Washington Football Vs. Portland State - The Good, The Bad, The Unknown

Well, despite an alarming amount of injuries and some shaky line play, the Huskies are pretty much right where everyone thought they would be heading into Pac-12 play. It's hard to glean too much from a game against a FCS program that has really struggled against FBS teams in recent history, but the Huskies (And their fans) got a much needed easy game against Portland State, and hopefully a bit of a confidence boost.

The Good

• The offense CAN score - They haven't proven it against solid teams yet, but the offense isn't completely broken as they were actually able to run against someone and Price put together a good game.
• Secondary help - It's been a while since the Huskies have been able to frustrate any quarterback at all, so it's a good sign that the defensive backs have already grabbed a few interceptions this year and have also scored on turnovers twice. Also, it's been ages since Washington returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown.
• Shaq Thompson -The heralded freshman had been sneaky good going into this week, but may have had his coming out party against Portland State, blocking the aforementioned field goal and leading the team in tackles.

The Bad

• Punting - Freshman punter Korey Durkee has really struggled so far this season and looks like he almost gets every punt blocked. The Huskies need to get their punting game fixed before Pac-12 play starts or it may cost them a couple of blocks.
• Under pressure - The Huskies didn't seem to be blitzing much, seemingly confident that they could contain Portland State straight up, but the fact that they couldn't register once sack against a struggling FCS program still has to be concerning.
• The little things - The Huskies have long struggled to hold onto loose ends and avoid the little mistakes that plague teams that just can't get over the edge and they displayed quite a bit of this behavior against Portland State, racking up penalties.

The Unknown

• Injury bug - The Huskies finally avoided losing any players to major injuries in a game against Portland State, but have a large number of guys whose status is uncertain for the next game against Stanford including Erik Kohler, Colin Tanigawa, James Johnson, Nate Fellner and others.
• Home sweet home - With two far from thrilling non-conference home games opening the season and school not in session yet, we haven't really gotten a chance to see how much home field advantage CenturyLink Field will provide. Next Thursday's game against Stanford is sure to answer this question though.
• Ready for primetime? - With Stanford suddenly looking like the powerhouse that they were with Andrew Luck, the Huskies game takes on a whole new magnitude and they get another chance to show that they can actually play with the nation's elite teams.