Coach Baird on Husky Football

    With only about a week to go before signing day, the Washington Huskies are close to bringing in their biggest and quite possibly their best football signing class in decades.  Even a recent defection of an Oregon kid deciding to go to Oregon cannot take away from the haul the Huskies are expected to sign on Feb. 3rd.

    Right now they are going to sign close to 30 kids and considering you can only sign 25 per year it means they have more than filled their boat.  The class will feature 8 kids from this state with the rest coming from mostly California and Hawaii.

   They have great balance with almost half on offense and half on defense but with a solid emphasis on offensive linemen where the Huskies will sign no less than 6 big ones. This will be the first time in over ten years that Washington has taken care of business up front. Recruiting linemen was never a priority like it is now and considering 5 of the 6 are all over 6 foot 4 there is great range as well. Considering football games are won up front this represents a major change in recruiting emphasis.

    Signing upwards of 30 kids forces Coach Steve Sarkisian to get a little creative with his roster.  One of the commits, running back Deontae Cooper,  has graduated from high school early and is already enrolled in winter quarter thereby making him eligible for winter drills and spring ball.  He is expected to be joined by as many as 3 other early graduates by spring quarter.  These four may be counted back on last year’s total thereby opening room to bring in 25 for fall camp in August.  A couple are still recovering from injuries and they may  be moved into the 2011 signing class by delaying their enrollment to next winter quarter, thereby counting them ahead.

    Whatever, should they sign 30 it will be one of the biggest signing classes in the nation and then it becomes a matter of all of them becoming academically eligible and enrolling for fall quarter. To ease their overflow they have already had a number of their current roster decide to transfer out including their back-up quarterback, Ronnie Fouch who will be immediately eligible at Indiana State.

    That means that Nick Montana, the outstanding quarterback and son of another great quarterback, Joe Montana, will immediately move into the top 3 on the depth chart.  Montana is bringing one of his high school linemen with him in Erik Kohler, who at 6-4 and 280 is big enough to protect Montana.  They played together at Christian Oaks Academy in California and were one of the best teams in that whole state. They actually played up here in a pre-season matchup with the eventual Washington state champions, Skyline, and beat them handily. Montana certainly has the bloodlines you are looking for and will be the marquee signee in this class.

  The Huskies are currently sitting on 29 commitments and are close to signing a couple more. They are really interested in a couple more defensive linemen further underscoring their up-front approach.

   That’s not to say they are not adding skill kids as well and probably the best of those will be Kevin Smith, a 6-1, 200 lb pass catcher out of Compton California.  He is a thoroughbred and a great looking kid on film and should push for immeidate playing time.  They will also be bringing in 3 other backs to go with Cooper as well as a tight end and 3 other receivers besides Smith.

    Last year Coach Sarkisian and his staff only had one month to put together a class of 19 kids.  Four of those didn’t qualify academically and so they only added 15 kids with two being JC transfers.  Of those who didn’t make it in, all were JC kids. Consequently, they didn’t sign any JC’s in this class and have decided to build their program with high school kids.  By only signing 15 they were 10 under the limit and that is why they can count kids back should they enroll this year.

   They are actually going to sign three kids from the same high school, Lakes in Tacoma.  Sione Potoae, a defensive tackle, is probably the highest rated kid they will sign and he will be joined by defensive end, Darius Waters and safety/wide receiver/athlete, Jamaal Kearse whose brother Jermaine is already a star receiver for the Dawgs. It is rare that 3 kids from the same team ever sign with the same school but they will join 5 other Washington kids who have likewise decided to stay home to play their collegiate ball. 

    Of the 15 they signed last year, 9 actually played with 3 becoming starters in punter, Will Mahan, receiver, James Johnson, and defensive back, Desmont Trufant. If they have 9-10 of this in-coming class make the field next year it will be a great addition to their depth. It may be difficult for any to start but progress is being made to upgrade their talent pool and that will add competition for playing time and that will make the team better.

    Both Washington and WSU are experiencing their best recruiting classes in years and obviously it has a lot to do with being able to offer early playing time.  Both state schools have been suffering through a down spell and the only way to get better is to get better players to sign up.  Both classes will greatly bolster their existing depths and Washington’s class will probably be one of it’s highest rated classes ever.

