Washington Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian says his team needs to be physical and play mistake-free football to beat the Stanford Cardinal when they match up Sept. 27. Here are some additional highlights from his presser.
Sarkisian said the bye week (which is mandatory for Pac-12 teams playing a Thursday-night contest) definitely helped in terms of preparation and learning from team mistakes.
When Sarkisian talked about what it would take to beat Stanford, he discussed being physical, playing mistake-free football as well as executing offensively. He especially emphasized tackling and maintaining pad level defensively, which was a weak point in last year's team and allowed Stanford to run up and down the field on Washington.
Some good bits of injury news also trickled out from Sarkisian, as he expects both linebackers Nate Fellner and Jamaal Kearse to return from injury. The return of those two Huskies should greatly improve overall team defense. Additionally, Travis Coons will attempt the first punt on Thursday just to try out a new leg, as starter Korey Durkee has really struggled.