tackles last year (though mostly in the “peso” 3-4 scheme designed to stop the Big 12’s spread attacks) and already has 26 through two games this year. Holy hell. He also has a nose for the football, not just the ballcarrier—many NFL scouts even see him as a strongside safety. Gaze in wonder at this hip fluidity. Mike man Will Compton is primed for a huge year after a promising sophomore campaign was derailed by a foot injury before it started. He and David each had 15 tackles last week.

• And of course you’ve heard about the Huskers’ third preseason All-American defender. Senior cornerback Alfonzo Dennard (rhymes with “Leonard,” not Lil’ Kenard from The Wire) has been questionable all week with some sort of leg pull. The Nebraska secondary looks a whole lot friendlier without Dennard, as the other three 2010 starters are all gone (CB Prince Amukamara, first round to the Giants; SS DeJon Gomes, fifth round to the Redskins; FS Eric Hagg, seventh round to the Browns). In Dennard’s absence, head coach Bo Pelini has been starting sophomores Andrew Green and Ciante Evans alongside new safeties Courtney Osborne and Austin Cassidy. Evans has much more experience than Green, but the trial-by-fire development of all four new starters will be a huge factor in Nebraska’s fate this year. If Dennard plays, here’s all you need to know. Gape accordingly.

• Cameron Meredith’s Mustache is reportedly at full strength for this game after offseason shoulder surgery. NFL scouts see the junior end as an early-round hybrid run-stopper, though he had two sacks to go with his pick and blocked kick in the opener against Chattanooga.

• Offensively, Nebraska wants to run the ball. Roy Helu Jr. has moved on to bigger and better things (well, OK, he’s on the Redskins), but junior I-back Rex Burkhead and sophomore quarterback Taylor Martinez still trail only Oregon and Michigan in terms of returning QB-RB rushing duos. Burkhead appears ready to take on a much larger role in Helu’s absence—he’s never had more than 20 carries in a game, however, so expect his YPC (5.5 last year) to go down as his workhorsemanship…ness? increases.

• Husky fans understand that a healthy Martinez has better straight-line speed than any Washington defender and better acceleration than perhaps any other human. He appears to be healthy this year. Martinez can run so well that the Nebraska passing game essentially exists only to take advantage of opposing defenses putting nine men in the box (and that’s exactly what it does). BUT, Martinez has that young-Travis-Henry disease, that Steve Slaton affliction. He’s got a fever, and the only prescription is… five points of contact? Running out of bounds? Stickum? Martinez’ case of fumblitis is really quite impressive: he’s fumbled 21 times in 14 career games, five already this year. That’s a huge concern (even though only five of the 21 have resulted in turnovers), especially when paired with his interceptions. Martinez somehow managed to throw a pick, fumble and run for no gain on 4^th-and-1 in a single possession last week. He’s a very subpar passer with a funky motion, a big reason the Huskers’ passing game is just a change-of-pace.

• A guess: it will be a lot harder for Martinez to run wild against legitimate defenses this year than it was last year. Why? Right tackle Tyler Moore was the first true freshman in the program’s 121-year history to start a season-opener two weeks ago. Sophomore right guard Spencer Long had played in exactly zero games prior to this season. True sophomore left guard Andrew Rodriguez (two career starts, both this season) has been hampered by an injury; his potential replacement, walk-on junior Seung-Hoon Choi, is in his seventh year of football and eighth year of America. He’s seen maybe 20 college snaps in his life, all in the second half of blowouts against Chattanooga and Western Kentucky. Some have said that this is Nebraska’s youngest offensive line ever. That means a lot of pressure on senior center Mike Caputo and senior left tackle Yoshi Hardrick to mentor the kids and keep everything in line.

• Senior leader Brandon Kinnie has two catches, seven receiving yards and six drops. The rest of the receivers are freshmen or sophomores. Not that experience matters in the Nebraska receiving corps—it seems like Martinez’ only completions in the Fresno State game were 40-yarders to wide-open receivers. Put my sister in there and you’d have the same result. Side note: Kinnie, Yoshi Hardrick and Lavonte David were all two-year teammates at Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College before joining the Cornhuskers.

