Dawgs aren't in trouble, just trying to nail things down

It's never a good idea to read comments on any newspaper article, especially after college football games because sometimes people aren't thinking very clearly. But I did after Washington's 13-10 loss to Stanford and there was a good amount of overreacting.

At least that's the way I felt.

I wasn't able to watch the game because I was driving from southwest Washington to eastern Oregon, but I did listen on the radio and here's what I gathered: Stanford is really, really good and Washington just isn't there yet.

Does that mean it's time to panic? No.

Does that mean it's time for Cyler Miles to lose his job? No.

Does that mean Chris Petersen is overwhelmed by this job? Absolutely no.

Some of those aforementioned comments had things to say about Miles, that this is the worst offense in decades, that this team is bad and wins against Eastern Washington, Illinois, Georgia State and Hawaii were lucky. That last part could be partially true, but something has to be said for staying the course when things are going wrong.

When you look at Miles' passing numbers, they're not great. Actually Washington only had 179 yards of offense at all. But there's a silver lining here.

If the UW punts instead of trying a sneaky fake punt probably gets the game to overtime, and the Huskies' kicker is way more reliable than Stanford's.

And look at that defense. Shaq Thompson scored again. Kevin Hogan had some difficulties getting a consistent attack going, and a couple missed tackles gave Stanford points and opportunities.

Washington's offense is struggling right now because you have college kids learning an entirely new language and system with entirely new expectations. It's hard enough to just have a new quarterback and form new rapports with receivers, but everything is new for these players and it takes time for these things to correct.

An easy counterargument here could be, "Well the defense is playing well with a new system, new language and new expectations. Why are they doing well?"

Defenses are more reaction-based: know your job, read your keys, make your tackle. It's really that simple. Offenses are much more complicated, with timing, and nonverbal communication and other factors that have to be worked out over time.

It seems like I'm always writing these "PLEASE DON'T PANIC!" articles, but college football expectations are just so damn high lately.

But seriously. Trust me, Washington isn't far from contending for a Pac 12 title. It just might not be this year.

Can you live with that? I can.