Thursday Dots: Midseason Musings

Well, I got that green light, baby
I got to keep movin’ on
Well, I might go out to Dots
Might go down to Dots
I don’t know

• One of the troubling themes of the UW offensive struggles in the first half of the season is the inexperience and lack of depth on the offensive line. UW started the season with a true freshman at LT, a true sophomore at LG, a red-shirt freshman at RG, and a converted tackle starting at center for the first time. The poor performance raised the question of why the Huskies so willingly let Zach Hennig and Paki Finau depart via the transfer portal. Christian Caple analyzed UW’s outgoing transfers for On Montlake. Hennig has been a solid starter for Arizona in the Big 12 and Finau has been outstanding at LT for #2 BYU.

• Speaking of early season disappointments, Jon Wilner wrote up his Big 10 midseason awards. The Huskies are far from the only disappointment on Wilner’s list, but given they went from preseason #17 to challenging to reach bowl eligibility, they definitely belong on the shortlist. With UCLA surging into the top 10 in the country, at least it’s not all bad for the Pac-12 emigrees.

• One of the brighter spots on the roster has been the defense, albeit less so in conference. The highlight on that side has definitely been Alex McLaughlin, who has proven to be an outstanding asset in the secondary. Dawgman has their own midseason awards and they unanimously picked McLaughlin as the best defensive player.

• Down in Monterey, CA, the Husky Men’s Golf team took home a title at the Saint Mary’s Invitational. The Dawgs collectively shot 16-under to win the title by eight strokes over #21 Santa Clara. Hamish Farquharson won the individual title for the Dawgs, the first freshman to do so since 2018.