Feels Good to be Wrong...

Wow, what a feeling it is to wake up this morning (at 1:20 A.M.) and know the Huskies did what we have all been waiting for......show up. I know what you are going through, Husky Loyal Army. Checking every website for coverage of the game, racking your brain for the best moments of last night's game, watching ESPN's Sportscenter over and over because you know they are going to mention it about every 45 minutes, and waiting to hear from experts about what this UW team can accomplish. And you know why we are all doing this? Because we won. We beat Stanford. #8 in the country Stanford. A team that could've possibly made a run at a national championship birth if they could have beat us and Oregon. We won. The Huskies are now 3-1 and undefeated in conference play (1-0) and at home (3-0). And you know what feels really good about all this......? Our defense won this game!!!!!! Justin Wilcox has been hoisted on all of our shoulders after providing a blueprint to beat the Cardinal for this inexperienced, small and outmatched defense. Coming into the season, people were expecting the Huskies to beat teams through the air and hope to get a couple of stops here and there. But now, we can expect something else, a grind em out, knock em down kind of game that these Huskies can win. But you know what is best about all this.......I WAS WRONG!!!! And thank Don James I was wrong. I predicted before the season started that UW would lose a pivotal game to the Cardinal 28-24 in a hard fought game. A game where the Huskies proved they are still not ready for the big time. And you know what, when Stanford was on their last drive down by 4 points, I thought the same. I thought "here we go again". But this team stiffened up and came up with the plays us fans have been waiting to see out of a secretly talented group of guys.

Thank you, Huskies. Thank you for giving us some hope. No matter what happens this season, we will now always have the "Blackout of the Century".

Husky Loyalist

The Importance of the Stanford Game?

Our beloved Huskies are going to be at "home" tomorrow against the Stanford Cardinal in what is being considered by some, me, one of the biggest games in this program's most recent history. UW goes into the nationally televised, Thursday night showdown with the record of 2-1, a record most people expected after playing the A-B-C schedule the athletic department lined up for the team. A sloppy but effective win against San Diego State, a crap-tastic in every single way type of loss to Louisiana State University and a blowout, unfair win against Portland State. Now, we play a Stanford team that barely beat San Jose State, then crushed Duke and upset a national championship contender in USC. Makes for a very interesting game tomorrow at the CLink.

I think more than anything it will determine how the rest of the season will go. I know that it is just one game, and the Pac-12 has proven this year that anyone can beat anyone on any given Thursday-Friday-Saturday, but this Husky team has become predictable enough that I think we will know UW's record by the end of tomorrow's match.

If the Stanford Cardinal beat the Huskies.....
This obviously is the worst case scenario for many reasons. I believe it means that the Huskies are still not ready for the big time and our injury issues are a bigger deal than Coach Sark has led us to believe. Therefore, if we can't win, the rest of the season looks a little something like this:

At Oregon, Huskies lose by more than 40 points, team record; 2-3
Vs USC, Huskies lose by about 20 points, team record; 2-4
At Arizona, Huskies lose in a shootout by a TD, team record; 2-5
Vs Oregon St., Huskies lose by a field goal, team record; 2-6
At Cal, Huskies finally get back on track with upset win, team record; 3-6
Vs Utah, home field advantage is key, Huskies win, team record; 4-6
At Colorado, not the season we wanted, but it's still the Buffs, team record; 5-6
At Wazzu, they really do suck, Huskies win close one, team record; 6-6

Remember, this is the bad news. And don't forget I am just some idiot Husky fan that thinks he knows the team really well. 6-6 in a year with the hardest schedule in the country with a terrible list of important injuries is not so bad, right? I mean, it still gets you to a bowl game and the future continues to look bright. But, not beating Stanford at home means all of the questionable games on the schedule will likely go to the opponent, and also puts in question some of the "locks".

If Huskies pull off the upset and beat the Cardinal...
I do not think that this is so outlandish. This is not the same Cardinal team that we saw last year in Palo Alto. We are talking about a freshman QB on the road for the first time ever, Stanford's last game was against USC so they should be a little more beaten up than UW and we have this game at "home", not on "The Farm". It will not be easy to beat the Stanford Cardinal for many reasons, but I do not think it is out of the realm of possibility. Therefore, if we win, the rest of the season looks a little something like this...


At Oregon, Huskies still lose by about 30 points, team record; 3-2
Vs USC, Huskies win by a field goal because they can beat a USC team, team record; 4-2
At Arizona, Huskies still lose to a shootout type of team on the road, team record; 4-3
Vs Oregon St., Huskies win by a field goal, team record; 5-3
At Cal, Huskies are feeling good at this point, team record; 6-3
Vs Utah, home field advantage is key, and the Huskies are better, team record; 7-3
At Colorado, Buffs only win in the last several weeks will be against WSU, team record; 8-3
At Wazzu, they really do suck, Huskies win big, team record; 9-3

In this ultimate dream scenario, the Huskies go 9-3 with a 7-1 conference record in the Pac-12 North, which will be good for second place behind Oregon unless they lose to USC and are upset by a Stanford type of team. I know that it looks crazy for UW to beat USC and Stanford in three weeks with an Oregon game squished in there, but that is the kind of confidence I will have in this team if they beat Stanford.