    Of course, anything can happen coming down the stretch but when Wed. Feb 3rd rolls around we are liable to see the best infusion of talent to hit the state schools in at least a decade. Lord knows both teams could use it.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

    When Pete Carroll was officially introduced as the Seahawks’ new coach I had a number of people calling or emailing me about Washington possibly losing Steve Sarkisian. You know, put 2 and 2 together and getting 5, it only made sense for Sark to head back to LA and become the coach of the Trojans. He knows their system and he knows their kids, it’s a natural. I never thought it would happen and am certainly glad it didn’t.

   A big part of the game of football is loyalty and Coach Sarkisian is staying at Washington because of that reason. He is still implementing his program. He has an enthusiastic group of coaches who have bought in to his system and are great teachers of not only the game but how they do things. They are all coming back. His players love him and believe in him.  The alumni is encouraged, he is media friendly, he is a family guy, and he is a darn good offensive play caller. He has successfully laid down his foundation and is currently putting together one of the best recruiting classes in decades. Why would he leave?, for money of course.

    His players finished the season as believers. They bought into the system and they made it work 5 times and didn’t 7 times, but so what? Remember the year before?  Their last two games proved their resolve and showed that they easily could have had a winning season and been bowl eligible. His system is working and the kids are buying in, at least those who are staying and those who are coming.

    Right now Coach Sarkisian and his staff are trying to hold on and if they’re lucky they may even add a few more gems coming down the stretch in recruiting.  There are only 3 weeks left before signing day for football and they already have 26 kids lined up. Considering they only had 14 graduating seniors, they are already over booked.

   Still, they continue to chase some really big timers and who knows what may fall out of the USC situation. Should the Huskies end up with 28 or so signees it would be one of the bigger and better recuiting efforts at Washington in decades. That is precisely how you win in college football.  It’s all about players and the competition you create on your own team that makes you more competitive on the field in games.

    Coach Sarkisian knew when he signed on at Washington that he was in it for the long haul. He studied the landscape of college football and realized that on the west coast Washington was one of the plum jobs in the profession.  He is building his program from the ground up and considering that the players are the building blocks of the team, recruiting has his highest priority at this time of year and he gives it the majority of each day.

     Washington got lucky when they named Steve Sarkisian it’s football coach after turning the program over from Jim Lambright to Rick Neuheisel to Keith Gilbertson to Tyrone Willingham and doing so all in a period of less than 10 years. That’s what happened to Husky Football. That’s what drove the program down till it bottomed out at 0-12.  Steve Sarkisian is going to change that and he realizes it will take time and leaving after the first year is not the way to do it.  He will do so by getting better players.  That’s what it’s all about and that is going on now.

   The Huskies are hosting 18 kids this weekend and 12 of them have already committed.  That means they are still considering at least 6 more to their already 26 total and you can bet that anyone they add now has to be pretty special. That is the attitude of the program now.  They have changed their expectations.  They expect to get recruits and expect to win. They also expect their coach to stay and be their coach.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

   When the defense of the Crimson Tide of Alabama knocked the Texas quarterback out of the game in the first quarter they essentially won the national championship game right there. It was a great defensive game all around as the Longhorn defense rose up in the third quarter to dominate the Alabama offense and give their backup true freshman quarterback enough opportunities to get his team back into game. They closed it to a single touchdown deficit but then the Tide put it away with their running game and their defense, of course.

     The game totally reflected the formula for winning championships in the sport of football.  If you play great defense, run the ball when you want to, and break even in the kicking game, then most of the time you’re going to win.  Alabama played good old fashion smash mouth football and came out the the winner of the biggest bowl of them all.  Too bad for Boise State though, they may have been good enough to beat either team but we’ll never know because the system still doesn’t allow it.

    Who knows if Boise State could’ve won? But, that’s precisely why they need to finally admit there should be a playoff for major college football.  The president knows it, you know it, I know it, the fans know it and the players know it, but don’t ask them their opinion because the NCAA never considers what the kids want. They already have a playoff at almost every level of football from pee-wee to high school, to small college, to professional.  They have a playoff in almost every team sport there is in college sports but not big time football. Why? Nobody really knows, but the number of bowl games continues to grow.  Every year it seems like a new bowl game is added so now there are more teams that go to bowls than not.

   Unfortunately,  none of our state schools were invloved but both Oregon schools were and proceeded to lay eggs and were easily beaten in their games against BYU and Ohio State.  The Beavers of Oregon State obviously spent too much time on the strip in Las Vegas because next to Arizona they were the worst Pac-10 team in a bowl.  Ohio State showed everyone how to beat the Ducks of Oregon by running the ball right at them and need I repeat, playing great defense.

