Biggest (Friday) Game Ever?

In just a few hours, the Huskies will take on Stanford in what could be called the biggest game in Husky program history. Pundits and fans alike love to attach superlatives and hyperbole to games in order to make their articles or arguments at The Duchess stand out. Is tonight's game huge? Of course it is. But I don't think we can rush to judgement on how big a game is until AFTER it happens. Let me explain. How many times have we as sports fans looked at a mid-season game and thought, "If we don't win this game you can kiss any kind of championship goodbye!" If you didn't raise your hand where you sit or stand, you are lying.

After the Seahawks were 3-3 in 2014 I told my brother and his friend that I would take them out for drinks for a year if the Seahawks finished any better than 8-8 that season. Hyperbole. Unfortunately my brother doesn't forget a bet. As we all know, they went on to win 10 of the next 11, beat Green Bay in that game and reached the Super Bowl. Did losing to the hapless Rams on the road in week 7 derail the Seahawks chances of obtaining the #1 seed? No. But when we were 3-2 and needed a big win, I bet a lot of people said it was a "must win" game or the season is over.

My point is, we won't know how big this game is going to be until we find out what the rest of the season has in store for us. We could win this game big or small and then lose 3 or 4 more the rest of the season therefore determining that is was just a good win when it happened. We could lose this game and end up being a 1-loss Pac12 team fighting for a spot in the College Football Playoff. All I am saying is, if UW wants to be taken seriously as a contender year in and year out, we need to stop pretending that seasons rest on each "big" game that comes up on the schedule.

Don't get me wrong, the stakes are high tonight. A top-ten matchup at Husky Stadium on a Friday night (sorry commuters on any major arterial this evening) in front of a sold out crowd on national TV without any other competing games except the poor high schoolers who play on Friday nights who are really only thinking about the school dance later that night and which cheerleader to inappropriately grind on...is a big deal. Stanford has been tough against the Huskies recently. Stanford has won the last 3 matchups and 7 of the last 8 in generally convincing fashion. Two years ago at Husky Stadium was supposed to be the one that got us over the hump. Two hard hitting defenses with mediocre offenses presented UW with a chance to tough one out. Shaq Thompson was doing some surreal things on the field that season and sure enough he stripped the ball and ran it back for the Huskies only touchdown that day. But alas, it wasn't enough and another opportunity in a "massive" game went by the wayside. See, that season we were undefeated after a crappy non-conference schedule. Stanford was undefeated ranked #16 and this was supposed to show the country that despite our easy non-conference schedule, we could still hang with the big boys (sound familiar). Hang we did; but no win.

For tonight's purposes, let's hope that this game will mean something big.

On that note, here is how it shakes out. Stanford is the same tough, bruising, big bodied team they have been since they decided to take football seriously about 10 years ago (see: BFWD posts in this blog). David Shaw is a master of the big lines, few really talented skill players and nominal QB system that has sent them to the Rose Bowl and kept them in the conversation for national championship in recent years. Nothing else is all that different than most years except they have Ed McCaffrey's son (Christian), who just so happens to be the reigning Heisman runner-up and coming off a season where he set the all time mark for all purpose yards AND put up more than 300 yards against the Dawgs last year. Stopping him and keeping him inside the tackles is going to be key for the Huskies. He is obviously dangerous when he breaks free and keeping a spy on him will be crucial to winning tonight. One of the WR's is out for Stanford and their QB is just OK, which has always worked for them.

On the other end, the Huskies need to keep the offense going without dumb turnovers or not making fourth down conversions. Both the Huskies and Stanford had ugly wins last week, which these programs love and appreciate. The Huskies have a few more weapons on offense and aren't nearly as one dimensional as the Cardinal, but they have to put it all together if they want to beat the likes of Stanford. The Cardinal will be missing two of their starting cornerbacks, so it will be crucial to get quick slants and the occasional deep ball going. The UW defense is solid and needs to be better than last week, but I like going against a quarterback who can't run for an 80 yard touchdown against us. That makes this a great matchup for the Huskies and like every year with Stanford will come down to the trenches.

I do think this is a game that the Huskies can win, but somebody around here has to be the pessimist. It just doesn't seem to all add up to a program defining win tonight because of past precedent, but man do I hope I am wrong.

The Pick: Stanford 24, UW 21

Look who's coming to lunch...

What has been your favorite response to, "we are gonna make it a decade on Saturday"? I mean, don't you just hate this team and their fans so much? We understand the Cougar Complex, it is simple for us to understand that they don't have a lot to celebrate in the middle of nowhere so when there is any kind of success (like, a first down kind of success), then they freak out and bring the incoherent "in your f*****g face" comments. With the Ducks, there is just something about the way the team conducts its business and who their fans are that make you just want to pour gasoline all over your body and look for the first smoker wearing one of those Oakley sweatshirts Duck fans love so much. Phil Knight is like the dad of that rich kid you hated so much growing up. You know, the kid that got any and everything he wanted and his rich dad wasn't around very much so he made up for it by buying him the coolest crap. And then you finally meet the dad and he is the cockiest little punk you have ever met. That's what Phil Knight is like to this team, and this team is that stupid son that everyone loves until you get to know him. For instance, I have a lot of friends spread out across the country and they love the Ducks and their uniform crap and all that. But if you are in the Pac-12 or moved into the Northwest and started to get to know the Ducks and their fans, you know you hate them (enough of the metaphors and analogies for now). The reason this rivalry is so heated is because there seems to be such a difference in the type of people associated with either program. I am not saying that Husky fans are not without dumbasses, trust me, there are quite a few out there unfortunately. Whereas the Cougar fans are like that annoying little brother who you tolerate, Duck fans are like your wife's ex-husband; you just don't like anything about them. Everything they do just pisses you off and most of the time you can't even pinpoint why it pisses you off.

