DawgmanRadio: 49-21 was pretty much what we thought it was going to be

Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't expected to be. Given their massive talent gap on both sides of the ball, as well as their coaching continuity and ability to reload at key positions - like quarterback - No. 1 Oregon was able to brush Washington aside with relative ease en route to a 49-21 shellacking Saturday night in Eugene.

For Kim Grinolds, who was on site at Autzen Stadium, as well as Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund back home in the greater-Seattle area, the result was hardly surprising. It was the expected outcome given how their offseason took place, as well as the divergent they took when it came to how their seasons unfolded. One program ran the table en route to being the No. 1 team in the country; the other had to scrape by on the second-to-last game of the season just to get bowl-eligible.

But the biggest talking point, and the first thing discussed tonight, was the move from UW Head Coach Jedd Fisch to have true freshman Demond Williams make his first start of the season in Eugene. Without doing an exhaustive look at the record books, we have to believe this is the first time in UW history a true frosh quarterback made his first start ever on the road against the No. 1 team in the country. And he performed really well, all things considered. He finished with a higher passer rating than his Oregon counterpart, Dillon Gabriel, and also led UW to 21 points against a Duck defense that was surrendering less than 16 points a game.

However, it was the inability of Washington to muster anything on the ground, coupled with Oregon's ability to pick and choose the kind of running game they wanted all night long, that proved to be the difference in the game. Gabriel really didn't have to test Washington's defense because their best offense was handing the ball off to Jordan James and Noah Whittington.

And defensively, Oregon was able to wreak a ton of havoc with their base attack, eventually forcing 16 tackles for loss and 10 sacks against a Washington offensive line that was outmatched at every turn. Most of the night, Williams had little to no time to look downfield, let alone go through a progression.

Now that the game is over, what does Washington do going forward? Signing Day is this coming Wednesday, and the transfer portal window opens up the following Monday. It's safe to say the UW coaches have their hands full, as well as their plates because right around when the portal opens is the same time the team will learn which bowl game they will be playing in.

And before the guys gave their final thoughts on the game and what UW needs to do moving forward, they talked about what bowl game the Huskies will likely go to. There were Independence Bowl reps in Eugene Saturday night, so is it a done deal that the Huskies will be heading to the Bayou? Kim has been hearing about another bowl that could be a possibility, and this destination is much closer to home.

And lest we forget, Dawgman.com is running our biggest sale of the season: 75 PERCENT OFF a yearly subscription, and just in time for the holidays! Consider it a great stocking stuffer for the UW sports fan in your family. They'll love you forever. You can get details on the sale HERE.

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