   Of all the northwest schools only the Idaho Vandals were victorious. The move of going for two to win the game by Coach Rob Akey was one of the best calls in all the bowls.  There are many who think he has positioned himself well to return to WSU if Paul Wulff continues to struggle.  Akey was a former defensive coordinator for the Cougars and ironically during his bowl game he was supported on his sidelines by a number of the current Husky coaches.  That’s because there are about 4-5 coaches of the Dawg staff who have either coached or played at Idaho in the past. 

   It was Idaho’s first bowl in years and many of their players had been recruited  by Nick Holt, Johnny Nansen, Joel Thomas, and Mike Anderson, the Huskies defensive GA. The bowl win by the Vandals was my favorite of all the bowls just because of the Husky connection.

   Just as we were trying to come off the bowl barrage the news of the firing of Jim Mora as the local professional coach stunned the northwest.  Considering he was only given one year and that there was no general manager in place, it was a bit of a shocker to most local football fans.  Then to announcement the hiring of USC’s Pete Carroll followed and it was obvious that Mora has been out for some time now. I have a personal connection with Coach Mora having coached together in 1984 with the Huskies.  It was my first year coaching with Coach James and Jim’s first year coaching, period. I have always considered him a friend and that obviously distorts my view of his firing. I think he got shafted.

     I am excited for the Seahawks that Coach Carroll is coming but really saddened that Coach Mora was so prematurely fired. He was never really given a chance but there was no question his team stumbled to the finish. Still, it’s hard to feel sorry for someone who is about to be given $12 million just to walk away. Wow, how would you like to have a severence package like that? For that I am happy for him and his family. Getting fired is basically setting him up for life.

     It goes back to money and Paul Allen has decided to spend his trying to win a Super Bowl. I’ll take a Rose Bowl myself because I’m really a college football fan but I’m sure the great Seahawk fanbase would welcome a return to the playoffs and another run at the big game.  There it is, that word playoff again, and had Mora just won 4 more games including beating the Arizona Cardinal twice, he would still be the coach and the Hawks would still be playing, in the playoffs of course.

     Coach Carroll will just about double his salary and that was probably a  factor in his decision but my sources tell me the hammer is about to finally fall on USC and that the Trojan’s AD, Mike Garrett, is hanging Carroll out to dry and lumping him in with their just fired basketball coach, Tim Floyd, who was an obvious cheater.

    We all know there are only two kinds of coaches, those who have been fired and those who are going to get fired. Pete Carroll and Jim Mora have both been there as have I and every other coach I’ve ever worked with.  Heck, some of my friends have been fired double figures times. It comes with the profession but whereas the head coach may get 12 million to walk, assistants and their families get pink slips and a road map out of town.

    So the college football season finally ends and the firing of football coaches season  begins.  Everyone wants to win and in big time sports that is the only acceptable outcome. Players win games and coaches lose them. That’s just the nature of the profession.  To see the kind of money being thrown around these days is almost unheard of especially when were are suppose to be in a recession.  That’s entertainment and obviously money still drives the entertainment bus.

   Carroll’s departure at USC creates a vacuum there and the scary thing for Husky fans is that the Trojans may come calling for Steve Sarkisian.  So far the name Mike Riley of Oregon State has been the one thrown out the most and getting him out of Corvallis would be another great thing for the Huskies.

    I would be greatly disappointed if Sarkisian left because I would like him to be here at Washington for at least 10-15 years so that we could get continuity back into Husky Football. I would find it hard to imagine Sark walking away from this team after what Jake Locker has said and done. At least at the college level staying the course is always best for the program. It takes too long to implement a system and that is precisely what happened to Coach Mora. He inherited a 4 win team and only won 5. Sarkisian only won 5 games and will probably get a raise just to not to go to USC. Go figure.

    I also hope the NCAA changes the BCS to include the bowls in a playoff system that will end up with the top 8 schools after the bowls are over.  There could be a selection committee just like in basketball March madness and they would crunch all those BCS numbers and come up with the top seeded teams ranking them 1 to 8 and then matching them up for 3 week playoff. The money they are leaving on the table would greatly help all of college sports with all Division 1 schools getting a piece of the pie and the participants getting a chunk.

    It is really a no-brainer and I can’t believe that the college presidents don’t see it as a much needed revenue source to fund all their sports. Those 7 extra games would be a finacial windfall for college football just like winning the Super Bowl would be for the Seahawks. Unfortunately, it’s all about money and even if you lose it can set you up for life. Just ask Jim Mora.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

  The decision of Jake Locker has had an unbelievable ripple effect on everything related to Husky football.  The coaches, players, fans, boosters, media and especially the recruits have all been impacted by the actions of this one young man. Of course, watching it daily and repeatedly on ESPN and on every other sports media outlet has put the University of Washington and it’s ever improving football team back into the national limelight.

    It’s been a long time since Washington has even been ranked much less gone to a bowl game or had a winning season.  This program had sunk to the bottom of college football due to the continual turnover of coaches, systems, and administrators. The program had simply lost it’s rudder and with it went the cream of the local talent.

   In college sports it always goes back to recruiting and this year’s successes highlited by this unbelievable decision of Jake to turn down millions of dollars has cast the program back into the positive side of sports news.  Something positive must also be happening with that team for this kid to make this kind of decision. It speaks loudly about the values of the kid and the program. It continues the concept of hope that happened at this exact same time last year when Steve Sarkisian was hired. Hope was about all Husky fans had,  but now they have a 10 star recruit committed heading into the new year.

   That’s what Coach Sarkisian said about Jake’s present to the team.  He called him the equivilent of signing a 10-star recruit or roughly twice as good as any of the very best players in the nation.  It is pretty obvious now as some experts already had him ranked as the best quarterback in college and one even having him rated as the highest player period in the up coming NFL draft. 

    Well, the NFL draft will just have to wait another year because along comes a kid who simply loves his college experience and his team enough to say, “no thanks, maybe next year”.  It doesn’t have to make sense and it doesn’t, but that’s totally Jake.

   I saw it when he scored his 5th touchdown against Cal.  The honest brotherhood and affection between he and his team mates while celebrating convinced me he wanted to finish what he had started and that was to win a championship.  Now I’m not saying they will win it all and go to the Rose Bowl but why not hope they will?

   This whole scenerio is all being read and watched closely by 25-30 high school seniors who are presently either committed or almost committed to joining the Husky team. It is simply the best publicity this program could possibly get.  It is another confirming reason to stay committed and sign with the Huskies the first Wednesday in February.

   Right now the Huskies have a full boat in recruiting and are only taking new commitments from the cream of the crop of west coast high school football. They will need to hang on to those they already have because other schools will certainly try to turn some. They will have to do some serious roster manipulations anyway just to stay within the NCAA limit of 85 total kids on scholarship.  Additionally, the NCAA also resticts schools to no more than 25 “initials” or new kids per year.

    To get around the initial rules they will likely bring some in this year for spring quarter thereby counting them back and they will also delay enrollment for some others by “grey shirtting” them and bring them in after next season, thereby counting them forward.

   There were only three teams in this conference who did not make it to a bowl game.  Along with WSU and ASU, the Huskies were one of them. So to get this sort of national publicity without being in the BCS, the BS, or whatever, is almost a gift from above.

   Jake Locker was annointed by some as the “savior” of the program when he signed years ago. I took offense to that and felt it was unfair to him and the only real savior this world has ever known. He is not the savior, but he is one special young man who almost single handly has been the standard bearer for this storied football program at it’s lowest point.  He now has set a standard that is almost unbelievable.  He is a great example for kids throughout this country. Get your degree, stay in school, make a total commitment to your team and finish the jobs you set out to do. Throw in perserverance and toughness and you’ve got what I call a winner. A winner off the field first then a winner between the lines.  In that order. That’s Jake Locker.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

    Call it pay-back, call it meaningless, or in Cal’s case, call it in. Whatever, the Washington Huskies ended their initial year under Steve Sarkisian with by far their best effort of the season. Even before the game ended and the Huskies began celebrating their 42-10 thrashing of a nationally ranked and thoroughly overwhelmed Cal Bear team, the focus had already turned to the decision of Jake Locker on whether he will go or stay. (Let’s let that one rest here because the decision will be eventually be made and the program will move on no matter what he decides.)

    Those of you who read my stuff know I believe that the game of football is usually won by the teams the play good defense, run the ball on offense, and are solid in the kicking game.  Now I also harp on not turning the ball over and believe that good defense means stopping the run first and then attacking the quarterback in passing situations.  Against Cal, to end their season, the Huskies did all of the above and then some.

   The Huskies outrushed a good running team in the Bears, 177 to 81, and in doing so held them to over 100 yards less then the Bears had been averaging on the season. Of course, they also out passed them including 3 touchdown passes by the before mentioned Jake Locker. They had 25 first downs and held the Bears to 14.  They had 463 total yards to the Bears 296.