• And I can’t not mention true freshman return man Ameer Abdullah. He looked like he could take every single kickoff back to the house last week, though he scored a paltry one touchdown on a paltry 100 yards. Combine that with the Huskies’ inability to cover kickoffs, and… We’ll see.

Three Choppy Sentences of Analysis and Some Numbers:

Nebraska’s defense looks shaky against exactly what Chris Polk does. AND the Dawgs have neutralized the big play thus far. THUS, another Erik Folk upset special???

UW 20, NU 17.

My weekly column on the Huskies is out on SB Nation Seattle. Keith Price is a legitimate quarterback. Sure it has only been two games, but the numbers he's put up so far are hard to ignore. If he can keep his level of play up and limit turnovers, the Huskies will for sure be going to a bowl game by the end of the season. Kudos to Coach Sarkisian for letting him take more chances and throw the ball down the field more frequently against Hawaii.

Price is efficient and deadly accurate. This is not a shot at Locker but it has been refreshing to see a quarterback put up a rating of 222.6. Locker's career high? A 216.2 rating against California in 2009. Price has only started three games, he has a chance to put up even better passing performances with three years ahead of him.

Read the rest at SB Nation Seattle.

--Kevin Cacabelos ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) 

Led by resilient quarterback Keith Price, the Washington Huskies overcame a 99-yard pick-six, an unimproved pass defense and a crucial special-teams miscue to beat Hawaii 38-30.

Price completed 18 of 25 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns but his most impressive contribution was his unflappability: after allowing a thirteen-point swing on red-zone interception returned 99 yards by safety Richard Torres, Price maintained composure and led the Dawgs to a big win.

Hawaii Warriors (1-0) @ Washington Huskies (1-0)
Saturday, 12:30 p.m., Husky Stadium, Seattle, Wash.
TV: ROOT; Radio: KJR
Line: Washington -5.5

Last season, Hawaii was supposed to be a middle-of-the-WAC team with a gimmick offense and not a whole lot else.

Enter Alex Green’s 18 scores on 8.2 yards per carry and several defensive stars’ emergence. All of a sudden, the Warriors were a complete team with 10 wins and a bright future.

Only eight starters are back from last year’s team, six of them key defenders. That means quarterback Bryant Moniz and Z receiver Royce Pollard are the only offensive holdovers, but it would be foolish to write off the Warriors on the basis of offensive inexperience: the June Jones-styled run-‘n’-shoot can put up video game numbers with any collection of warm, breathing athletes.

Hawaii dismantled Colorado last week using Moniz’ legs (14 carries, 121 yards, 3 scores) and arm (20 of 33 through the air) while holding the Buffs to just 17 yards on 28 carries.


Scouting the Warriors:

• If you haven’t read Bob Condotta’s piece on Bryant Moniz, now is the time.

• Because the Hawaii run-‘n’-shoot will always put up huge numbers through the air (see: Brennan, Colt; Chang, Timmy), adding a star tailback seems almost excessive. But 1,200-yard rusher Alex Green is gone, leaving only a few unproven backs in his wake. Joey Iosefa is a powerful runner and Sterling Jackson has excellent balance. But they’re both essentially unknown quantities as of now.

• At first glance, Hawaii’s offensive line looks suspect, as they return exactly zero starters. A second glance looks much better—four projected starters are fifth-year seniors with game experience, not quite bright-eyed redshirt freshmen. A close inspection, however, reveals a ragtag bunch of former practice-squadders and JUCO transfers that, while experienced, lack any sort of pedigree. But it’s not like they have to protect Moniz for more than two seconds at a time.

• The defensive, led by stud tackles Vaughn Meatoga and Kaniela Tuipulotu and end Paipai Falemalu, is a gap-filling, run-stuffing, quarterback-assaulting group. Two more starter-caliber tackles sit behind Meatoga and Tuipulotu—can’t think of the last time Hawaii had an embarrassment of riches at any defensive position. Colorado rushed 28 times for 17 yards last week.

• First-team All-WAC Corey Paredes and Aaron Brown combine to form one of the WAC’s better linebacker combinations. Safety Richard Torres leads a fast if inexperienced secondary that must replace a bunch of the 23 interceptions that were good for second in the country last season. All in all, the defense doesn’t look much worse than last year’s outstanding unit.

