"It Feels Awesome to Win a Game": Washington 42, Idaho 23

Awesome indeed. The quote comes from Husky defensive lineman Daniel Te'o Nesheim, who admitted that those who'd endured the 15-game losing streak weren't entirely sure how to behave upon finishing with more points than the other team. "A couple of us older guys were like, 'What should we do when the clock runs out? Should we go shake hands first? Or should we go sing the song?' It was kind of funny."

A good problem to have, right?

Washington's offense powered this Band Day victory. The Huskies scored touchdowns on six of their first seven offensive drives--three through the air, three on the ground. The Dawgs averaged 6.4 yards per offensive play, their most effective performance since '07 (7.5 ypp in a loss to Arizona).

The overall performance was less impressive, as Idaho gained even more yards than the Huskies did. Granted, Idaho rolled up some garbage time ground, but the Dawgs' major weakness--their pass defense--was apparent to all 58,980 fans.

The primary problem is that the Huskies' defensive line does not pressure opposing quarterbacks. Idaho's Nathan Enderle didn't have unlimited time, but he had enough to find open receivers, completing 22 of 33 passes. If the Huskies' front four can't get through the O-Line of a bad WAC team, they'll be helpless against the NFL-quality linemen of the Pac-10.

The defense wasn't all bad. Te'o Nesheim was a force, Idaho ran away from him all game. Nate Williams made some nice hits and an impressive play on a run, shoving an Idaho o-lineman into his running back. True frosh Talia Crichton got his first action, and correctly read an Idaho screen pass--an impressive play from someone so young.

And let's laud the offense: Jake Locker threw a perfect in-stride pass to James Johnson for a late first-half TD. (It was true frosh Johnson's 2nd TD catch of the year, which would've tied him for the team lead for all of last season.) Running back Johri Fogerson showed that he'll be a dual threat all-season, he just seems to have a nice feel for finding space with the ball in his hands. Fogerson scored two TDs on the day, one receiving and one rushing. Jermaine Kearse made a beautiful leaping grab on a jump ball at the Idaho 2.

The play everyone was talking about afterwards was Locker's scramble and pass to D'Andre Goodwin, which set up the Dawgs' first touchdown. In previous years, goes the prevailing wisdom, Locker would simply have run the ball.

Said Sarkisian: "He kept his eyes up and that's when you can create a lot of big plays in the passing game. That's the threat of having a mobile quarterback. You don't know if he's going to run or throw and they come up and he's able to make a big play down the field."

The Dawgs did finally get the hang of celebrating their win. They jumped against each other on the field, they doused Coach Steve Sarkisian with water, and they sounded like winners in their post-game press conferences. Asked for his thoughts of the defense's effort, E.J. Savannah offered a short analysis , but finished confidently.

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"They got a few yards on us but it's okay."

Today, after the first win in 697 days, everything is okay.