DawgmanRadio: Sorting out a tough loss to Stanford

It was deja vu all over again, according to Yogi Berra. Not only did Washington fall into a 21-point halftime hole for the second week in a row, but they just couldn’t figure the Stanford Cardinal out on either side of the ball - much like it was last year.And even though the Washington offense finally got on track in the second half, it was not enough to overcome mistakes in all three phases. The result? A 31-26 win for Stanford, their eighth win in the last 10 games against the Huskies, as well as Jimmy Lake’s first loss as UW’s head coach.The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - work their way through the game from the start, beginning with the defense’s inability to get off the field. Stanford was 10-13 on third downs, and even when they had very good chances at the end of the game to get the ball back and pull out another miracle come-from-behind win, the Cardinal simply made plays when they had to.The guys also talked about Washington’s inability to set the tone at the line of scrimmage, their difficulty on setting the edge and getting off blockers. Those things proved costly, because UW was not able to force a successful third down stop into a punt until there was 14 seconds left in the third quarter. We're seeing guys like Zion Tupuola-Fetui and Sav'ell Smalls take their lumps and grow up right in front of our eyes, just like Joe Tryon last year. Edefuan Ulofoshio led the Huskies again with 18 monster tackles, but he was visibly frustrated in how the game unfolded. With his heart on his sleeve, he pointed to the unit’s lack of belief in their film study and preparation that slowed down their attempts to keep the Cardinal at bay. The guys talked about the play at all three levels and what needs to get done for UW to turn this learning experience into a lesson they can take with them to Eugene next weekend.They also talked about the offense, how the running backs were used (or not used), the absence of Terrell Bynum and Puka Nacua, and the reaction to the sudden change play that found them at the Stanford 10-yard line with a chance to potentially tie the game with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter.