Huskies coach Jimmy Lake following 0-2 start: ‘The improvement needs to happen now’
There was an urgency for this Washington football team — and particularly this Huskies offense — to show quick improvement last week.
When coach Jimmy Lake spoke to reporters late last Monday morning, two days after UW scored only one touchdown and dropped a shocking season-opening loss to FCS opponent Montana, this was his message: “We know we did not give a performance that was Husky football, and we apologize for that, and we’re going back to work to correct that,” he said.
The Huskies, who entered that game ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press’ preseason poll, scored with ease on their opening drive, and seemed on their way to what many predicted would be a convincing season-opening win.
But, the offense was stagnant the rest of the way, and they never scored again. Outside of that first drive, which produced nearly half of their rushing yards, the Huskies were mostly inefficient on the ground, finishing with 65 yards on 27 carries. They had a bit more success through the air, with quarterback Dylan Morris finishing 27-of-46 passing for 226 yards, but Montana also tallied three interceptions, including one on UW’s final drive to close out the upset win. The Huskies’ experience and touted offensive line also allowed three sacks of Morris.
Still, as deflating as that loss was, it seemed a win on the road against Michigan, or even a more competitive performance in one of the most intimidating settings in college football in Ann Arbor, may have gone a long way to soften the early questions about this Huskies offense.
But, two more quarters passed without a score for the Huskies at Michigan Stadium, three more passed without a touchdown, and Michigan ran away with a 31-10 win, sending the Huskies to an 0-2 record for the first time since their winless 2008 season. And again, the Huskies’ offense looked sluggish for most of the contest, managing 50 rushing yards on 32 attempts. Morris was 20-of-37 for 293 yards and UW’s one touchdown, on a 22-yard pass to Terrell Bynum in the fourth, but that offensive surge happened too late, with Michigan’s offense completely controlling the run game on its way to 343 yards and four scores. The offensive line again struggled to control the line of scrimmage, and Morris was sacked four times.
It was about as troubling a two-game offensive performance the Huskies could have had to open this season.
So, when Monday morning rolled back around, Lake again emphasized the Huskies’ need for results with one more nonconference matchup against Arkansas State coming up this Saturday, and nine games of Pac-12 play on the horizon.
“The positive thing is we have lots of football left to play,” Lake said. “Our players are in good spirits. They know we haven’t played our best football. We’ve put a lot of work in in the offseason to become confident, and to put all of our packages together in all three phases. For these first couple weeks we haven’t played our best, and our players know that, and our coaches know that. That is the exciting thing for us — we know there is a lot of room for improvement.
“But, the improvement needs to happen now. All the work we’ve been doing needs to show up with the results on game day.”
Lake spent much of Monday again owning the responsibility for the two early losses, and redirecting any blame for UW’s struggles toward himself.
“Everything goes through me first, OK? If you want to pin blame, just put my name on the article,” he said when asked about how UW’s offensive scheme is decided. “I’m the one to blame.
“But, as we meet in there, it’s collaborative and we’re trying to put our players in the best position possible to be successful. On offense, defense and special teams. If there’s any negative things that come of that, blame me.”
When asked about the Huskies’ play-calling, this was Lake’s response: “Again, this comes back on me now,” he said. “We’ve only scored 17 points in two games. So, I would say it’s not very good right now, and that starts with me. So, we’ve got to give our guys a better play. We’ve got to be able to move the ball quicker, and start faster, and give our guys confidence.”
When asked about UW’s fan base’s criticisms of offensive coordinator John Donovan, his response: “We need all this work that we’ve been doing, all the positive mojo that we’ve had coming out of spring football, coming out of training camp, a lot of the positive stuff we saw happening in practice, shoot, a lot of stuff that we did in 2020 — that’s not showing up in these last two weeks,” he said. “I understand the frustration, but it’s our jobs to now get our offense going and show results, and it needs to start this Saturday.”
When asked about how close he thinks this offense is to reaching its potential: “It could happen right now,” he said. “There’s no question. Because we were just doing it coming out of training camp. It should have happened two weeks ago, and it didn’t, and that’s on me. All the work we’ve been putting in we need to see some results and we need to see results quickly.”
It remains somewhat puzzling the Huskies haven’t seen much offensive production thus far, given that they had some success with their current scheme in 2020, and that they return a lot of key personnel. When the season began, Lake pointed to this offensive line, which returns four starters who were All-Pac-12 performers last season, and all of its scholarship players to its room, as a strength of this team. Morris also has experience, returning for his second season as UW’s starter. The running backs room has four returners who have had significant carries in their careers. UW’s tight ends group also has experience and depth, led by All-Pac-12 performer Cade Otton. The Huskies’ wideouts have less experience, and early injuries have impacted who has started the first two games, but they did return Bynum, their most tenured receiver, against Michigan.
“We have a quality roster, we have talented players, and we need to put these guys in position to go out there and make plays and move the football,” Lake said.
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Huskies coach Jimmy Lake following 0-2 start: ‘The improvement needs to happen now’."
