Tag: UW

Week 2 Washington college football round-up

How did the major college football programs in the Evergreen State handle the second week of the season?

We may be focused primarily on the Seattle Seahawks with this publication, but we love all football, especially college football. Each week, we at Seahawks Wire will give a quick round-up of how the major football programs in the Evergreen State did over the weekend.

Last week, it was a strong showing for Eastern, Washington State and Washington, who all went 1-0 at home. Central Washington did not play, but they had their first game this past weekend. Without further ado, here is the latest installment for college football round-up:

Eastern Washington University: Eagles lose 35-32 in overtime to Drake

  • Saturday was one of the sloppiest games I can remember watching the Eagles play. For large portions of the game, it seemed as if neither team wanted to win. Endless penalties, untimely turnovers and poor clock management on both sides had this game headed into overtime at 29-29 despite several lead changes. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs prevailed in the first meeting between these schools with a walk-off touchdown in overtime.
  • Next Up: The Eagles go on the road for the first time this season as they head to Hammond, LA to play Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions are 0-2 this year, and are fresh off a 35-10 loss last week.

Central Washington University: Wildcats lose 26-7 to San Diego

  • Saturday marked the season debut for the Wildcats, who were on the road to play the University of San Diego Toreros. Unfortunately, they traveled back to Ellensburg with a multiple-score defeat. Quarterback Kennedy McGill completed only 50% of his passes for 109 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.
  • Next Up: Central will be back on the road to play Colorado Mesa University.

Washington State University: Cougars dominate Texas Tech 37-16

  • Unofficially the Mike Leach Bowl, the Cougars hosted the Red Raiders as the two teams the legendary Leach both coached. In Leach’s honor, Washington State absolutely dominated Texas Tech with an astonishing 301 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. WAZZU had built up a 27-10 lead at halftime and the game was essentially over from there.
  • Next Up: The Apple Cup at Lumen Field.

University of Washington: Huskies defeat Eastern Michigan 30-9

  • The Huskies have successfully defended home turf twice to start the season in the Jedd Fisch era. Their opponents haven’t been world beaters by any means, but they took care of business by beating two teams they should easily succeed against. Now, the Huskies will go “on the road” to Lumen Field to play the Cougars in an Apple Cup that has lost significant meaning thanks to the near-dissolution of the Pac-12.
  • Next Up: The Apple Cup at Lumen Field

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Week 1 Washington college football round-up

How did the major college football programs in the Evergreen State fare in the first weekend of action?

Here at Seahawks Wire, we are starting a new on-going series for this season. Each week, we will take a look at how all the major college football programs in our lovely Evergreen State fared. So far in Week 1, it’s all wins for Washington, as all teams who played ended the weekend with a 1-0 record.

Note, Central Washington University did not play this weekend, so there is nothing to report. But we will include our friends in Ellensburg as well!

Eastern Washington University: Eagles defeat Monmouth 42-27

  • It was a battle of birds of prey last Thursday on the iconic Infero of Roos Field. The Eagles swooped down and snatched any chance of victory away from the Hawks. Quarterback Kekoa Visperas was nearly perfect, completing 25-of-28 passes for 275 yards and five touchdown passes. Three of those scores came from Efton Chism III, who hauled in 12 receptions for 175 yards through the air.
  • Next Up: Eastern will remain in the friendly confines of Cheney to host the Drake Bulldogs.

Washington State Univeristy: Cougs obliterate Portland State 70-30

  • Washington State wasted little time getting their offense going after the Portland State scored an opening drive touchdown. After taking their 7-0 lead, the Vikings were quickly left in the dust behind the Cougs’ explosive offense. Starter John Mateer threw for 352 yards and five touchdowns in the start of head coach Jake Dickert’s third season as head coach.
  • Next Up: WAZZU will stay in the Palouse to host the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who narrowly surived in overtime to win 52-51 against Abilene Christian.

University of Washington: Huskies handle business 35-3 vs. Weber St.

  • In their first action since their embarrassing 34-13 defeat in the National Championship, Washington took care of business and defeated the Wildcats convincingly. Will Rogers, in his first action as a Husky, played fine, completing 20-of-26 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown. The offensive standout was running back Jonah Coleman who had 16 carries for 127 yards and three touchdowns.
  • Next Up: A third straight Washington-based team who gets to enjoy Week 2 at home. The Huskies will host Eastern Michigan, who is fresh off a 28-14 win over the UMass Minutemen.

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Former Wisconsin linebacker among PFF’s highest-graded rookies from NFL preseason Week 1

Former Wisconsin linebacker among PFF’s highest-graded rookies from NFL preseason Week 1

Former Wisconsin linebacker Maema Njongmeta was the third-highest graded rookie from Week 1 of the 2024 NFL preseason, according to ProFootballFocus.

Njongmeta recorded a 91.5 overall grade during the Cincinnati Bengals’ 17-14 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 10. Only Indianapolis Colts’ cornerback Micah Abraham (92.2) and New Orleans Saints cornerback Rico Payton (91.7) graded higher.

The undrafted free-agent linebacker and former third-team All-Big Ten member registered 10 tackles, a quarterback hurry and a batted pass in the losing effort.

Njongmeta’s performance could serve as a sign for things to come for the former Badger during his first season in NFL threads. Although he currently slots behind Logan Wilson, Joe Bachie and Shaka Hayward on Cincinnati’s middle linebacker depth chart, he still has two weeks to earn a position on the Bengals’ 53-man depth chart.

Another head-turning performance against the Chicago Bears on Aug. 17 could vault him into contention for a final roster spot.

Njongmeta played in 26 games at UW during his final two seasons in Madison and flashed his defensive prowess with 154 tackles from 2022-23.

Wisconsin 2025 OT commit earns MaxPreps second-team All-America honors

Wisconsin 2025 OT commit earns MaxPreps second-team All-America honors

Wisconsin football three-star class of 2025 offensive tackle commit Nolan Davenport was included on MaxPreps’ All-America second-team on Monday.

Davenport earned the recognition alongside fellow 2025 Wisconsin commit Erik Schmidt, who was named MaxPreps’ first-team punter. Davenport, a product of Washington High School in Ohio, joins 2025 linemen Elyiss Williams (Georgia), Andrew Babalola (uncommitted), Solomon Thomas (Florida State) and Michael Fasusi (uncommitted) on the second-team offensive line.

A total of 56 high schoolers from across the country earned a berth to this squad. Despite only being 247Sports’ No. 690-ranked overall recruit in the class, Davenport is part of a prestigious group.

The 6-foot-6, 260-pound tackle committed to Wisconsin in early June over opportunities at Missouri and Penn State.

At the time, Davenport was Wisconsin’s No. 14 overall commitment in the class. The Badgers group has since grown to 23 commitments. It currently ranks No. 25 in the nation at this late stage in the cycle.

Four-star OT Logan Powell, four-star iOL Hardy Watts, three-star OT Michael Roeske and three-star OT Cam Clark round out the group of offensive linemen currently committed to Luke Fickell’s class.

Wisconsin’s 2021 defense trails only two Big Ten units in best of last decade

Wisconsin’s 2021 defense trails only two Big Ten units in best of last decade

The Wisconsin Badgers’ 2021 defense boasts the third-lowest defensive yards allowed per game total of any single-season college football defense since 2014, per ProFootballFocus.

The Badgers allowed only 239.7 yards per game in 2021, an impressive feat considering the shift towards more offensive-fueled systems in college football over the past decade.

Wisconsin registered a more proficient team defensive yardage mark than the 2023 Michigan Wolverines, 2015 Boston College Eagles, 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes and 2014 Clemson Tigers. The numbers go back to 2014, the first year of the College Football Playoff.

Paul Chryst led the 2021 Badgers to a 9-4 overall mark and a 6-3 conference record. Despite the winning record, the Badgers dropped contests to No. 19 Penn State, No. 112 Notre Dame and No. 14 Michigan in three of their first four contests. None of those losses, however, came due to poor play on the defensive side of the football.

The Badgers countered with seven unanswered victories, including a 27-7 triumph over the No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes and 30-13 win over the No. 25 Purdue Boilermakers.

Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard led the defensive group that season with future Super Bowl champion linebacker Leo Chenal as the team’s MVP. UW would go on to win the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl 20-13 over Arizona State.

Wisconsin’s 2021 defensive unit held its opponents to under 20 points in nine of its 13 bouts.

Starters on the unit included Keeanu Benton, Matt Henningsen, Isaiah Mullens, Jack Sanborn, Chenal, Nick Herbig, Noah Burks, Caesar Williams, Faion Hicks, Eric Burrell and Scott Nelson.

Benton, Henningsen, Sanborn, Chenal, Herbig, Hicks and Nelson all went on to play in the NFL in some capacity.

BYU’s bluff called, dash own College Football Playoff dreams

BYU will have nobody to blame but themselves when they don’t play in the College Football Playoff next month.

It wasn’t likely that BYU would do enough to make the College Football Playoff in 2020 but you can certainly cross it off even as a remote possibility after what transpired Sunday evening.

BYU, who sits at 9-0 overall and is ranked in the top 10 nationally, had their bluff called on Sunday and will now have nobody to blame but themselves when they ultimately don’t make the College Football Playoff this winter.

For context, we actually have to go back a few days to set the stage, as the Pac-12 announced Wednesday that they would allow each conference member to schedule one out of conference game, adding some wiggle-room to only a six-game regular-season schedule for those who don’t make the conference championship game.

When that was announced there was hope an interest that a few intriguing games would be added to the 2020 college football slate, but one that was proposed since the announcement won’t be played and not doing so is making BYU look foolish.

According to reports from several in the college football community, The University of Washington reached out to BYU on Saturday about scheduling a game later this year.

The Huskies are 2-0 on the year with only two games being played to date and only two games currently scheduled for the rest of the year.  Although not viewed as a College Football Playoff contender themselves, they’d certainly offer a chance for BYU to have another name win on their resume that they hope is good enough to earn them a trip to the CFP.

According to Bruce Feldman, BYU essentially said “thanks but no thanks” to Washington’s offer because they’d like to first know where they sit in the first College Football Playoff Rankings that are due out Tuesday evening.

Here’s a hint for everyone in and around Provo, Utah:

You’ll probably be eighth just like you are in both the AP and Amway Coaches Polls and you’ll be behind another Group of Five team in Cincinnati, just like you are in the AP and Coaches.

Even with Heisman contender, Zach Wilson, BYU needs a good amount of help building their resume if they think they have any shot at crashing the CFP party, and not taking Washington up on their offer does them no favors in that regard.

Even if they were to schedule Washington and win they’d still have an uphill battle but passing on an opponent of even that caliber will kill whatever chances BYU had of making the dance.

Ralph Russo of the AP reports that BYU has concerns over potentially being dropped by Washington if another Pac-12 game was to be made available to them on the same date.

Let me just ask, though:  what if there wasn’t a Pac-12 team that suddenly became available to play for Washington?

It makes BYU look laughable as they tweeted a picture of Wilson on November 20 wearing a bandana that read: “any team, any time, any place”

Except for if they’re a Power Five team who has a history of winning.

Then they’re not for that.

Remember this if and when BYU finishes the season undefeated yet you hear moans that they didn’t get a fair shake about playing in the College Football Playoff.

They’ve got nobody to blame but themselves for looking this foolish.

Former UW star Ben Burr-Kirven could be victim of roster crunch

Seattle Seahawks linebacker and former Washington Huskies star Ben Burr-Kirven will need to prove his worth on special teams in 2020.

The Seattle Seahawks are heading into the 2020 season with their two longest tenured defensive players, Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright, reprising their roles as starting linebackers.

With Mychal Kendricks no longer in the fold, the SAM linebacker position is up for grabs in a competition between rookie Jordyn Brooks, a first round pick in 2020, as well as Cody Barton, a third rounder in 2019 who looked good in brief action last season.

Of course, with coach Pete Carroll, it’s never that simple. Bruce Irvin, who the team signed early on in free agency, is expected to play some SAM on early downs, before transitioning to a defensive end/pass rushing role in third down situations.

Seattle could also slide Wright, who is expected to be fully recovered from offseason shoulder surgery by Week 1, over to the SAM role, allowing Brooks to play his more natural WILL position in his first NFL season.

Plus, after staying in their 4-3 base defense nearly 70% of the time last year, often leading to poor results, the Seahawks could opt to play nickel a lot more in 2020, especially if they like what they see out of Ugo Amadi in training camp.

All this leads to a myriad of questions about Seattle’s defensive setup, including what will happen to the team’s other linebacker, Ben Burr-Kirven, a fifth round pick in 2019 out of the University of Washington.

Burr-Kirven joined the Seahawks as a tackling machine, having led the entire NCAA in tackles in 2018 with the Huskies. He was always seen as a developmental linebacker who would cut his teeth on the special teams in year one, and that’s exactly how things went down.

BBK appeared in all 16 games for the Seahawks in 2019, racking up eight combined tackles and forcing one fumble on 310 total snaps – 306 which occurred on special teams.

The odds of him stepping into a bigger role on defense in year two got a lot slimmer with the additions of Irvin and Brooks.

And, since he’s unlikely to go the route of Shaquem Griffin and develop into an undersized pass rusher – that’s just not his game – he is currently on the outside looking in for regular snaps on defense.

Of course, coach Pete Carroll loves his core special teamers, and while there’s not room for many on the active roster, it does seem hard to imagine the team cutting someone who appeared in all 16 games last year, and was a part of 66% of the team’s special teams snaps.

BBK will have to prove he’s one of the most valuable, if not the most valuable, special teamer on the roster if he wants to find himself in a Seahawks uniform for the duration of the 2020 campaign.

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Why Washington’s Aaron Fuller could make Seahawks roster

The Seattle Seahawks love their undersized, UDFA receivers, and Aaron Fuller has a little Jermaine Kearse and a lot of Doug Baldwin in him.

The Seattle Seahawks brought in a whopping 17 undrafted free agents from the 2020 class to compete for spots on the active roster.

Most years, teams are lucky to get one UDFA to make the squad, as they are primarily brought in to give the team extra bodies during training camp.

However, the Seahawks have had plenty of luck in the past, going all the way back to Dave Krieg, and including Jermaine Kearse, Doug Baldwin and more recently, defensive tackle Poona Ford.

Speaking of Kearse, the Seahawks are hoping another undrafted receiver out of the University of Washington, Aaron Fuller, will do enough during training camp to earn a spot on the team’s roster in 2020.

While Kearse is the obvious comparison thanks to their alma mater, Fuller actually drew a lot of comparisons to Baldwin, Seattle’s other prominent undrafted free agent receiver.

Baldwin was an unassuming, undersized slot receiver out ot Stanford who Seattle signed in 2011. He went on to haul in 493 receptions for 6,563 yards and 49 touchdowns in eight seasons with the Seahawks, retiring after the 2018 season after suffering a shoulder injury the previous year.

Fuller has some big shoes to fill that role, but at five-foot-ten and 190 pounds, and with excellent production in college and some of the best route-running skills in the NCAA coming out of UW, there’s plenty of reason for optimism.

Seattle already has their own mini-Baldwin on the roster, however, after using a seventh round pick to select John Ursua in 2019.

Ursua and Fuller are two of a handful of receivers competing for one of the final spots on Seattle’s 53-man roster, a list that includes David Moore, Penny Hart, Cody Thompson, Freddie Swain, and Seth Dawkins.

With Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf and Phillip Dorsett all seemingly locked into the top three receiving roles, there’s little room for error if Fuller wants to make the roster.

However, Moore is a potential cap casualty, and no one else has proven anything in the NFL – so if Fuller makes a strong impression in camp, there’s reason to believe he will be wearing the green and blue next year, and still donning the No. 2 he wore while with the Huskies.

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Wisconsin basketball has the luxury to stay out of the current transfer portal madness

The Badgers have the luxury of returning their solid core from a year ago

[lawrence-newsletter][lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]Transfers in college basketball have become the new recruiting battle in college basketball. According to 247sports, a one-time immediate eligibility rule is expected to pass for transfers when the NCAA votes on May 20th. That change would likely increase what has already become a massive pool of talent in the transfer portal due to those players gaining immediate eligibility with no questions asked.

You only need to look around the Big Ten to see what the madness of transfer season creates. Look no further than the Ohio State Buckeyes as an example. Two-year starter Luther Muhammad has transferred out of the Buckeye program along with D.J. Carton and Alonzo Gaffney. On the flip side, Ohio State has brought in Harvard transfer Seth Towns and just yesterday it was announced that Utah State point guard Abel Porter would use his graduate year of eligibility to join OSU. All of a sudden, in a matter of two weeks, an entire Big Ten roster sees itself flipped. It almost feels like an NBA offseason.

The Badgers had enough transfer drama during the year. Now they can sit back and watch everything unfold. When Kobe King transferred out in the middle of the Big Ten season, and then a few weeks later committed to Nebraska, the Badgers were able to face adversity on the fly. They bonded together as a unit during the second half of the season. The best news? That unit is coming back.

The Badgers only lose one significant contributor in terms of minutes, that being Brevin Pritzl. With 88% of the minutes coming back to Madison, and nobody leaving in the transfer madness, Wisconsin can stay out of what has already been a wild off-season for multiple Big Ten programs. Even more important for UW, a returning core that has played with each other for a full year (and more in most cases) has built the chemistry that only comes with time.

Turnover in transfer season may be fun for fans, and if the NCAA vote on May 20th grants immediate, one-time eligibility that would be a major win for the players. Staying out of the entire process as a team, however, will likely translate to consistency and wins. Take two teams of relatively similar talent. One of those teams has three new significant pieces while three players have departed. The other has the same solid nine players that made up last year’s foundation. Who would you take?

Wisconsin basketball not only has the luxury of depth, but also a foundation of players who are not going through the grinds of a Big Ten season for the first time. While the transfer portal may feel like a fun, shiny new car, the Badgers have a steady ride that will not break down in 2021.

Wisconsin Athletics thanks healthcare workers by “lighting it blue”

The Badger athletic family participates in the #lightitblue campaign

A campaign to show support for workers on the front lines of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has made it to Madison. The #LightItBlue campaign originated in the United Kingdom as a way to show appreciation for the workers that are risking their own health and safety to save the lives of others. Businesses, stadiums, and buildings have been lighting their facilities blue in solidarity with healthcare professionals and many other essential employees that are moving the world forward in such a difficult time.

Wisconsin sports recently showed solidarity at their facilities. Camp Randall Stadium was made a part of the #LightItBlue campaign yesterday evening.

The Kohl Center was also blue last night.

In such a difficult time, and a time without live sports to help us cope, it is a welcome site to see sports standing in solidarity with the essential workers in our battle against this pandemic.