This game is huge, I hope Sark has them ready for it.

Go Dawgs!!!

Love the thrashing/Sark's pep talk

It was finally nice to see the Huskies get a win yesterday against Portland State (even if they are worse than most intramural flag teams at the UW). What may have been the best moment of the game, other than all the scoring, was when Coach Steve Sarkisian had the team huddle up on one knee before going into the locker room at halftime. . I couldn't find a picture, but if you watched the game yesterday, you should know what I am talking about. It had appeared the Dawgs were playing about as well as a team could at home against an F-C-who cares? team, but the head coach saw something wrong. Coach Sark up until this point has seemed to be a little bit too relaxed, or atleast appeared that way, and I think that may have played into this team not having the fight it needs to finish in close situations and play as hard as they need to in tough games. His very public display of dissatisfaction at the end of the half after a couple of personal fouls and dumb penalties put a charge in me, and hopefully will resonate with the players as they head into this brutal stretch (Stanford, at Oregon, USC, at Arizona). It was fun to see the Huskies win, and hopefully this confidence will carry over into a very important game against Stanford on a Thursday night on national TV after a BYE after Stanford upset USC. I said before the season that this will be the biggest game in UW's more recent history, maybe ten years or so. A game at home in front of 68,000 fans in a blackout should give the team an advantage, now it's up to the players to use that momentum, and use the lesson learned from Coach Sark yesterday, to put away a good team on the way to a productive season.

Husky Loyalist

Poor, Poor Poortland State

The Husky football team started scheduling its non-conference play each year based on an A-B-C plan a few years back. Meaning, essentially, that UW would play a squad that is in the top tier of teams (A), a team that won't be in the top 25 anytime soon but plays some good football (B), and a team that UW should beat if it started its third stringers (C). This year, the Huskies stuck to that plan to a T, scheduling San Diego St. (B), Louisiana State University (A++++), and now, Portland State (C).

What the Vikings didn't realize when they accepted this game is that the Huskies would get off to a victorious, but unimpressive, start against the Aztecs, and then get absolutely embarrassed by the LSU Tigers. This combination is going to motivate the Huskies to do some serious damage to show the conference and the nation that they still mean business this season.

Stuck in this fight are the poor Vikings. Losers of last week's matchup against "powerhouse" North Dakota and a win in week 1 against NAIA's Carroll College (where my first ever roommate, who was ten years older than I was, went to school). Portland State is not Eastern Washington nor Sacramento State nor Appalachian State, and may not even be Bellevue High School. This "C" team that the Husky Athletic Department scheduled is less than a C, they are closer to a Z.

With all that being said, the Huskies are going to try the best they can to absolutely thrash this team by beating up on them like my brothers did to me so they could feel like men. UW's anemic offense thus far will unleash its fury all over the Vikings defense. The "all new" defense that was supposed to turn some heads will try and make sure no Vikings player even thinks about crossing the 50 yard line without first asking permission. I would feel bad for the Vikings, but I feel worse for this year's Huskies. With great expectation can bring great let down, and so far in this very young season I have been let down. But a HUGE win over Portland State will re-energize my faith in the Dawgs and Coach Sark and Teeth, etc., etc., etc.

If any Portland State players are reading this blog, please feel free to post your contact information and I will get in touch about buying you a beer, because this is going to suck.

LSU Weather....uh-oh

The Advocate in Baton Rouge had a full write up about the weather in Baton Rouge, and how they believe that is going to have a huge impact on our players because we are used to playing so close to the North Pole (basically). You can see that article here and you can read why we are screwed almost exclusively because it will be humid and hot.....at night time. Respect where respect is due, they did say LSU will be facing the toughest passing attack of the season, which was very nice of them.

It's going to be tough one down there in Death Valley, Loyal Army, but there is still a chance to pull an upset. I feel terrible for the LSU Offensive Tackle who was lost for the season this week, really a bummer. But that will help the Huskies pass rush and that is key. For anyone who is down there, enjoy yourselves, the rest of us will "freeze" in the Northwest at 75 degrees and sunny.

Go Dawgs!!!

Chances Against LSU

This is one of the toughest matchups of the year for the Huskies this season, question is, with everything going on with the Huskies and their injuries, is there any chance UW can go down to Death Valley and pull out the HUGE upset? The Dawgs lose Callier and Jamora for the rest of the season, which is a huge blow. I think when the Huskies are playing their best offense, there are few teams that can stop them. Unfortunately, this might be one of those teams. On the other end, LSU has lost a few guys to injuries/suspensions, and that should help. They also did not play particularly well against North Texas, so between LSU and UW, I think first game performances are a wash. Will UW move to a spread em out type of passing attack without depth at running back, or does Bishop Sankey become this year's Chris Polk and balance out the passing game?

Lots of questions going into this Saturday, my question for you.......Can the Huskies pull off the upset and why or why not?

Please answer this question by writing in the comments section.