Preview Weeks 10-12
Week 10: at "home" vs. Utah Utes (what is a ute?)
This is the second year in the Pac-12 for the might Utes, who spent most of the 2000's upsetting big teams in non-conference and in big time bowl games (see Alabama in 2009 in the Sugar Bowl). This program has come a long way over the years and now is somewhat feared by even the biggest of programs because of its reputation. But the transition to "big boy" program has not been terribly easy for Utah playing in a average Pac-12 last year posting a 4-5 record in conference play, proving that the Utah's, Boise State's and TCU's of the world might have been benefiting from cupcake regular seasons, which were of benefit going into marquee bowl games at the end of the year. TCU will get their chance to prove themselves in a "big boy" conference when it moves into the Big East this year, finishing its last five games against pre-season ranked opponents, good luck, boys. Utah can bounce back after an interesting start to its PAC-12 with a big year in a south division that lacks any real firepower outside of the "Men of Troy". In fact, Utah quite possibly has the easiest PAC-12 schedule of anyone this year since it plays in the south and plays Oregon State and Cal out of the north, not too bad. This is a very solid Utah team with a few holes at different positions on the field. They have a monster defensive lineman in Star Lotulelei who will All-World this year, and he has a lot of help around him. Some have said this is the strongest defensive line in the country. This will make things tough for a UW offensive line who is young and restless with lots of position movement during camp, and some injuries that will make things tough for depth. Utah, however, isn't going to scare too many people on offense aside from running back John White, who is a very efficient ball carrier. Their quartback Jordan Wynn is coming off a season ending injury at the hands of the Dawgs (all I saw was purple?). He will battling through that nagging injury all season, and by the time he gets to the Huskies, my guess is he will be pretty ineffective. The name of the game for the Utes, slow down the game to a level only Cougs could understand in remedial french-frying. With its big defensive line and decent running game, the Utes could do just that. But, this was a similar team we saw in Utah last year, in probably the most solid of wins the Huskies had all of last year. This game is at "home", in front of the Husky Loyal in a loud atmosphere with a team that is going to catch its rhythym late. Despite the D-line's presence, the Huskies are just too fast, and the D-line will have zero chance getting to our boy "Teeth".
My Predicition: UW wins 35-17 in another solid win that the Dawgs will need to move up the ladder in bowl game contention. Team Record 6-4 (4-3)
Week 11: at Colorado, "Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano"
There is not a ton to say about this game. The Huskies have been awful on the road for the last decade, but we are starting to see that change. Big wins over USC and Utah in the last couple years have proven that this Husky team can do some damage outside of the friendly confines of Husky Stadium, or, in this year's case, the CLink. Colorado is a team that is trying to come back from its own decade of futility and a couple of scandals in there involving improper "benefits", and we aren't talking money (look it up). Colorado doesn't return much in the south division's version of the Cougs from last year except a couple of special teams playmakers. In fact, their star receiver Paul Richardson has decided to red shirt instead of rush back to play from torn knee ligaments. The team is inexperienced with low confidence going into this year and has their own USC, Oregon, Stanford stretch in the middle of the season with a buffer game against Arizona before UW heads down to Buffalo country. This one is pretty easy and therefore does not warrant much more discussion, except that it will be cool to see that big Buffalo running up and down the sidelines.
My Prediction: Huskies win big 45-12 in a nice and easy game leading into the Apple Cup, thank you scheduling Gods? (see weeks 2,4-6) Team Record: 7-4 (5-3)
Week 12: at WSU, Martin Stadium, you know, that thing that looks like the Huskies practice facility, except that the practice facility fits more people.
Well, this is it. All the anticipation of a new coach in Mike Leach for the Cougars comes down to this game in the Apple Cup. Admittedly, the Cougars do have some things to look forward to this year. They have new press boxes, which is weird because they don't have the internet. They have Leach coming and breathing new life into the program, even if he does take those lives and put them in a closet (see Craig James's son). They have a new spread offense that features an experienced, although oft-injured, Jeff Tuel (or Tool, depending on how you feel about him). They have an all-everything wide receiver in Marquiss Wilson who is actually a really good player and really hard to make fun of, except that his pretty skinny for a big time wideout. Their schedule is one of the worst in the country and might finally take them to a bowl game. All these things are very good the Cougars (pat on the head). But, talking about having some holes on a team. There defense is terrible. And I mean real bad. The Huskies went and got Justin Wilcox to change up the defense, the Cougs got Mike Leach to make it so the defense can still be just as bad but the offense gives them a chance to compete. They have no running back and no other top receivers, which means they can only throw to a wide receiver who will likely be double teamed every single game this year. So, Husky fans, don't you fret, this will not be the year the Cougars make us look bad. We will win a shootout beacause we have a defense that can actually slow down this team. We are faster, stronger, smarter,obviously, and these teams are the ones the Huskies beat this year.I like Mike Leach, that is, I liked Mike Leach before he got to the Cougs. But this purple and gold runs deep, and we will not let our little sister from the Palouse dictate how our season ends.
My Predicition: Huskies win 52-38 in a shootout that is never close, and we show those idiots a thing or two about winning football. Team Record: 8-4 (6-3)
What a bounce back to the season after that tough start, huh? This is a good team, and good teams win games they are supposed to win. It is my predicition that they win ALL of the games they are supposed to win, but are a year away from winning the games where they go in even with a team or as underdogs. This program is almost back to the days of winning seasons, bowl games and possibly even BCS games (which we have never played in, but that is irrelevant). I hope the Husky Loyal show up this season and root on this team in a year where there are some hardships, namely the stadium not being walking distance from frat row. Support these guys and they will reward us.
Go Dawgs!!!
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