Tell me about Washington

We SHOULD win comfortably, but I don't think it's going to be that easy. Peterson is a heck of an offensive mind, and Browning is an above average qb. If we were totally healthy I would be betting for us to cover, but we aren't. The only way I see us blowing them out is if our offense plays up to their capability and we can stop them from dinking and dunking the field. I have little doubt we win but I'm expecting right now it to be a 24-14 kinda game

You will crush them. ;-)

Gaskin is a very good tailback. Rushed for 1000+ the last two years and has shown a great ability as a pass catcher. Ross and Pettis are as good of a WR combo as we've seen this year so far. Defense is solid but they're missing their best pass rusher...have to blitz to get pressure, maybe a thing to exploit.

Petersen is probably the third best coach in the nation under this decade-plus Saban+Meyer hegemony in my estimation. I think we should be cautious because Petersen has shown himself to be a great bowl game coach. Much like Jim McElwain, he uses formations and personnel to get you mismatched or misaligned in the front. He'll likely have to do this to manufacture run-pass balance...he's going to look for ways to get our front out of sorts and run wide on us. Ross has flat out "burn ya" speed which is a concern if he gets a good move off the line of scrimmage.

I've heard it's a beautiful state, but rains a lot.Seriously though, I'm really not worried because I know CNS will have our guys prepared. That other semifinal though is going to be fun, but I don't see how Washington can score enough to beat us.

I do think they can do enough offensive to make it important that our offense plays better than they have for stretches over the last month. Like I said above, Petersen will have some formation/personnel stuff to get us in some bad looks for what they're trying to do. Think back to the game yesterday, if Florida had just a bit better QB play then that is a entirely different game. Browning is the best QB we've played so far this season.

The USC game is an encouraging sign for us. UDub got flat out-physical'd on both side of the line of scrimmage. But Petersen is bright and knows that is a similar situation for him in the Peach Bowl and will likely have some things to diminish that as much as possible.

Unless our offense plays terribly for four quarters, no one is going to beat this team. Our defense is too good.

Browning doesn't have a live arm. He's not Chad Kelly. Their run game will do zip. They have a decent D line and good DBs, but. I expect Bama to be able to run on them. The offensive game plan will be more like MSU in that we will do more side to side stuff.

From the little bits and pieces I've seen from Washington this year, I think we match up well against them. They aren't a straight drop back passing team, but Browning is much more apt to use his arm rather than his legs to beat you. They have very good receivers and Gaskin is a solid RB. That said, I think we match up pretty well (assuming secondary is healed up, minus Eddie) and should be able to limit them.

Defensively, they are good but I don't think they have faced an offense that is as well rounded as ours can be. We should be able to move the ball on them.

Biggest concern is Petersen. He's a very good coach. He will have them prepared. Based on his years with Boise, he has a knack for using trick plays at the perfect time for maximum effect. I think we'll see a few of those.

Overall, I think its a Bama win, but I don't anticipate the same MSU style beat down from last year.

Check out Boise State back when Peterson was coaching them. This is BSU 2.0 with power 5 backing. Fast, athletic team that's a bit undersized and a QB with an above average arm.

Chris Peterson is a very good coach. He will have his team ready to play. At Boise they never lost season openers to better opponents. Not sure if they even lost a bowl game to a better team ask OK.

This will be Michigan State v2.0 and the score will be similar. Conner Cook was an NFL QB and we made him look pedestrian. Browning is another one of these statue pocket passers that we tend to close the door on and Washington hasn't faced a DL like they'll face with us either. Colorado was getting a lot of pressure on Browning in that last game. If Colorado did it, we'll do it in spades.

I'm sorry, but this game will be a blowout. Washington might score around 14 points, but we'll score 35+.

And while Peterson might be a good Coach, we have Saban and I'll take Saban every single time.

tidefanbeezer said:

Biggest concern is Petersen. He's a very good coach. He will have them prepared. Based on his years with Boise, he has a knack for using trick plays at the perfect time for maximum effect. I think we'll see a few of those.

