University of Washington Start Petersen Era With A Very Winnable Game At Hawaii

#25 Washington Huskies (0-0) at Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (0-0)

Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI

August 30, 2014

Kickoff: 10:30 pm ET

TV: CBS Sports Network

Series History

Fifth Meeting All-Time (Series Tied 2-2)

At Hawaii: Series Tied 1-1

2013 Team Statistics:

Washington (9-4)

Points Scored: 493 (37.9 per game)

Points Allowed: 297 (22.8 per game)

Offense

Passing Yards: 3,384 (260.3 per game)

Rushing Yards: 3,107 (239.0 per game)

Play Calling

Pass: 40.4%

Rush: 59.6%

Defense

Passing Yards Allowed: 2,954 (227.2 per game)

Rushing Yards Allowed: 2,097 (161.3 per game)

Hawaii (1-11)

Points Scored: 329 (27.4 per game)

Points Allowed: 465 (38.8 per game)

Offense

Passing Yards: 3,617 (301.4 per game)

Rushing Yards: 1,375 (114.6 per game)

Play Calling

Pass: 54.8%

Rush: 45.2%

Defense

Passing Yards Allowed: 3,373 (281.1 per game)

Rushing Yards Allowed: 2,563 (213.6 per game)

The newest era of football at the University of Washington begins on Saturday night as the Huskies travel to Honolulu, Hawaii to face off with the University of Hawaii at Aloha Stadium; Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time and the game will be broadcast nationally on the CBS Sports Network. The Steve Sarkisian era ends after five pretty successful seasons by current UDub standards. Though the team was nowhere near a National Championship contender, they were able to get back into the bowl picture for the first time since Rick Neuheisel left in 2002.

Sarkisian left the team better than how he found it when he took the job at USC in December of 2013 but the fans were very nervous about the next step of the program. Coming off of four consecutive bowl games, the next hire would need to be someone who could elevate the program to the next level, challenging for the Rose Bowl on a yearly basis. Enter Chris Petersen.

The 49-year-old coach from Yuba City, California did not hesitate in accepting the job just a few days after Sarkisian left for USC. He inherits a very talented cupboard of players at the skill positions as well as an experience group of players on both the offensive and defensive line. Moreover, he will also have the backing of a very excited yet hungry fan base who are longing for a return to glory.

One of the things that is exciting for the fans is that Petersen has a chance to make the University of Washington relevant in the college football world again. This team used to be feared from the late 1970s through the early 2000s. In recent times, though poor coaching hires which led to poor recruiting led to an awful stretch of five years where the Huskies won 12 games.

If anybody is able to bring the football program back to where it belongs, it is Chris Petersen. A man who won 92 games in eight seasons as the head coach at Boise State University. His teams won five conference championships in those eight seasons and made two BCS Bowl appearances (2006 and 2009). That was with the Boise State Broncos. Now Petersen is running with the Dawgs in the Emerald City.

What makes this writer excited about the Petersen era is his ability to find that “diamond in the rough” recruit that gets overlooked by the big schools. Case in point former Bronco quarterback Kellen Moore. Moore grew up in a small community in eastern Washington State called Prosser. For those who do not know in Prosser, football is the most important thing along with their annual Balloon Rally.

Moore’s father Tom was the head coach at Prosser High School from 1986 through 2008. Kellen entered as a freshman in 2003 and by his sophomore year in 2004, he was running the offense. He earned Mid-Valley League player of the year honors in each of his last three seasons with the Mustangs. His career numbers though were stunning as Moore graduated with the State records for completions and touchdown passes.

He finished high school with a stat line that put video game quarterbacks to shame, completing 787 of 1,195 passes for 11,367 yards with 173 touchdowns and 34 interceptions. In fact, Moore played twice against this writer's alma mater during those days combining to go 23 of 42 for 390 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions in two Prosser wins, both blowouts.

Despite all of his success, he received few scholarship offers (Idaho, Eastern Michigan and Eastern Washington) but he did receive the right one. That being from Chris Petersen at Boise State. The rest is history now as Moore redshirted during his freshman year before becoming a four-year starter who finished with a 50-3 record while completing 1,157 of 1,658 passes for 14,666 yards with 143 touchdowns and 28 interceptions.

