The Return of BFWD

What does BFWD stand for? BIG FREAKING WHITE DUDES. The Stanford Cardinal is returning to Seattle to take on our beloved, and as always they are bringing with them a set of dudes that look like better sculpted, and more educated, versions of Boba Fett. Stanford has become known as a BFWD factory. Each year they lose between 3-7 of these guys to the NFL, or engineering firms in San Francisco, and they are just replaced with the same looking football player as if nothing changed. It's like that Halloween episode of the Simpsons where Homer clones himself hundreds of times over so that he doesn't have to do any work, except in this case every player is just a little bit different and the only people that don't have to do any work are the skill position players because of how easy the BFWD's make it for them.

The Huskies are the worst 4-0 in the history of UW football and possibly even all of college football this year. We have played teams that are terrible, we have looked terrible most of the time playing these games and if we don't get our stuff together; today will be terrible. But, as always, there is hope. The Huskies are not without their own size and they have more speed than most teams in the Pac 12, which is a huge advantage. UW has its own Boba Fett sitting on the defensive line in Danny Shelton helping to plug up the line with Hau'oli Kikaha; both of which are in the top two for sacks in the nation. And if this were considered a David versus Goliath affair (which it isn't), then the Huskies have their own David in Shaq Thompson; except our David is armed with an AK-47 instead of a rock. The experience on the offensive line and the speed of the receivers make the Huskies very dangerous, and they are going to need every little bit of these advantages to overcome the brains and size of the Cardinal; on both sides of the ball.

As every expert will tell you this game is going to be won in the trenches, and I cannot disagree with that. I will say, though, that the Huskies can win this game on the edges. Speed is going to be a huge factor in beating a team like Stanford. Yes, I know, Oregon would say the same thing except that they keep losing to the BFWD all-star team. I think Oregon's biggest problems are psychological and their defense. The Huskies don't have to win this game to go to the national championship, that isn't the kind of pressure UW is generally under and the Husky defense is better in the front 7 than the Ducks. I made a bet with my buddy after the Illinois game that UW would win by 14 points or more over Stanford. The Cardinal had lost to USC and UW finally found their offense and were clicking on defense. I was hopeful that UW was playing bad because they were playing teams that ran spread offenses and a traditional team like Stanford would be less work for UW. I am a little nervous about that prediction, but I still give the Huskies an advantage here.

The score will not be high and it won't be easy, but I see the Dawgs pulling out a 16-10 type of win today, putting this expected "program turnaround" season back on track. Can our guys get around the BFWD crew and make some noise? That will be the biggest thing to look for, and if they can, UW can be one of the better 5-0 teams in the country all of a sudden.

So much new...

Mrs. Loyalist: "You know, Loyalist, now that we have a son, your college football Saturdays are going to look a lot different."
Husky Loyalist: "You're right, finally someone in this household other than me will appreciate sitting around and watching football all day, even if that other person is just learning how to put everything, including the toilet seat, in their mouth."

"Seasons change, mad things rearrange, but it all stays the same like the love Dr. Strange..." - The Fugees, How Many Mics.

Ahhhhh, it is the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and for a lot of people that means recovering from a long car ride from the day before and trying not to get mosquito bites near their private parts at their favorite (and most hated) campground. For the Husky Loyalist over the years it has meant the ushering in of the greatest 4 or so months of the year; college football season.

For our Dawgs, this last off-season brought great change to the Husky Loyal Army and the team we support, but none of those changes take away any of the pageantry that comes with the first day of the season. New coach, new QB, new RB, new TE, new...hope. The first day of the season allows you to take a look at the college football landscape and figure out how the Huskies fit into the jumbled, beautiful mess that comes with being a college football fan.

Five years ago we saw the introduction of Steve "Trust me, I am probably not a racist, maybe" Sarkisian to the UW program and with it something we hadn't had in quite some time...hope. Despite Sark's unceremonious departure from our beloved, he did turn this program around from an underachieving pile of disappointment to a perennial "this could be the year, and then it sort of wasn't" program; and we thank him for that. But it is time to move on.

Coach Chris Petersen (Don James incarnate) is here. Holy crap, I can't believe I just wrote that, Chris Petersen is the new head football coach at the University of Washington! Doesn't it feel so good to say that?!? Hope. Tons of hope. Real hope. This is change I can believe in (corny, but true).

Onto tonight's game against the artists formally known as the Rainbow Warriors. Not much to say here. We are double digit favorites on the road in the first game of the season, that is not easy to do. It means the Huskies are primed and ready to show they are here and they mean business. The Rainb.....(sorry), The Warriors are just awful. I like Norm Chow and the work he did at USC way, way back, but he has not been able to match that magic since he left there (probably because he doesn't get to cheat like he used to with USC). The Huskies are stacked in just about every position this year, which is pretty fun. A little green in the secondary, but anchored by a very talented Marcus Peters. Our O-line and D-line are stacked. Our position players are deep and talented, not much to worry about Hawaii tonight.

The biggest thing about tonight is setting a precedent for the season and showing that we can dominate on the road. Hawaii is as close to being FCS-talented for being in the FBS as it gets, but it is still a long flight, tons of distractions and the first game of the season with the starting QB sitting on the bench wondering if it was really worth it to attack people who were celebrating a Seahawks super bowl win (the answer, Cyler, is no, no it was not worth it). Despite all of the potential challenges, I think UW shows up.

So here is to change, hope and and my baby's infectious mouth.

UW beats Hawaii, 34-10.

Go DAWGS!!!