     When the Bears decided to throw the Huskies attacked their quarterback relentlessly and totaled 5 sacks and at least 8 other hits on their quarterback.  That was the second week in a row where they registered 5 sacks and 3 of them went to Daniel Teo’Nesheim who now leaves Washington as the all-time sack leader with 30 on his career.  The pass rush itself matched their total the week before against WSU and that continuous pressure on the passer was the major change in the Husky defense.

     Only one shanked punt and a long kick off return by Cal marred an otherwise good performance by the Husky special teams and no interceptions or lost fumbles meant they finished the game with a +2 in the turnover ratio by having forced 3 and recovering 2 of Cal’s fumbles.

    The Huskies played their best football of the season during their last two games which they won by a combined score of 72-10.  Now granted they shut out a really weak WSU team but Cal was nationally ranked at 8-3 and hoping for a good bowl before they waltzed into Husky Stadium and got throttled by the Dawgs.

    Now I couldn’t pick the Beaver/Duck game right and also missed on the USC/Arizona game but I got the one right that mattered most to me and seeing the Huskies play the way they did erased the disappointment of not going to a bowl game and having a winning season.  Regardless, the Washington Huskies produced one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of college football going from 0-12 to 5-7 and just as importantly brought back a disgruntled fanbase.

    Washington averaged more fans than any program in the conference besides the USC Trojans.  (UCLA regularly gives tickets away to inflate their crowds) Remember that neither of the LA schools has to compete with a local pro team. In fact only ASU in the Pac-10 does and they averaged less than 49,000 in their 80,000 seat stadium. Although the announced crowd at the UW/Cal game was 62,334, that was sold ticket and there were no where close to that many filled seats.  Still, those who were there got to see the finest game of the season by this year’s Husky team.

    Progress is the one of the most important criteria when evaluating a football program. How does you team play in the month of November when championships are won? Washington was 2-2, having lost to UCLA by 1 before getting soundly thumped by Oregon State 48-21.  That set up the Cougar and Bear  games with nothing to play for except pride and belief.  These Huskies answered the call with their two best games of the season.

    They did so by playing their best defense of the whole year, running the football, being solid in the kicking game and not turning the ball over.  It’s really a very simple formula for winning in the sport of football and was proven the very next day when the Seahawks beat the 49′ers.

   So ends the first season of the Steve Sarkisian era and there is every indication that his hiring is probably the best thing that has happened to Husky football in at least a decade. He has restored hope, he has implemented his sytem, he has changed the culture and he has taught a mindset that allowed his kids to have success.  They bought in and even from their first game proved they would be competitive.  With a break or two they may have even made a bowl game had they been able to beat UCLA, ASU, or Notre Dame. Of course, they could easily have lost to Arizona had it not been for a lucky break but this team played everyone tough and if the previous administrations had known anything about scheduling they would still have another game to play.

    Things don’t get any easier next year when the Huskies open with BYU, Syracuse and Nebraska. If you understand the importance of developing your team then you don’t schedule for money, you schedule for wins and that helps you get to a bowl and those extra 15 days of practice to develop your squad. Because of past administrative greed, Washington continues to play one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.

    Arizona played Central Michigan and Northern Arizona to start their season. Oregon State played Portland State and UNLV to start theirs. California played Maryland and Eastern Washington to start theirs. Then look at who Florida, Texas, and any other bowl bound team played and you’ll see the same scheduling philosophy.

Why, because your league games are so difficult its tough to end up with a winning record if you over schedule in your non-league games.  That is precisely why there are rarely any Pac-10 teams playing for all the marbles and probably won’t be unless someone makes an unbelievable run like we did in 1991. Coach Sarkisian has no say in who he plays but you can bet you will start seeing the Huskies adjusting their schedules down in the near future. If Scott Woodward, the Husky AD, was smart enough to hire a great young coach like Sarkisian, he is smart enough to understand how to help him have success. Too bad he wasn’t able to dump BYU or Nebraska for this coming year.

    Beating WSU and Cal so convincingly still ended their season on a positive note and the seniors who have endured all of these past 5 years are to be commended for their perserverence and for rebuilding their belief system. They and Steve Sarkisian have led this program out of the depths of despair and back onto the national football scene.

