WSU Football: Scouting the Washington Huskies

Nov 15, 2013; Pasadena, CA, USA; Washington Huskies quarterback Keith Price (17) throws a pass against the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

This weekend the Washington Huskies play host the the Washington State Cougars in the 106th annual Apple Cup. The Huskies (7-4, 4-4) are coming into this game with quarterback issues, that are not really issues.

Quarterback Keith Price went down two weeks ago against UCLA and has yet to play since. Freshman Cyler Miles has been filling in for Price the past game and a half. Miles led the Huskies to a 69-27 victory over Oregon State last week.

The Cougars (6-5, 4-3) are coming into this game after beating Utah and becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2006.

The Huskies have had a roller coaster of a season and look to finish strong while the Cougars are aiming to have their first plus .500 season since 2003.

Offense

The Husky offense is fueled by running back Bishop Sankey who has 1,575 yards on 272 carries and 17 touchdowns. Quarterback Keith Price has 2,662 yards through the air on 201 of 310 passing and has 19 touchdowns while throwing 4 interceptions. Miles has appeared in 8 of the huskies games and in 4 of them he only threw the ball 3 times for just 4 yards.

Price has yet to say if he will be playing in this weekend’s game but did say that he is preparing as if he is going to start.

The rest of the Husky ground game consists of Dwayne Washington, Deontae Cooper, and Jesse Callier. Price also has 4 touchdowns on the ground. Washington has 332 yards through 47 carries, Cooper has 267 on 41 carries, and Callier has 189 on 36 carries. Sankey gets most of the carries but the Huskies have the depth in the backfield if needed.

Price’s and Miles’ main targets through the air are Kevin Smith and Jaydon Mickins. Smith has 681 yards on 41 receptions and 4 touchdowns, Mickins has 676 on 60 receptions and 5 touchdowns. The Huskies third leading receiver is Kasen Williams who has not played since October 26th against California. Washington’s tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins leads the team in receiving touchdowns with 6 touchdowns on 31 receptions and 361 yards.

The Washington offense is scoring 39.5 points a game.

Defense

The Washington defense is led by Senior linebacker Princeton Fuimaono who has 75 total tackles this season. Sophomore linebacker Shaq Thompson is the teams second leading tackler with 64 tackles.  Junior linebacker John Timu has 59 total tackles this season. Defensive back Sean Parker and linebacker Cory Littleton round out the top 5 with 51 tackles each.

Defensive back Marcus Peters has tallied 5 interceptions on the year. Parker has 4, and four others have 1 interception each. The Husky interception total is 13 returned for 221 yards.

Lineman Hau’oli Kikaha leads the team in sacks with 8 so far this season. Littleton has the second most sacks on the team with 4. Lineman Josh Shirley and Evan Hudson both have 3 sacks each. The team has 31 sacks total. Kikaha has 10 tackles for a loss for 48 yards and Littleton has 8 tackles for a loss for 27 yards.

The Huskies have 10 forced fumbles and have gained 7 of them while only allowing 24 points a game.