ASU Football: Q&A with UW Dawg Pound

Arizona State (6-3, 4-2 Pac-12) heads to Seattle to take on a spiraling Washington (4-5, 3-3) program. The Huskies won’t have their head coach Jimmy Lake, who is suspended for this game after hitting his own player during a loss to Oregon last week. Washington also will debut interim offensive coordinator Junior Adams following the firing of John Donovan.

We wanted a better idea of what was truly going on in the Pacific Northwest. We asked John Sayler of UW Dawg Pound about the Huskies.

Brady Vernon: What do you want to see from the Washington offense the rest of the season after the coordinator change? Is any life good enough? Players you want to see have moments?

John Sayler: There are rumblings that freshman Sam Huard may get the start this week at QB, and that would at least get people excited. Dylan Morris has been inconsistent this season, and he is actually trending downward the past few games. Every fan hopes that a coaching change, or making a move at QB will be the answer to an anemic offense, but it is never that simple.

The offensive line needs to play better if this offense is to click, but some conversions in the passing game on manageable 3^rd downs would go a long way in improving the outlook of the entire offense.

The player I would most want to see have “a moment” (or many, many moments) would definitely be Huard. All season I have been wondering if Morris is really the best UW has to run out there at quarterback. It would be great to find out Huard just wasn’t quite ready early on this season, and that he is the man going forward.

BV: Who are your favorite Washington defenders to watch?

JS: Kyler Gordon and Trent McDuffie are the starting Husky corners, and those guys are fun to watch for sure. Both are excellent open field tacklers, and in coverage they are not giving up much at all this year. Even with the safety play not being great this season for UW, and the pass rush often lacking, having the duo McDuffie and Gordon on the outside has helped Washington to the best passing defense in the conference this season.

BV: Jimmy Lake’s future is in question, and say if Washington decides to move on, any coach you’d like to see as the next head man in Seattle?

JS: It looks pretty likely that Lake is out either in the immediate future, or after the season. Pac-12 insider Jon Wilner thinks it will be Justin Wilcox from Cal returning to UW, and there are a few other rumors. I have no idea who it will be, I just hope whoever it is has the proper temperament to be a leader and a head coach. Lake is proving to be kind of a hard guy to like. UW made a bad choice, and they need to get it right this time.

BV: In your honest opinion what do you make of the Herm Edwards Arizona State era as an outside perspective?

JS: Up and down. I would always have no idea what kind of a season ASU would be having. Ranked at one point, then playing as poorly as anyone in the conference. I think most people like Edwards’ personality, but since the Sun Devils were not really ever able to win consistently under him, my takeaway is that he was a strange choice that may not ultimately work out.

BV: Score prediction and why?

JS: ASU 23, UW 19.

Arizona State has looked better this year in my opinion, and in a defensive struggle with field goals aplenty, the Sun Devils outlast the sputtering Dawgs.

Read our answers to their questions here.