   The system is in place, the players believe in it, and the fans are backing it.  Now all they have to do is complete an already good recruiting class and continue their winning ways come next season.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

   Oregon wins the Pac-10 outright and draws The Ohio State in the Rose Bowl while USC, Arizona, and Cal all battle to position themselves for the best bowl available.  I guess that would mean the Holiday Bowl in San Diego but Oregon will be the only conference team playing on New Year’s Day.

   Fortunately, USC and Arizona play each other this weekend so the decision will probably be made immediately with the outcome of that game.  Since getting a national ranking and racing off to a great start, the Wildcats of Arizona have hit a few bumps coming down the stretch in conference play. They are traveling to LA for one of only two conference games left on the slate.  The other game of course involves a resurgent Husky team hosting a really good Cal Bear team.

    I think Washington will play Cal tough but will win a close one at the finish.  If they succeed in beating Da’Bears, it will mark one of the most impressive turnarounds of any program in collegiate history.  To go from 0-12 to 5-7 will be really difficult simply because Cal, picked by many to be one of the top teams in the conference, is already 8-3 and likely to end in the Sun Bowl, which in El Paso, is the closest bowl to the Wildcats besides the Fiesta Bowl which is designated for the BCS.

    Should USC beat Arizona in their finale, they will most likely go to the Holiday Bowl and Arizona is liable to fall all the way to the bottom and end up in either the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas or the San Diego CCU Poinsetta Bowl.  Just by the names alone you can tell they are secondary bowls and right now there are 7 Pac-10 teams eligible for 6 bowl spots. Should the Cal Bears beat the Huskies, they will finish 6-3 in league and will tie Stanford, Oregon State and USC (assuming they beat Arizona), for second place in the final conference standings.

    That would mean Oregon will be the only Pac-10 BCS school and the only one from this conference in a good bowl. If Washington were to upset California, and it will definitely be an upset, then Cal could fall to the Emerald Bowl played in San Francisco.  The Emerald Bowl, which goes to the 4th or 5th placed team in the conference, wants either Stanford or Cal as that would really boost their attendance to have a local team involved. If Cal and USC both win then USC goes to San Diego and Cal probably ends up in El Paso.

    However, because the Huskies are going to upset Cal, Da’Bears are likely to to end up staying at home playing in the Emerald Bowl with Stanford drawing El Paso. Arizona falls to the Las Vegas where they beat BYU last year. Oregon State drops all the way from the Rose Bowl to the Poinsetta Bowl. That’s the 6 bowls prearranged by the conference and it leaves out Rick Neuheisel and his UCLA Bruins, who at 6-6 qualify for consideration, but at 3-6 in conference probably don’t deserve a bowl anyway.

    Beating California will be a great win for the Huskies who have already exceeded most expectations by winning 4 games and almost winning 4 others. They will play this weekend without Ryan Tolar who has started every game this year at center.  He will be replaced by little used Makenna Ikihara, who has been Tolar’s backup all season, but has had little playing time.

    This match-up could be a difficult one for Washinton because Cal uses predominantly an odd front and will always have a man on the center’s nose. The Bears’ noseman is Aaron Tipoti and he plays like a sumo wrestler.  He has a very compact stance and immediately attacks the center after every snap. Ikihara will have his hands full all day and is short and compact himself so he will be in hand to hand combat almost every play. That could be interesting particularly when Ikihara is snapping in the shot gun. The Bears will be playing without their best player because Jahvid Best has been ruled out of this contest due to a concussion.

    It is the Cal defense that usually gets overshadowed by their offense that really impresses me. They have 5 senior starters on their defensive unit that starts 4 linebackers.  Their two defensive tackles, # 44 Tyson Alualu and #97 Cameron Jordan are really aggressive and run lots of stunts with the linebackers especially #9 Eddie Young who is their best blitzer. 

    Their defense is really solid right up the middle with  linebacker Mike Mohamed, #18, leading their team and the conference in tackles.  Mohamed will enter this game with 100 tackles on the season and will no doubt be primarily concerned with Chris Polk, the Huskies’ 1000 yard gainer. He also has 3 interceptions and is helped by senior safety, Brett Johnson and senior corner, Syd’Quan Thompson who has 8 pass break ups and 45 tackles on the season.

   If Cal’s defense has a weakness, it is in their pass defense where they are 9th in the conference giving up 2827 yards and 14 touchdowns which is actually worse than Washington’s secondary that has struggle all year long.  Hopefully, that means Jake Locker could have a 300 yard plus passing night and if he could run for another 75 to 100, could have a monster game accounting for 400 yards on the night.  If that happens then Washington will be in good shape to pull off this upset.