Three choppy sentences of analysis and some numbers:

Hawaii historically has trouble playing on the mainland. BUT, the Husky secondary has started to break while it’s bending. THUS, Moniz puts up pinball numbers.

UH 56, UW 42

I'll be writing a weekly column about the Huskies throughout the football season at SB Nation Seattle. This week I examined the defense and tried to find out reasons why it got beat up so badly against an FCS team. It's my impression that the inexperience in the secondary, coupled with the absence of Quinton Richardson made it difficult for the team to defend against such a pass-heavy offense. Who's to blame? It has to be Husky defensive coordinator Nick Holt. Has he really ever been able to stop the spread offense in his time at UW?

The secondary played terrible, the defensive line created zero pressure on Eagles quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, and Washington defensive coordinator Nick Holt was not successful in scheming or preparing his team to face Eastern Washington's spread offense. What the hell happened to the defense that suffocated the Nebraska Cornhuskers and led the Huskies to a Holiday Bowl victory last season? 

Read the rest at SB Nation Seattle.

With the college football season kicking off in full effect today, I will attempt to take a shot at predicting the 2011 season for the Washington Huskies. I say attempt because in reality a prediction is like walking into my one year old son’s room at night when he is crying. It can be both an adventure, a joke, a disaster and frightening – all at the same time. Imagine me, tired and eyes adjusting to the dark, tripping over laundry baskets or toy cars, reaching for anything to soothe the young Elsner. In the end, all I get out of is a battered sense of self. Just like predictions.

Take last year’s BCS game for example. After surveying predictions pre-2010, I saw Ohio State most often in the title game. Their opponent ranged from Boise State to Georgia (who finished 5-7). I couldn’t find anyone who picked Auburn to play Oregon. No one.

Bark for Sark

Yet the beginning of a season brings feelings of optimism, joy, excitement and anticipation. Everyone has a shot. Everyone can be a national champion. Well, everyone but the Cougs. They won’t win anything until they fire Paul Wulff. Five wins in three years? That is even worse than Tyrone Willingham.

Eastern Washington Eagles (0-0) @ Washington Huskies (0-0)
Saturday, 4 p.m., Husky Stadium, Seattle, Wash.
TV: ROOT; Radio: 950 KJR
Line: Washington -18.5

It’s been approximately 246 days, 1 hour and 13 minutes since Chris Polk’s 11-yard run in the fourth quarter’s waning moments sealed a Husky victory in the 2010 Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. I’d say it’s time for Husky football.

Eastern is the defending FCS National Champion. In a BCS context, this means less than the word “discretion” means to Nevin Shapiro. Not discrediting the achievement as it’s in no way a simple one, but Texas A&M 63, Stephen F. Austin 3 happens a thousand times for every Appalachian State win over Michigan in the Big House. The Huskies are coming off a strong, focused camp and want nothing more than to start 1-0 for the first time since 2007.

Scouting the Eagles:

• Head coach Beau Baldwin looks exactly like I would imagine the head coach of Eastern Washington University to look.

• Star tailback Taiwan Jones is gone, but senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell isn’t sweating it. The Eagles’ offense actually performed better when Jones missed last year’s semifinal and championship games with a hamstring injury, as Mitchell threw for a combined 594 yards and 7 touchdowns. Lindy’s preseason pick for FCS Offensive Player of the Year figures to have a bigger role as a passer without Jones and as such rededicated himself to film and conditioning this offseason. Mitchell is in his fourth year as a starter, including two years at Southern Methodist. (Jones, meanwhile, ran the 40 in about half a second and is now with—go figure—the Oakland Raiders.)

• Wideout Brandon Kaufman has quite a rapport with Mitchell. The 6-foot-5 junior joins his quarterback on the watch list for the Walter Payton Award, which is awarded to the top offensive player in FCS. That said, Desmond Trufant should have no trouble keeping Kaufman away from jump balls. 

