All Episodes

October 29, 2024 37 mins
In the first hour, Dave Softy Mahler is joined by Mario Bailey and Greg Lewis for The Husky Honks as the guys discuss the loss to Indiana, offensive line issues, Demond Williams’ use, who will be key to beating USC, and what the Trojans are bringing here.
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Your Home for the Huskies probably presents the Coors Light
Husky Honks on Tuesdays, powered by Emerald Queen, Casino, Setter Medals,
Seeks Pizza by UA Local thirty two Hider Construction by
Zoom Care, R and R Foundation Specialists, your Northwest Chevy Dealers,
and by Darwin Natural Pet Food. Now the Husky Honks,

(00:25):
Great Lewis, Mario Bailey, and your host Dave Suffi Muller.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
All right, here we go on a Tuesday afternoon, normally
at three o'clock or four o'clock. Excuse me, but because
Ian Farness apparently is too important to do a radio
show on today, he's got to work TV for hockey,
We're sitting.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Here from noon to one doing the Husky Honks.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Show, painting this Crimson and gray bucket purple and gold
for the next hour or so. Mario Bailey, Greg Lewis,
Dave Softie Maler, Husky Hanks talking football after guys, yet
another loss on the road. The Huskies just continue to
outgain their opponents. They continue to put themselves in a
position to win these road games, but they continue to

(01:04):
fall short. Greg Lewis, let's start with you man and
just get your thoughts on what has been a very
frustrating four and four start for this football team.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Well, first of all, I'm getting tired of the nine
a m. Besky football kickoffs in Seattle. It's ridiculous. I mean,
with this new conference alignment, I understood there were going
to be things and challenges like this. And I'm not
making excuses for the dogs. Obviously, some of my preseason
thoughts around us not really being that you know, deep

(01:35):
and talented upfront on both sides of the ball is
certainly something that's hindering us right now. Along with that, though,
you know, starting at nine am, going on the road
against teams who are fully intent on just smash mouth football.
And you know what's happened is is, you know we've
kind of held a little bit, you know until around
that halftime and then second half. That lack of depth,

(01:59):
that lack of strang the front, that lack of you know,
really solid you know, defensive linemen and offensive lineman has
shown its ugly head. And we're about where I thought
we would be, you know, a middle of the road team.
Four and four. We still have a chance to get
to a bowl game, but we're gonna have to really
play the straight mistake free football and not give anything
away in terms of turnovers and making mistakes that cost us,

(02:23):
you know, points on the boys.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, well, I mean, look, we are who we are.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
But then but the nine am kickoff thing, that's got
I just play better football, right, I mean, you play
better football and you're in a better window.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
So I like, I don't like leading the show.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Away that well, I know, but it just makes us
sound like we start to show us like that.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
I got talking about me personally getting up at six
in the morning. Yes, pregame shows and you should.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Call Jeed Fish and maybe bring Mario with you. And
so you guys got to play better so we can
get the hell out of these nine am windows. But Mario,
you said it after the Io game, Hey man, there's
things teetering on the edge of a knife. And we
go to Bloomington. They lose thirty one to seventeen. They're
four and four. They've really lost any margin for air.
What do you make out where these guys are at
after eight games, Ben.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
Well, it's disappointing to me. I didn't think we'd be
in middle of the road team. I thought we might
start off five and zero, and if we could sneak
a game against Michigan, we could sneak to six and oher.
I think we've lost three out of the last four,
and three out of those last four that have been
on the road. It doesn't seem like we're doing well
and the Big Ten. Everybody keeps saying welcome to the

(03:29):
Big Ten when we go on the road and get
our butts kicked. But I just think we're inconsistent football.
We started off the season against Weavers State and Eastern
Michigan and that was great and we got those victories.
But now it's like, you're gonna have to be consistent.
As Greg talked about, you're gonna have to have some
guys up front. Our depth is being challenged because of injuries.

(03:50):
We've already had our bye week. There's nobody coming to
save us, with Penn State, Oregon, UFC, and UCLA left
to go. Luckily for us, we have two home games
and being at home seems to make it better, as
we beat Michigan at home for our last victory. So
I'm hopeful for this team that we could sneak into
a bowl game and maybe win one of those road games.

(04:11):
In the Big Ten while we're in the Big Ten Conference.
That would be great. Even if it was beating Oregon
at Oregon, it still counts as a Big Ten victory
on the road. But we have to be consistent. We
have to figure out what our true identity is and
I think we need to run the football more. We
keep talking about Will Rogers and I still stand where
I said, like this would be the last game that

(04:33):
I would start him, and if we don't get this victory,
then I'm on to the freshman.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well, let's first of all go back to the Technically,
they do have another buy coming up before the Oregon game,
but that's like sending somebody on a vacation to Hawaii
before they go to the gallows for crying out loud, right,
Like wait to take a week off before we end
everything for you. But I mean, who knows, maybe they'll
shock the world in that game. But just going back
to the offensive line for a second, I was a
little bit taken aback. And I'm not saying that this

(04:59):
is on Jim or it's a criticism of Jed, guys,
Greg whatsoever. But he said after the game Saturday, we
still don't know who our best five offensive linemen are.
It's week ten in the college football season. I thought
by now they would maybe know that who those five
guys are. Part of that's injury, but there still is

(05:20):
a lot of tinkering going on with the offensive line,
and Mario just got done saying he'd like to run
the ball more.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Okay, that's fine, but how do you get to.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
A point where you're really balanced on both sides of
the ball when you still don't have any idea who
your best five offensive linemen are?

Speaker 4 (05:33):
Greg Well, I think that's a byproduct of not having
five guys that are healthy, five guys that have played
in this, you know, level football and experience and who
get the job done week in and week out. I
don't think that we're there, and we haven't been there
since the beginning of the year, right because we don't.

(05:53):
We didn't have a chance to recruit replace the three guys, well,
actually the five guys that we lost, but the three
that we thought were coming back, the center and the
two guards that are starting in the SEC for goodness sake,
So they were pretty good guys that we lost. And
I applaud I applaud the guys who are there playing

(06:14):
who've come up from lower divisions, who come up from
backup roles and other programs being there and doing as
good as they can. But there's a reason that they
weren't Division one starters coming into this season. And so
when your talent pool is what it is and then
you get some of those guys hurt, you're not going
to stand up in the conference like the Big Ten,

(06:36):
where they predicate, they predicate everything they do on tough
and smash mouth football. We're just not there at this
point in time. Do I think we'll get there Maybe
next year, absolutely a year after, but they didn't have
enough time and ability to get to that place this year.
And that's what I thought would be the reason we
were kind of middle of the road and it's panned out.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, Mario, how about that?

Speaker 2 (07:00):
I mean, how much is that just, for lack of
a better word, mucking everything up because you don't have
your starting five offensive lineman, you don't know who your
best five guys are, and you keep messing with the
rotation they had in the first half of that game, Mario.
On Saturday versus Indiana, they played five different offensive line combinations.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
Greg is absolutely right. It is the reason. If you
look at our last two years team, the offensive line
was the best unit. And I know we had those
receivers and Michael Pennix, but our offensive line was the
anchor to that team. For these guys to do what
they're doing at four and four and to have some
of the success they've had as a tribute to the coach,

(07:39):
like he's done a great job. Because this is a
patchwork offensive line. Will has only been sacked I think
sixteen times, like two sacks a game. You would think
they would be running loose and tearing him up against
the Iowa game. You would think it would be like
that every week. So we're fortunate enough that this offensive
line has done the job they've done. We're just hoping

(08:01):
that they can last to the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Well, I want to go back to the game on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Guys, Greg Lewis, Mario Bailey, Husky Hanks are here normally
Tuesdays four to five, but we're in for Ian Ferness
until one o'clock to the Dick fan will be here
at one. The running game, Jonah Coleman carried the ball
I believe ten times in the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
I think it was for twenty two yards.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
The Huskies had twenty carries for seventy one yards at
halftime and then carried it eleven times for forty five
yards in the second half.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
All meantime, Indiana is just pounding the ball down.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Your throat, kind of a repeat of the of the
Caleb Johnson game greg against Iowa when they just took
over at the line of scrimmage. But if you go
back to the play by play against Indiana, you're down
twenty four to fourteen, So it's a two score game
with five minutes to go in the third quarter. There's
twenty minutes left to go. At that point in the game.
You still might be able to run whatever offense you

(08:52):
want to run. It's not you know, you know, getting
to be nut cutting time, as we like to call.
There's still plenty of time left, and they really kind
of turned the ball over to will Rogers at that point.
They did run the ball with Muhammad on second down.
They ran the ball for fifteen with Coleman on first down.
They brought in de mind Williams and he lost one
on first and ten from the Indiana forty six. But
then the drive stalls at the Indiana thirty six yard

(09:16):
line and they kind of abandon the run. Now, I
don't know looking back, what the box looked like for Indiana,
what they were doing defensively, and do you believe Greg
they got away from the run a little bit too
early on Saturday, And.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
You can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seemed
like the series before that is when they tried to
go with a couple back to back passes and lost
some yards on first and second down.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
So the series before that was after Jacob Bandits' pick
that was a four play drive.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
That led to the touchdown.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah right, Okay, Yeah, I do think there was a
time where we could have stuck with the run game
and been more consistent and on first and second down especially,
and because we were having success and Joonah Coleman was
kind of in that rhythm and we've heard coach say
he was healthy er this week and he's been pretty
much all season. So I think there was a drive

(10:05):
where on first and second down we threw the ball
kind of put us behind and then we ended up
having the punt. And now you're down two scores with
probably about fourteen to fifteen minutes to go, and now
you got to make up that time, so you get
into that passing mode. So yeah, I think there was
a series where we probably abandoned a run a little
too soon. And again, those are things that you want

(10:26):
to have back. But coaches are looking at the defense
trying to understand where they can make a play, seeing
where they may have an advantage. So again, unless I
could go back and look at, you know, the fronts
of those particular times, but I do think there was
more room to continue to run the ball for sure.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Mario, what do you think that that point in time
in the game, because remember there was a there was
a sequence here where from the seven thirty one mark
of the second quarter to the five to zero three
mark of the third quarter, so over seventeen minutes of
clock time. By the way, Okay, the Hawskis had the
ball for four plays, and those four plays came after
the interception that led to much down in the short field,

(11:01):
so they couldn't even get off the field because the
defense has given up just these insanely long drives. I mean, Mario,
my god, Indiana had a what do they have? They
had a nineteen play drive, They had a fourteen play
drive that took up over an entire quarter of clock
time and the offense just cannot get back on the field.
So when they did get the ball back finally they're

(11:23):
down ten, did they maybe get away from number one
a little bit too quickly?

Speaker 5 (11:27):
Without question, I got away from him too early if
you look at the first half and what he did,
like it's been the same. It's been that way the
entire season. Like, you have to be intentional about giving
that young man the ball, like he's averaging all close
to seven yards of carry, Like, give him the ball.
We had enough time even if being down two scores,

(11:48):
and we haven't been proven that we can actually like
go down. Will Rodgers has not proven that he can
take our offense down the field and score. Like even
when we do go down in the field, when we
get to ren zone, we don't score touchdowns. Coach has
to be intentional about running the ball like they have
been intentional about running the ball against us. We have

(12:09):
to do that to the opponent as well. We had
enough time to continue with the run.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Well, Greg Lewis, Mario Bailey, softie with you Husky Hawks,
brought you by our friends and frostbured cores, light Emeral
Queen Casinos, Sutter Medals, and Zeke's Pizzas. So this is
kind of the game that a lot of us were
kind of dreading that if you lose this game, you
may have some bigger questions to answer about what to
do greg the rest of the year. I think we
know where Mario stands Husky's lose this game on Saturday.

(12:35):
He wants to turn the entire operation over to number
two if they drop this game on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
What do you think?

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Well, first, let me say I believe Saturday is what
you know, in some intents and purposes, what you call
a must win game, and I called a must win
if you're going to play in a bowl game, get
those extra practices, you know, go out on a high note,
you know, get some momentimum and recruiting all those things.
This is a must win. You got to get this
one because the two road games, we haven't won one yet,

(13:02):
and these will be our two toughest road opponents coming up.
So we got to get this one. I'm not I
think I echo what I heard coach say in his
press conference. He said he still believes Will Rodgers gives
us the best chance to win. And I believe that.
I believe he does give us the best opportunity to win.
He's experienced, He's still completely seventy two percent of his passes.

(13:25):
He still has very limited number of interceptions on the season.
So you can win football games when your quarterback is
giving you those numbers. It's up to the defensive line
to get off the field. You just talked about how
long it drives that Indiana went on to get off
the field, to give us the ball back, to preserve
some field position, all of those kinds of things. You

(13:46):
can play winning football with what Will Rodgers is doing.
I do believe that you give demand his opportunities to
play like they've been doing all year. I also think
you utilize him more around the goal line where he
can be special. But I don't believe even if you
lose this game, because I think in the last three games,
Will Rogers gives you the best opportunity to win.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Mario, here's my problem with us, and I understand where
you're coming from. At some point you want to look
to the future, right, no doubt, And by the way,
I get the feeling, I don't know if you guys
agree or not. Mario, that jetfish is just itching to
get to the offseason to start getting his guys in here,
hit the.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Portal, get everything done.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
He wants to get done and really start to implement
his playing. But the issue with demand Williams is this.
If you lose the game Saturday and you want to
turn over to number two, you are going Mario to
an eighteen year old kid and saying, kid, your first
start is going to be at Penn State in a white.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Out, good luck, go get him.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Does that seem like a favorable position to put that
kid in.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
I just view it differently. I just view these young
men differently than before. Like I think that that kid
would love to get the start at Penn State or
against UCLA. I think he's itching, and I think the
spot play is good and it should be even more more.
And yes, coach Fish is itching for the season to

(15:03):
be over and on to the next because it's not
as fun anymore. If you're six and five or six
and six and you go to a bowl game, what
bowl game are you going to and what time of
year is it? December fourteenth to twenty first, I've think
you give this kid a chance. I don't care what
Greg says and how he feels. Eighteen year old kid

(15:23):
right now is looking for the chance and chomping at
the bit to get there and start and show that
he's better than Will Rodgers and gives us a better chance.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
Well, the last time we did this it did work
out too well, So let me start with that. I
don't think that that's a favorable position to put the
young man in because he is still eighteen, and there's
something that happens between eighteen, nineteen and twenty called maturity
that I think you're able to handle situations better. If
you have a big loss or you have no success,

(15:54):
You're able to handle those things better as you mature.
So that's part of it. But I think you know,
when you talk about having fun for coach Fish, he's
a football coach. There're gonna be seasons where you don't do.
He's had a two to ten season, and you know
that was just a building block to get to the
ten and two season that he had two seasons after.

(16:14):
I think this is part of a step. You know,
he's getting guys in, he's kind of building, you know,
on what sort of offense he wants to run by
bringing them on in slowly and getting that you know,
kind of ingrained in us. And I think you know
the recruiting I follow recruiting, and they're recruiting has been
ten times better than the last coaching staff who was

(16:34):
having a lot of success, you know, in there on
the field, but their recruiting wasn't doing as well as
this team. So I think for the coach, this is fun.
I think this is part of the process to take
a team, you know, who had to bring in fifty
one new guys, build a program and then get them
back to where they were. I think is part of
what you have to love as a coach. Yeah, and
that's why you do the job.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
We get to our Darwin's Dog at the game, looking
ahead to USC opponent preview you with Valentine roofing zoom
care injury update zach tor Feez got turf toe in
both feet now, by the way, so who knows if
we'll even see that kid at all the rest of
the year. But more with Greg Lewis, Mario Bailey and
for Ian Farness until three twenty. Dick will be here
at one. John Ryan joins us to Ginger at one twenty.

(17:18):
John Wilner at two o'clock on ninety three three KJRFM out.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Back to the Coors Life Husky Hunks on Tuesdays, Greg Lewis,
Mario Bailey and Dave Safti Mullard on your Home for
the Huskies Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
All right, don't forget to get to san Juan Seltzer
dot com and er to win a trip for two
with airfare, hotel tickets by the way to the ub
Morgan game on the thirtieth of November. Oh joy, big
thanks to San Juan. And they'll load you up on
San Juan before the game, by the way, because you
might need it. I kick off of that bad Boy
in a few weeks from now, but you never know.
But to san Juan Seltzer dot com. Get to the website,

(17:57):
enter your name, come back here to see if you've
qualified for the finale. We're gonna be doing our show
there from the Celtrie. I believe the week before the
Oregon game, that would be November twenty second, will be
down there. Invite everyone down for a little part. Hey,
give away the trip to Oregon. Sean overbee from Shoreline,
by the way, has qualified for that bad Boy, so

(18:18):
blck Sean get the sawan Seltzer dot com and enter
a win. Greg Lewis, Mario Bailey, Softy Igan fornessa off today.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Dick will be here at one o'clock.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Darwin's Natural Pet Products the healthiest thing you can do
for your pet. Visit darwinspet dot com slash kjr for
fifty percent off your ten pound trial box and fifty
percent off your next order. We give this stuff to
our dogs and they love it, and you should as well.
Visit Darwinspet dot com slash kjr for that offer.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Anybody stand out to you guys as a.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Player of the game from Saturday versus Indiana or do
you want to do what we normally do Greg and
just look ahead to Saturday versus USC.

Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yeah, I think we might need to look ahead this Saturday.
There wasn't a whole lot of positive things that came
out of that game week, so I don't really have
anybody that I could mention that was really a dog.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, Mario, how about you're looking at how do the
USC game to take the Trojans down? Who's gonna have
to be your dog of the game.

Speaker 5 (19:12):
We're just gonna have to go basic and we gotta
go with mister Coleman. Hopefully coach hears me complaining, like,
get this man the ball twenty times a game, I
think the most carried he's had in nineteen But John
Combe at home to BSc.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
Greg, I guess, I guess I didn't fulfill the assignment
for me. I think let's let's let's go with the
quarterback this time. Let's go with Will Rodgers having a
great game. You know, we've talked about how he's underperformed
the last two weeks, which have led to, you know,
some big losses by the Husky program. So I'm gonna

(19:47):
say Phil Rogers is gonna have to have a really
good game, throw no interceptions, complete at least two touchdown passes,
and finish the drives that we got to be seventy
five percent scoring in the red zone, primarily touchdown. So
I'm gonna go with Will Rogers having a big game
in order to get Dusky's out the snot well.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Jack McCallister puntered his ass off against Indiana. He averaged
fifty four yards of kick. So I'll just go with
big Jam because a dog of the game from last week.
But let's go back to we talked about finishing drives.
This wasn't necessarily a red zone issue, per se is
as much as it was just getting past the thirty five.
I think Jed said they had seven drives that got
past the Indiana thirty five. Some of those went backwards

(20:25):
on penalties, obviously, and they got seventeen points. I mean,
you get to the thirty one, you throw a pick,
turnover on downs on the thirty, turnover on downs in
the thirty seven, and you get to the five and
you settle for a field goal. So Mario, it's just
the same old story every single week. These guys just
cannot finish drives.

Speaker 5 (20:40):
Why well, I mean some of that you go with
the coach who's calling the plays, and you go with
the quarterback after that. But coach has to come with
some different we talked about it. He has to come
with some different formations, some different packages, some different motions,
different personnel groups. Like we have to have again the

(21:01):
word intentional, like we have to have some different packages
down there. I can pretty much tell you the calls
that we're gonna make. Greg kept talking about putting demon
in and the option, and they worked last week. But
we can't put Will Rogers in there because we know
the quarterback's not going to keep and we're going to
throw a fade or a post to our receiver every

(21:21):
single time, and I'm tired of it. Denzel Boston, I
know what routes you're running, and it looked like their
team knew what route he was running this past time too.
It's up to coach to come with the packages to
get us in the red zone. That should be one
of the things that we practiced like forty minutes every practice,
So it's on coach for the most part.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Mario, are you talking about the just Greg sorry, the
interception that was going to Denzel?

Speaker 3 (21:46):
What did you see happen on that plan? And how
much of that do you put on the receiver?

Speaker 5 (21:51):
I put that all on the receiver, and it happened
to drive before the guy's in his hip pocket. He
like knows what route he's done. Denzel Boston is going
to be a great receiver. He's just a sophomore. But
the thing he's going to have to work on is
his route running because those were just man on man like.
The guy ran the route for him, and he did

(22:12):
it the series right before, the same thing, and that's
that sound will to understand that he's probably not the
greatest route runner, but he does it so much in
the red zone where Denzel is bigger and stronger and
he's playing bullyball. You can't play bullyball all the time
in the middle of the field and it's costing us.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Yeah. I was just gonna say they did show a
little more creativity in the red zone this week, and
I thought the last time they got down there where
they end up kicking the field goal, they kind of
went back to the old stuff. You know. The first
time they ran a jet sweet type of play with
Giles Jackson, who we you know, even Marios talked about,
let's find ways to get that kid the ball because
he's a playmaker. And what did he do? He made

(22:54):
a really good play. The next time in the red zone,
they brought demm Williams in. They used his legs. It
was one two touchdown. They ran to read zone. The
defense had to play it honestly because the quarterback could
pull it, so the running back was able to get
some yards in. On the next play, you saw Demal
Williams get to the end zone so fast no one
could keep up with him. I was excited then, but

(23:15):
I was a little disappointed on the last drive that
we kept Will Rogers in and we did some of
the basic stuff that Mario was talking about.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Right, Well, why aren't they mixing things up in the
red zone then?

Speaker 3 (23:25):
And is the shuttling in?

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I know Demon got the ball in the twenty four
after the interception. They scored four plays later on a
nice run by him. But the back and forth, guys, Okay,
I know Greg's defended it. Mario has been kind of
in the middle. I've been kind of dumbfounded by some
of it. I know Millon's gone off on it. Everybody's
gonna take on it, right whatever. It is the constant
shuttling in of quarterbacks. And this is not like a

(23:48):
typical deal, Mario, where one guy gets a drive, right,
it's hey, you take this down, you take that down,
you take this down, you take that down. Come in
for three plays, leave for two, pop beck in for one,
takeoff for two more. It doesn't seem to be a
lot of rhyme or reason there is. He may be
tinkering a little bit too much, Mario with the quarterback
switch there.

Speaker 5 (24:07):
Well, of course, I think that if a quarterback drives
you all the way down the field and you put
in another guy. I would be pissed off in a set,
But I have to say that Greg is right on
this take. I think coach feels more comfortable with a
mobile quarterback and a guy that could actually run the options.
So his creativity expands in the red zone if he

(24:30):
puts in the freshman. If that's the case, soon as
we get to the red zone, just put in the freshman.
If you have more creativity with a quarterback, a dual
threat quarterback, then you should just be putting him in
in the red.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Zone, right would you be okay with that? Greg?

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Once you get to the twenty, will's on the bench,
demand's in the game.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
I've said that I like him down on that end
of the field. Maybe not necessarily just the twenty, but
I think once you get inside, you know, the ten
yard line, that's where you definitely want to put this
kid in because now the field is strike you know,
and throwing the ball is tougher. Their tighter windows, there's
not as much room to throw the football. Mario already
described that our receivers aren't the best route runners, and

(25:08):
so that makes it even less an opportunity for them
to get open when there's condensed space. So now you
bring the run game and the athletic quarterback into play,
and you know, if Will Rodgers wants to get pissed,
then score score when you get the ball down there.
Then like you know, Softie just said, you know earlier
about playing at nine o'clock. If you want to change things, okay,
then do something about it. So to me, Demal Williams

(25:30):
is better inside the ten yard line, and I think
that's where we should utilize his skill set every single time.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, I mean it's a little it's a little bit
apples and orange every single time because you're talking about
and look, if we don't care about this stuff, then
we don't care about this stuff. I think it needs
to be talked about. I think it's still a factor.
I think inside the locker room it's still a factor.
You're still you know, wanting to rely on Will to
be a leader for you and to take you, you
know to Penn State, Oregon places like that. But if

(25:57):
you take Will Rogers off the field when you get
to the twenty, that's like taking a batter out of
a game with a three zero coount and saying, hey,
somebody else come in and take advantage of this advantageous position.
I mean, if I'm Will Rogers, Mario, you just mentioned
it right there, you're pissed off. How can Will Rogers
not be complete? I mean, who the hell does that?
Number one and number two? If you're Will Rogers, how

(26:18):
can you not be completely p oed if you're getting
taken off the field when you're that close to a
scoring opportunity.

Speaker 5 (26:24):
You're gonna you can't not be pissed. As a competitor.
You think you're the best and you give us the
best chance. But you're also doing that with Coleman and
putting in Davis after him and Muhammad's right. It's part
of the team chemistry or what coach Fish is doing
with his team. Like if every three series Jonah has

(26:45):
to come out, then it's spread the love and let
the person go in.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
Every team in the country has a two running back
platoon that they and why do we have three? Everybody? Well,
because it works, I guess.

Speaker 5 (26:57):
He said.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
You know they each have a still said that they do. Well,
it's not work.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
It's not working.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
I'm saying, okay, well, everybody, every time a running back
comes in, they're having success. When Jonah Coleman comes in,
he runs well. When Davis comes in, he has positive plays.
When Idam Muhammad comes in, he has positive plays. I've
not seen any of our running backs come in and fail.
So it's working as far as the play execution and

(27:24):
them being producted, every one of those running backs being productive.
Some teams do have three running backs, but at the
very least two. There's no team in the country anymore
where you just have one running back and he's running
the ball all the time. That just doesn't happen.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
So Washington, just to go back to your question, Mario,
who says it's working seventy third in the country and
rushing offense, and they're right about the same spot and
yards per attempt at four point seventy four yards per carry.
I would think with those three guys they might be
better than that. But doesn't this, Mario come off the
line exactly. This comes back to the offensive line that

(28:00):
we want all this consistency with the Husky offense. We
want the quarterback protected, we want the running game clicking,
we want the red zone to be you know, sixty
five seventy percent touchdowns. How do we even come close
to doing this, Mario with this offensive line.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
Well, I mean, you look at it, and you could
say the offensive line. But if I have a running
back that has over one hundred carries close to eight
hundred yards and this average and nearly seven yards of carry, like,
I can't blame the offensive line. Maybe we have a
better running offensive line than a passing offensive line.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Yeah, well, you got nineteen carries on Saturday. I mean,
it's just you know, season high. I mean, I don't know,
maybe you should have had thirty in.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
The first half.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Maybe you should have.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Well then then okay, then you're basically calling for a
guy that should have had thirty carries on Saturday versus.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
Indiana, and I wouldn't have been mad.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
Maybe that's the way to go, right, All right, different,
let' let's get a break and talk about USC. You
guys got some memories against the Trojans. Obviously, we got
a big ten game that involves two former Pac twelve
schools on Saturday at four thirty.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
We'll shout about it.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
What he marks this running back for the Trojans is
a problem, Miller Moss is a problem.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Is their defensive problem. Is their coach losing his mind.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
By the way, we'll shout about USC with the honks
next on ninety three three KJRFM.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Now back to the Coors Life Husky Honks on Tuesdays.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Greg Lewis, Mario Bailey and Dave Safti Mullard.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
On your Home for the Huskies Sports Radio ninety three
point three kjr FM.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
All right, we're back here on the Husky Hankstig, Reg Lewis,
Mario Bailey in for Ian Fernessa's got today If he's
a big hockey TV guy now so he can't be
bothered on a game day they'd be doing radio, So
he's back tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Our Valentine Roofing preview.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
If your roof springs a leak this fall, Valentine Roofing
will keep you dry with our league stop guarantee, so
we'll stop the leaking your own roof for free until
your new roof can be installed. Get three bits, just
make sure one of them is Valentine Roofing called two
h six Roofing for a free. Estimating guys, USC coming
to town on Saturday, coming off the win against Rutgers.
All hell's kind of breaking loose down there, Lincoln Riley

(30:00):
had been opening up portions of practice to the media
throughout the year and just shut her down for the
rest of the season.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
Said, as I've had enough, and.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
The media are turning on Lincoln Riley like a freaking
pancake man.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
It's unbelievable what's going on down there in La So.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Miller Moss, obviously the quarterback for USC, is a guy
that we saw come in for the bowl game a
year ago. He's played fairly well what he marks, had
a big day on Friday versus Rutgers. But how concerned
are we greg about this USC football football team we'll
see on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Well, I think Husky's where we are as a team.
We have to be concerned about everybody and ultimately concerned because,
as I said to me, this is a must win
football game. So you got to come out and play
perfect football. When you're in that middle of the road.
There's nothing about us that we can hang our hats
on and say we are so much better than our

(30:52):
opponent at this and so because of that, we got
to just execute and play perfect football. We can't have
any penalties. We got to protect the football. You know,
Will Rogers cannot have any interceptions this game. He's got
to get back to that early season where he didn't
throw any picks. Defensively, we have to be able to
get off the field. We can't allow you know, ten
fifteen nineteen play drives with nine minutes, you know, to

(31:16):
taking time off the clock. So our defensive line really
has to find a way to stop USC's run game.
Millan Moss is having an excellent season, but USC typically,
you know, they've been tel back you they've been you
know the power you know runs and they still do
some of that. And I think they have great enough
athletes to get that done if and when they're operating
on all cylinders. So we have to really come out

(31:37):
and play, you know, a perfect football game. We'll have
a home crown behind us, We'll have, you know, just
an opportunity to you know, play a game not at
nine am, so all the excuses will be gone. No,
I'm saying all the excuses will be gone. Yeah, everything
that they need to play their best will be in place,
and they got to play a perfect football game to
beat USC.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Well, Mario Washington's got the number six total defense in
the country, US see is it? I mean, that's got
to matter in this game, right, Like, there's still kind
of an issue. They fired Als Grinch a year ago,
replaced them with a new defensive coordinator. They look like
they're better, but I'm not sure how much better they
really are. I mean, Washington by far stats wise, Mario
has the superior defense in this game.

Speaker 5 (32:18):
Yeah, just stat wise, But I think the teams are similar.
I don't think USC has a big ten road victory
as well, and they've struggled on the road, losing the
Minnesota and Maryland, and I believe Michigan and they could
have won a few of those games, like they did
lose to Penn State at home as well, but they
should have won that game like they gave Penn State

(32:40):
that game at the end. But I think both teams
are similar with struggling on the road, so that bodes
well for us. But if you look at coach Riley,
as much as we've been struggling in to run, Coach
likes to be cute with his offense. He likes to
pass the ball. I think he's gonna run the ball
a little more than he has, but he still likes
to throw it around. I just think is a must

(33:02):
win for both teams. We're at the middle of the
road and we're both trying to get to bowl games.
I think their chances are a little better than ours,
but they're going to have to come in here and
take this victory from us.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Well, these are two teams that are a combined one
and seven away from their home that includes road games
and neutral field games. Because USC beat LSU somehow someway
in week one, way back.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
In the day.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
But you're right, they're starving for a road win too.
But I want to play this clip for you guys
before we go. Jetfish was asked this week about Demon
Williams versus Will Rogers. We just talked about that for
the last segment, and which one he thinks is the
better innswer right now check us out.