The potential for Petersen to find a Kellen Moore-type diamond in the rough makes this writer extremely excited for the future of Husky Football.

Before we can get to all of the future excitement, we need to focus on the task at hand and that is winning football games. Petersen does have a great track record but as of now he has won nothing with the University of Washington. That can change on Saturday as the Huskies face a familiar foe for Coach Pete in the University of Hawaii.

Petersen has faced the Rainbow Warriors six times in his brief coaching career but holds a 5-1 record against them including a 2-1 record at Aloha Stadium. He has a personal four-game winning inline against Hawaii but has only met one time against current coach Norm Chow. That one ended with a 49-14 score in favor of Petersen’s Boise State.

Sophomore quarterback Jeff Lindquist will make his first start for the purple-and-gold after beating out redshirt freshman Troy Williams in fall practice. Lindquist was originally penciled in as the back-up coming in to 2014 but projected starter Cyler Miles was suspended for one game for his role in a post-Super Bowl assault with former teammate Damore’ea Stringfellow. Lindquist does have some experience as he made three appearances in mop-up duty during blowout wins over Idaho State, Colorado and Oregon State in 2013.

It is not expected that Petersen will have to make too many adjustments to the offense for Lindquist due to his athletic abilities. Though he is 6-foot-3 and 246 pounds, he still is pretty fast with a good instinct for running the ball. He actually finished his high school career at Mercer Island High with 2,520 rushing yards.

What will be interesting to look for in this first game of the season is the balance of play-calling from the new Huskies staff. Last season the offense ran the ball six out of every ten snaps. That is not surprising considering how good Bishop Sankey was in 2013 but now Dwayne Washington looks to be the man who will see a majority of the carries.

Don’t forget too that the Huskies are loaded at Wide Receiver. They return second leading receiver junior Jaydon Mickens, speedster true sophomore John Ross and senior Kasen Williams, who is back to 100% after suffering a foot/lower leg injury that forced him to miss the last half of the season.

As good as the offense is for Washington in 2014, they may be even better on defense. The defense actually contains both the strongest and weakest parts of the team in the eyes of many fans. Their front seven is loaded with leadership and experience. Five of the players listed in starting positions on the depth chart are seniors including all four on the defensive line. Senior Hau’oli Kikaha is the speed rusher off the end who will be expected to cause pressure on the opposing quarterback while big senior Danny Shelton (6-foot-2, 339 pounds) will be the man to plug up the running lanes.

If teams are able to get past the defensive line then they will run into a hard-hitting line backing corps that is not afraid to lay the hammer down when necessary. They are led by senior John Timu and junior Shaq Thompson who converted to linebacker after playing his freshman year at safety. The two have combined for 372 tackles during their time with the Huskies.

Finally though we get to the portion of the team that makes the fans nervous. The defensive secondary graduated three of the four starters which could be a bad thing considering the abundance of the spread passing game that is making a home in college football. Washington does have a very interesting player in true freshman safety Budda Baker from nearby Bellevue High. From all accounts, this kid is the real deal and could play sort of an Earl Thomas-type role as the “center fielder” of the defensive secondary.

It will be a very winnable game for the Huskies and one they should win over a team in Hawaii that has struggled during their two seasons under Norm Chow. They have a combined record of 4-20 during that time and it took them until their final game of the year in 2013 to earn their first victory.

Chow has done a good job in changing Hawaii from the pass-only offense of the past into a more balanced side of late. They actually run the ball 428 times in 2013 which was a number that may have taken three or four seasons back in the gun-slinger days.

His biggest challenge right now is trying to stop opposing offenses; something that Hawaii has always had a problem with. It is reaching a critical level though under Chow as his teams have allowed 893 points (37.2 per game) during his two years. They have also allowed 10,406 total yards (433.6 per game) in that same time-frame.

Hawaii brought in a new defensive coordinator from Utah State during the off-season, Kevin Clune comes over after coaching the linebackers for the Aggies during the past five years. One of the biggest changes that will be seen is the shift from the 4-3 to the 3-4 defense that should allow Hawaii to get some more speed on the field.

Projected Starting Lineups

Prediction

University of Washington 38, University of Hawaii 14