Wet, Windy.....Win

If you haven't looked outside today either you are still struggling to get passed that hangover you deserve after partying too much at your high school homecoming game you were too old to go to, or you are like lots of Seattleites who keep the windows closed up until spring when the sun comes back out. Spoiler alert: it is disgusting outside. The Husky Loyal Army from across the country knows this weather, we grew up in it, walked through Red Square on the way to class in it and urinated in an alleyway on a late, Thursday night for the first time in it. This is what we live in. Husky teams practice in this weather and know this weather very well (they also grew up in it, go to class in it and pee in alleyways in it) and are much more prepared than the Arizona Wildcats. We all looked at the forecast and saw heavy rains, strong winds and thought, "The tailgating is going to suck, but atleast our team just increased its home field advantage." And to a certain extent, you are right. This is exactly the kind of thing we need when playing a team who is used to 90 degrees and a dust storm (named a Haboob, yeah, that's right, a Haboob). My biggest issue with a game like today's with this kind of weather is the Husky balance of offense calls for the team to have an effective passing game to free up the running game, or vice versa. Arizona has a STRONG rushing attack led by Ka'Deem Carey. I mean, one of the stronger rushing attacks in college football coming in at 14th in the nation. Arizona has relied on their rushing all season against the worst non-conference lineup I have ever seen (see Northern Arizona, UNLV, and UT-San Antonio). Good offense is good offense, so there is something to worry about there. Contrarily, the Wildcats have one of the worst passing attacks in college football, so they will be running the ball 3 out of 4 plays. What does this mean for UW? Well, for one, if you go back and click the hyperlink that will tell you Arizona is ranked 14th in the nation in rushing, falling just 4 spots below at #18 are the Huskies. We can run. We can run real well. On top of that, we can pass in a multitude of ways that will allow us to spread the field and open the middle up for Bishop Sankey to do what he does. On top of that, the head coach of Arizona is Rich "I now suck" Rodriguez. He does not care about defense. UW is going to run and pass all over it. On defense, the Huskies will get to load the box to dominate that rushing attack led by Carey, and it is starting to look like UW is in good shape.

I made my prediction in the season preview, and I am sticking by it. I would've liked for the weather to be better so we could pad some stats for Keith Price and Sankey, but I will take a lower scoring rout of Arizona and the W; taking UW to 4-0 and a showdown with a likely undefeated, top 5 Stanford. Here is to celebrating tonight with a urination session in an alleyway off of the Ave.

GO DAWGS!!!!!!

2013 Season Preview

Well, you probably thinking to yourself, "Loyalist, isn't it a little bit too late to be coming out with a season preview the night before the season is supposed to start?!?" A valid question. But I say to you, do we really know what our team is going to look like in Spring, early Summer, or even after Fall camp? Here we are about 24 hours away from kickoff for one of the most important Husky campaigns we have seen in years, and you tell me whether or not what we found out at 10:00pm on August 29th, 2013 has any relevance on how the season could play out. If you don't know what the announcement was, you were probably on vacation or slipping on your toe shoes when the announcement came out last night. Needless to say, a certain All-American will not be playing in tomorrow's Boise State game. Some of you out there say it was fair, others say unfair. Some say it will make a huge impact on the game, others say he didn't have very much impact on the bowl game against Boise State last year, so he won't matter tomorrow. That is why you do a season preview the day before the games start. Regardless, we are in for an incredible season of football, a new stadium, and hope that Husky football is back. Here is my game by game breakdown of what I think will transpire this 2013 college football season.

Speaking of the black out....

I have been tossing this idea back and forth in my head for quite some time about the Huskies, "How do I feel about the boys changing up their uniforms so often?" I have to admit that I am a traditionalist, so I have a really hard time seeing anything other than gold helmets, purple jerseys and gold pants at home, or gold helmet, white jerseys and gold pants on the road. Now, I am not so far out there as to not realize the appeal of changing things up ever so often, but after what we saw last year with the different combos (i.e. the all whites, and the white helmet, and the black pants on the road) I am ready for the "tradition" of Husky football to get back on course. This last Thursday against Stanford was a lot of fun to watch, and the blackout of uniforms and the people in the stands played out very well when all shades of black converged on the field when the clock ticked down to :00. Here is a look at the promotional picture from last week's blackout game....

 

Courtesy: Olugbenro Ogunsemore

I wasn't terrible excited about the look until I saw the crowd show up in similar colors, but I think there would have been a bigger impact, for me, if the Dawgs were wearing their traditionals. Maybe I am crazy, but I would just like to stay as far away from the "Ducks" look as I possibly can.

What do you all think? Let me know by commenting below.

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!!!