• Here’s a nugget: Bo Levi’s brother Cory Mitchell is a true freshman wideout moving up the Eagles’ depth chart. But—and herein lies the nugget—Cory is two years older! The elder Mitchell enrolled at Eastern after a few years of nine-to-fiving at AT&T. (This would make more financial sense if he had gone to, say, Miami, but hey, a kid’s gotta chase his dreams.) 

• Defensive tackle Renard Williams is a beast. I honestly can’t put it any better than The Pacific Northwest Inlander did:  

“Williams stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 305 pounds, give or take a
ham sandwich. Basically, he’s a refrigerator with legs that move
with bizarre speed and quickness for a man his size.”

   The fifth-year senior is a consensus preseason FCS All-American and, barring
   death, disease and damnation, will hear his name called come April. 

• The Eagles’ cornerback situation is an interesting one. They not only lost both starters (graduation) and a key reserve (quit school and left the team), but even their damn cornerbacks coach bolted for Idaho. Their starters this year are a running back and a basketball player, and yet they just might be better than last season. Former West Seattle tailback T.J. Lee III and former Eagles starting two-guard Alden Gibbs were both resplendent in the spring games, apparently parlaying tournament experience into improvement. Huh. To be fair, former Husky safety Nate Williams was a running back at Kennedy and I believe former Husky cornerback Nate Robinson played basketball at some point... 

• Strong safety Matt Johnson is a dominant FCS force. I’m truly interested to see how Jesse Callier matches up against him. Free safety Jeff Minnerly is a junior finance major with a 3.83 GPA. Yeah, like that means anything.

   /Bitter pre-med

• Center Chris Powers joins Kaufman, Williams and Johnson as Athlon preseason first-team All-Americans. Powers has 27 career starts. The left side of the offensive line is decent, but watch SDE Hau’oli Jamora manhandle junior RT Will Post when DT Everrette Thompson or Sione Potoa’e draws a double team. 

• Taiwan Jones wasn’t the only big loss from last year’s team—linebacker J.C. Sherritt won the 2010 Buck Buchanan Award for FCS’ top defensive player. Star linebacker Zach Johnson moves from the weakside to repace Sherritt in the middle, but keep a keen eye on OLBs Grant Williams and Bobby Gentry.  

• Jones’ replacements at tailback are untested. Speedy sophomore Mario Brown performed modestly when Jones missed time with the hamstring injury. Former Husky Demetrius Bronson and senior special teams dynamo Darriell Beaumonte are the bruisers. Eastern’s focus is clearly on passing. 

• I would give a little rundown of all the local players on the EWU roster, but, predictably, they’re all local. Instead, I’ll direct you straight to the roster itself.

Three Choppy Sentences of Analysis and Some Numbers:

Eastern can beat the pacifier out of college football’s kids’ table. BUT, the Dawgs aren’t going to start 0-1 all-time against FCS opponents. THUS, the Kasen Williams highlight reel starts tonight.

UW 41, EWU 27

You're the man now, David Shaw.

1. Stanford, 12-1 (9-0), L in National Championship. Last year: 12-1 (8-1)

Forget Jim Harbaugh. Forget Owen Marecic and last year’s wideouts. This Stanford team has too much talent, too much depth and too much Andrew Luck for the Pac-12. (But not for Oklahoma.)
Key to the season: WR Chris Owusu’s health.

2. Oregon, 12-1 (8-1), W in Rose Bowl. Last year: 12-1 (9-0)

The Ducks have enough top-end talent to balance their off-field distractions AND losses of three seniors on both lines and their Casey Matthews/Spencer Paysinger linebacking combo.
Key to the season: Coach Chip Kelly’s motivational skills.
 

3. Utah, 9-4 (7-2), L in Alamo Bowl. Last year: 10-3 (7-1)

This squad is easily capable of taking head coach Kyle Whittingham to his seventh consecutive bowl appearance since taking over the program in 2004. Offensive coordinator Norm Chow implemented a pro-style offense this year, which fits third-year starting QB Jordan Wynn’s skills fairly well.
Key to the season: Pass rush’s ability to overcome four new faces in the defensive backfield.

The last time the Washington Huskies started a season with a game they were expected to win was the first game of the Jake Locker era.

Now, four years later, as the Huskies get ready to usher in the Keith Price era, they'll be facing another opponent they should be able to handle.