Tequila give us your thoughts on point #3
I don't think that Pete thinks that Browning has grown year over year ... but he also knows that he doesn't have any great directions to turn this year because QB recruiting has largely sucked in the Browning era ...
I think he knows that the OL is full of a lot of youth and guys that are playing for the most part are largely JAGs ... it's why they are rotating guys so much because nobody is really getting the job done.
I think he knows that with no Gaskin they take a massive step back with the RB position because Ahmed has some growth that he needs to make in the offseason to be the #1 guy next year. Pleasant and McGrew are both good but inconsistent at this point week to week.
I think he knows that losing Hunter Bryant was a big deal to the passing game and why he was singled out from an injury standpoint. It slots everybody down a spot with Bryant in the mix. It's not that Sample and Otton haven't done a good job ... but Bryant is a difference maker in ways that they aren't.
I think he knows that the WR talent is a mix of talented guys that still have another step to make (Ty Jones and the ability to regularly separate and be the #1 type of WR that he will be next year) and guys that should be #3 guys (or deeper) in Fuller and Opera Singer. It's another case of poor recruiting condemning this offense.
The benching of Browning was really a last ditch attempt to reach and shock the offense. I don't think that the Pick 6 was ever in the imagination of what happened.
I think Pete knows that the offense is what it is at this point and with the exception of possibly getting Gaskin and Bryant back (with varying degrees of health to them), there's really not much that is going to change between now and the offseason.
The other thing he said that I think was really interesting was on the same lines of a discussion that Dennis and I were having Saturday tied to the defense. Dennis was 100% right in saying that it's hard to criticize the defense AT ALL after giving up 6 points in a game. I was on the side of saying that our defense is kind of known on how to attack us at this point and when it comes to creating turnovers or getting stops at the end of the game we tend to fail in those spots. Pete echoed both in the lack of turnovers (particularly given Cal's propensity for them) and inability to get stops at the end of the game.
I think Pete knows that this year didn't go anywhere near expectations and that there are some significant areas to address. Some will be covered simply by upgrading the talent level and steps have been taken previously to address that. But there are other areas where you get the impression there will be areas addressed this offseason. This isn't the first time he's talked about not getting turnovers on defense this year and it's obviously an issue despite the fact that UW's got one of the Top 3-5 secondaries in college football.
