DawgmanRadio: Jimmy Lake thankful Washington will play Utah

It's been a whirlwind of emotions since Washington downed Arizona 44-27 last Saturday. Rumblings before the game were that the Apple Cup, scheduled for Friday, was in jeopardy due to a COVID-19 outbreak within that program and sure enough, on Sunday, the game was cancelled the very next day.That's when Washington athletic director Jen Cohen and he staff went to work trying to find an opponent for the Huskies to play this weekend. According to Jimmy Lake, who met with the media following Wednesday's practice, there were four opponents lined up, but Washington's preference has always been to play a conference opponent, so he and the staff began preparing for Utah and their gamble paid off when it was announced that the Huskies would host the Utes on Saturday night as a replacement for their cancelled game with the Cougars.Lake said that the respect for Kyle Whittingham and the rest of the Ute football program runs deep within Washington's program and he knows they will be well-coached and ready to play on Saturday night. His team will not take them lightly and will be ready to go as well.Asked about redshirt freshman wide receiver Puke Nacua who had a game-changing 65-yard touchdown catch and run early in the game, Lake said the Utah native has a big body and is a tough matchup for opposing defensive backs, but that he wants him to be more consistent, noting some of the drops we've seen in the first two weeks. Once he improves in the area of consistency, Lake thinks he'll be a tough player to stop.