   Cal’s offense is led by quarterback, Kevin Riley, who although not a great player, is certainly good enough to have won 8 games this year.  He will not have Best to hand off to but he will have Shane Vereen who has gained 738 yards as Best’s replacement. Vereen also returns kickoffs and is dangerous out of the backfield as a receiver.

   Washington’s defense is coming off their best performance of the season against WSU and seems poised to take on one of the higher echelon teams in this conference. Many people picked Cal to win the Pac-10 but their schedule had them playing Oregon and USC to open league play where they got throttled 42-3 and 30-3 respectively.  Since those two games the Bears have settle in winning 5 of their last 6 games icluding upset wins over Arizona and Stanford.  They have had 2 weeks to prepare for Washington and know that the last time they played in Husky Stadium they got mauled by a Dog pack in 2007 when Washington rushed the ball 56 times for 334 yards in what was probably Tyrone Willingham’s best conference win.

   That won’t happen this time but Washington is capable of beating the Bears it they can win the run game and not turn the ball over.  Do those two things and not lose the kicking game and Washington could steal a game to end their season on a positve note. Cal is already going to a bowl and it really doesn’t matter if they win or lose because it won’t be a good bowl anyway. Cal’s players as a whole are probably better than those wearing the purple and the gold but this is an anticlimatic game for them and maybe they will lay another egg in Husky Stadium. That would be a great ending to this season of resurgence.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

     The Oregon Ducks host the Beavers of Oregon State for the Pac-10 Championship and a trip to Pasadena to play in the grand daddy of all the bowls, the Rose Bowl. If the 7-1 Ducks lose, they will go to the Holiday Bowl which is given to the second place finisher in the conference, but if the 6-2 Beavers lose, they could end up in the Sun Bowl or even lower in the Emerald Bowl or Vegas Bowl. That’s because after the Rose Bowl, this conference has nothing but small and low paying bowls who get to take their pick of what is left over after the champion is decided.

     Lots of fans in this state hope nobody wins the Civil War but I’m rooting for Oregon State simply because Oregon is supposed to win.  I also think the Beavers have a better passing quarterback in Sean Canfield and a better running back in Jacquizz Rodgers.  Jeremiah Masoli, the Ducks’ quarterback, is excellent at running their hybrid option attack but he is not the passer Canfield is and I think this will be a shoot out and the best passing team is going to win.

     Oregon is more aggressive on the defensive side of the ball but the Beavers are really strong up front and have the best rushing defense in the conference.  Considering that the Ducks are primarily a running team (they are almost last in passing and at 9th in the conference are only slightly better than the Cougars in pass offense) I think this will be the difference in this game. Oregon State has 3 receivers in the top 10 in the conference while the Ducks have one in Jeff Maehl who is 10th.

    Nobody has really figured out how to stop the Ducks when they have the ball but the Beavers have come closest over the past few years and have beaten the Ducks in the past.  This time around I just think that the Beavers are primed and have the edge in speed and will not be intimidated by Autzen Stadium.

    Of course, you can throw out all the stats in a rivalry game but you can’t throw out the speed of the Rodgers brothers who will be the difference makers in this game. That’s what it gets down to for me.  James Rodgers, the older brother,  is not only the leading receiver in the conference but he is also the all purpose leader because he also runs the ball on their fly sweep and returns kickoffs and punts as well as catching passes.

   Oregon counters with LaMichael James as their main running threat and he is also cat quick but not as powerfull as Jacquizz is as a runner.  Both are small but Rodgers is more compact and shows more power at the point of contact. I would guess that both of these backs will go over 100 yards in this game but it will be the passing of Canfield and the over all performances by the Rodgers brothers that will send the Beavers to the Rose Bowl.

   It is interesting to note that although the two Oregon schools have been getting the best of the Washington schools over the past 5 years, their overall record, particularly against Washington, still shows a wide margin by the Huskies. The Huskies actually lead the Ducks 58-39-5 and the Beavers 57-33-4. In fact, the Huskies who also lead the Cougars 64-31-6 (lots of ties), have a combined record of 179 wins and 103 losses and those 15 ties against their fellow northwest schools. Another overall stat of interest is that the Huskies have swept the three other schools 28 times out of the 80 seasons when they were all on the schedule. So, even though the league title is being played south of the border the real kingpin of northwest football has always been the Washington Huskies. This, in itself, probably explains the Ducks’ continual negative attitude towards the purple and the gold. Regardless, its the green and gold vs the black and orange for all the marbles and a trip to LA and the Rose Bowl. From my standpoint, all I can say is “Go Beavs!”

