Monday Dots: Party On, Wayne

Sep 26, 2022 - 3:21 PM

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Wake up, Dots, I think I got somethin’ to say to you

It’s late September and I really should be back at school

• Wayne Taulapapa came to UW as a graduate transfer to compete for playing time and to bring some experience to a position group with recent struggles. As Shane Lantz writes, Saturday night proved that Taulapapa is capable of much more than that. He tallied a career-high 120 yards, making himself the first back of the Deboer era to break the century mark. It is a big step up for a career platoon back at a middling ACC school.

• Larry Stone opines that the smooth win over Stanford was another data point in the emerging trend that this UW team is very good indeed. The aggressive defense harkens back to the Don James era, and the explosive offense bears so little resemblance to the Lake/Donovan calamity that it’s hard to imagine that many of the players are holdovers.

• Mike Vorel empties his notebook with some tidbits on injured players. Jaxson Kirkland finally made his 2022 debut and showed his mobility on a bizarre trick play where he got to lay the wood on a Stanford defender. Meanwhile, the secondary grows ever thinner with Mishael Powell likely out multiple weeks. Jordan Perryman remains close to a return, and his physical presence against UCLA this week would be very helpful.

• Looking across the conference, Jon Wilner notes that the top of the Pac-12 looks like a proper power conference for the first time in years. Utah, USC, Washington, and Oregon are 14-2 with meaningful non-conference wins. All four still have CFP hopes if things continue to go their way to season’s end. While this version of the Pac is not long for the college football landscape, it’s leaving on a high note.

• In his Final Thoughts post, Christian Caple leads off with praise for the pass rush. With a depleted secondary, it was important to keep Tanner McKee out of his comfort zone. Bralen Trice and crew did more than that, taking him down eight times and forcing three turnovers.

• The Dawgs are up to #13 in The Athletic’s ranking of all 131 teams. This week’s adversary, UCLA, comes in at 40.

• Scott Eklund has game grades for Dawgman.

• The winning trend carried over to the volleyball court. The Dawgs beat UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday.

Who’s comin’ with me?