Speaker 6 (33:36):
Demon's improved has been really good for the last eight weeks.
Each week he's gotten better each week. He's gotten more
comfortable when he goes in the game. He's more comfortable
going in. Demon's gonna be ready to take this team
over at some point in time. I think that right now,
Wills continues to give us the best chance. He's completed
seventy three percent of his passes. I certainly don't blame

(33:57):
him for the first interception. That's about fluke, as a
fluke can get. He's throwing four picks all year. Maybe
you subtract one and turned it over a couple times
with snabs. But we got to make plays around Will.
We got to make bigger plays at the passing game.
We got to hit the big ones, and we got
to finish some balls down the field. We had a
chance to throw a goal route on the far side

(34:19):
line to Denzel. We didn't finish it to a beautiful
ball to LeKi at the end of the game to
get us in scoring range. So right now, Will's done
a really nice job. The Mond is going to be special.
The Mond will be the face of Washington football moving
forward next year. But he's going to continue to get
reps throughout this season like he has.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Is it unique, guys to hear a head coach come
out and say, yes, there's the future face of the program.
He's eighteen years old, Mario, He's sitting over there. His
name is Demon Williams, and he is the face of
Husky football. How often do you hear coaches talk about
a kid like that that's not even really playing that
much well?

Speaker 5 (35:00):
Heared a lot. If you look at like Alabama and
Ohio State with those two young receivers, but at the
quarterback position. To be here at eighteen years old, that's
a rare thing. But I think we all know and
we've known, like there was a question coming into the
season with will Rogers even start, even though that was
the most realistic thing. But I think it's starting to

(35:22):
be common practice for these young men to come in
and start playing, just maybe not in the quarterback spot.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Yeah, and Mario's right that fans like us say things
like that all the time, right, And you know, like
the Williams kid in Alabama, he's seventeen, but he's playing.
He's playing almost every snap for the board down there.
So to have that kind of I guess pressure potentially
on a kid to say you're the face of the program.
Or is he doing that because he knows the poachers
are coming over the offseason in the portal? Greg I

(35:49):
wants to make sure the kid knows where he stands.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Well.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
I think all of that plays a role in it.
But you know, you hear that sometimes. I think down
in Texas right now, Sark will clearly say that, you know,
Manning is the future of Texas football. And you know,
when your quarterback is in there what you would call,
you know, their their last season of eligibility and moving
on to the next level. It's it's not a bad

(36:12):
thing to talk about, you know, that quarterback being next
and then get him ready to have him thinking that
you want Demand Williams to believe that he's the face
of Hussy football and he's next. So he's preparing that way.
So he's taking it seriously. He's getting ready. He's taking
every game as an opportunity to you know, become more
and more the leader of this not just his team,

(36:32):
but this program. And you know, helping Jed Fish accomplish
the type of offense that I believe he's much more
comfortable running and calling. So I don't have a problem
with him doing that. You know, we're at the stage
in the season where questions that are asked are kind
of putting him in a position to have to say
some of those things, right, And I referenced this, you know,
earlier in the broadcast. But I too believe will is

(36:53):
the bet give us the best chance to win now.
But Demand is the type of quarterback that this coach
loves the call play.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
For quick injury update right to you by zoom Care. Beyond
better Health looking for a better healthcare experience. Zoomcare has
twenty neighborhood locations throughout the Puget Sound offering urgent emergency
primary care appointments available same our next day. No, we're
waiting for weeks to get the care. Head to zoomcare
dot com. So Zach Durfee has turf toe in both feet, Greg, We've.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Been waiting to get this guy on the field. Even
when he's out there, he's not doing a ton.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Is it time to just say that this football team
is what it is and there ain't many big reinforcements coming.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
We are who we are. We're four and fourth.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Let's go dogs, all right, man, Mario, great stuff. We'll
see you Saturday at twelve thirty. All right, pal, yes sir?

Speaker 5 (37:36):
All right?

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Kick off four thirty Saturday. Pregame at twelve thirty. Right
here on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.