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Spot on there. Let us not forget the upset Boise State pulled off against Big 12 champ Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.

Connor Cook was a career 57.5% passer who made up for it by being a solid TD/INT ratio QB in his three years as Michigan State's starter.

Jake Browning is a career 63% passer who has a 42/7 TD/INT ratio this year.


This is a night and day comparison. Browning is the best QB we've seen since Watson in the championship last season and one of the better passers we've seen in Saban's tenure.

I've never seen this mentioned here...Jonah Williams and Jake Browning were high school teammates at Folsom HS (CA).

And I don't think you can compare his Boise State teams to this Washington team. Boise State had a lot of those 2-3 Star players and these players tend to overperform their potential and play hard every single game. Especially when its well coached. Keep in mind, I'm not saying that isn't happening at Washington right now, but then again, I'm not saying it is because its yet to be seen. Far too many times we see teams with lots of talent and 4 and 5 Star athletes fall on their collective faces. It takes a certain type of coach to reel in these types of Alpha athletes for a long standing consistent basis. In the end, maybe Washington has staying power, but then again, one could say that Washington is the product of a down PAC 12. Proof is in the pudding and only time will tell, but I'm not ready to say that this Washington team is comparable to his Boise State teams, because one thing Boise State had going for them, was being David vs the Goliath and they played that role better then anyone during that tenure. Washington isn't a David, its a Goliath. We'll see if Peterson can handle being the Goliath over the long haul. Its a lot harder then being David.

Loam said:

This will be Michigan State v2.0 and the score will be similar. Conner Cook was an NFL QB and we made him look pedestrian. Browning is another one of these statue pocket passers that we tend to close the door on and Washington hasn't faced a DL like they'll face with us either. Colorado was getting a lot of pressure on Browning in that last game. If Colorado did it, we'll do it in spades.

I'm sorry, but this game will be a blowout. Washington might score around 14 points, but we'll score 35+.

And while Peterson might be a good Coach, we have Saban and I'll take Saban every single time.

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If we had Jake Coker or jalen had 2 years under his belt I would agree. If Coker didn't stretch the field with his arm we probably still have an undecided game in the 4th of the msu game because until he started hitting Ridley they were stacking the box on Henry. I think we win but nothing of epic proportions. Keep in mind we don't have Eddie or dion so who knows how we will do against a determined passing game.

rgw said:

Connor Cook was a career 57.5% passer who made up for it by being a solid TD/INT ratio QB in his three years as Michigan State's starter.

Jake Browning is a career 63% passer who has a 42/7 TD/INT ratio this year.


This is a night and day comparison. Browning is the best QB we've seen since Watson in the championship last season and one of the better passers we've seen in Saban's tenure.

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PAC 12 plays zero defense. As an example, take your pick in the Big 12 and you'll find some QB's in that conference with even better statistics then Browning. It doesn't however mean that they'd be the best QB we faced since Watson.

rgw said:

Connor Cook was a career 57.5% passer who made up for it by being a solid TD/INT ratio QB in his three years as Michigan State's starter.

Jake Browning is a career 63% passer who has a 42/7 TD/INT ratio this year.


This is a night and day comparison. Browning is the best QB we've seen since Watson in the championship last season and one of the better passers we've seen in Saban's tenure.

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A lot of his stats might have come from cupcakes such as Portland State etc. I have to admit I have only seen the Colorado game, but I wasn't impressed with him.

81usaf92 said:

If we had Jake Coker or jalen had 2 years under his belt I would agree. If Coker didn't stretch the field with his arm we probably still have an undecided game in the 4th of the msu game because until he started hitting Ridley they were stacking the box on Henry. I think we win but nothing of epic proportions. Keep in mind we don't have Eddie or dion so who knows how we will do against a determined passing game.

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The back ups for Eddie and Dion that we put on the field against UDub will still be better then any defender they have faced at that position this season. That is putting things into perspective.