Huskies Finally Get a Win

I know Stanford isn't a great team, but you can only play the team that's on your schedule each week and the Huskies needed this win bad. For a team that is rebuilding like UW it's most important to win the games that you are capable of winning and unlike last week they were able to do that tonight. Even better was that the win was a dominating performance by the Dawgs on both sides of the ball. The defense hadn't been able to stop anybody the last six weeks, so even though Stanford is not a good offensive team (to say the least), it was still great to see the defense play the way they did. If anything it should give them some confidence going into the final stretch of the season. Lost in the defensive woes during the losing streak had been the continued improvement of the UW offense and tonight was again a great performance on that side of the ball. The key of course is always Jake Locker and his continued development, but the man of the night was no doubt Louis Rankin. Rankin's 255 yards rushing were the fourth most in school history and tonight he provided the secondary rushing attack the Huskies have so desperately needed to ease the workload of Locker. Not bad for a guy who many Husky fans don't think should be an every down back. The turnovers continue to be a concern for Locker and the offense, but something you have to figure will improve with experience. The schedule gets much tougher from here on out, but the offense just keeps getting better and should be able to give the team opportunities to win. If the defense can build on tonight's performance, then the Dawgs may be able to make some noise down the stretch.