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

   It wasn’t as easy as the 30-0 score would indicate and the Cougars did put up a fight for a while but Washington clearly separted themselves from WSU at the bottom of the conference.

    As expected Chris Polk was the dominating runner and when Jake Locker decided in the second half to start running himself then it was all over for the Cougars. Between the two of them they rushed for 231 yards and a touchdown for each against a game but outmanned Cougar defense.

    The Cougars actually made a game of it for a while trailing only 3-0 at the end of the first quarter and only 13-0 at half.  Had they gotten anything out of their offense they could have made it closer but they never got closer than the Huskies’ 35 yard line.

    This game was clearly won by the Husky defense, who beside pitching a shutout, had their best performance of the season.  They held the Cougs to only 163 total yards including only 47 yards rushing on 40 carries for an average of 1.7 per rush. The Huskies had 5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss and probably hit the Cougar quarterbacks another 10 times including 2 hits that knocked their quarterbacks out of the game.   When the Cougs were forced to go to their 4th string quarterback at the end of the first half, you knew they were in trouble.

   It was a great rebound for a Husky team that had been stuffed in their previous game against Oregon State and it had to impress the dozen or so recruits they were hosting for the weekend. Cerainly a win over a really good California team this coming weekend will propell the Dawgs into an off season with a renewed confidence that they have turned the corner in this program.

    Washington will be hard pressed to repeat their performance this coming weekend because at 8-3 and nationally ranked the Bears are itching to land in the best bowl they can.  Only problem is that besides the Rose Bowl there aren’t any good bowls to go to.  The Pac-10 has a really weak bowl arrangement and even though 6 conference teams may be invited, none of the other bowls are on New Year’s Day and none are of national significance.  That and the fact that the Pac-10 is the only major conference in the country that plays everyone in league and therefore can’t load up on non-conference patsies like the SEC, Big 12, Big Eat and Big 10 do. Because of this you may never see a Pac-10 team play for the national championship again unless they are undefeated.

    So the Cal Bears will come into Husky Stadium with a bowl bid already in hand and the only incentive to wipe out their last visit here in 2007 when the Huskies ran the ball right down their throats for 334 yards on 56 carries.  That’s not going to happen this year but any win will be a big win for the Huskies here.

   Cal may or may not be without their star player, Jahvid Best, who suffered a horrific concussion three weeks ago.  Best is clearly the best back in the conference besides maybe Toby Gerhart at Stanford and I think will declare himself for the draft this year no matter if he plays or not.  Best has the best high end speed of any tailback who has ever played at Cal.  A former state 100 meter champion, Best adds a speed demension that belongs at the next level.  I think he is headed that way and may just by-pass this Husky game because of it.

    Cal’s stunning defeat of Stanford in the Big Game two weeks ago totally upset the conference race and sets up the Civil War in Eugene this Thursday with the winner getting the Roses. The Bears are already bowl eligible so maybe they will be lacking incentive against the Huskies.  The Dawgs are certain to be prepared coming off their Apple Cup win but this is a lot better team than the Cougars and in fact beat the Cougs 49-17 back in October. The Cougs did, however, gain 440 yards of total offnese that day and their 17 points is the most they have scored against anyone in the PAC-10. The Cougars actually got all their points in the first half and their freshman quarterback, Jeff Tuel, who did not play against the Huskies, was 29 of 43 for 385 yards and 2 touchdowns.  That should indicate that Jake Locker could have a great game and that may win the game for Washington.

    Let’s hope this game is not Jake Locker’s last for the Huskies as I think he has some unfinished business here at Washington.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

   With the exception of Notre Dame visiting Stanford the Pac-10 features all rivalry games this weekend. Washington hosts the Cougars in their annual battle and both teams are staggering into the finish. UCLA is at USC and Arizona visits ASU.

    I was surprized that Stanford flopped so bad in the Big Game last weekend against Cal, especially with Cal missing Jahvid Best and all. Their freshman quarterback played like one and the loss knocked the Cardinal out of any chance for the title and sends them to a mid-tier bowl.  The are hosting a team that looks as though they are about to lose their coach.  Although I can’t believe that Notre Dame will spend the 15 or so million dollars just to buy out Charlie Weis’ contract, everyone seems to think its all but over.

     I think Stanford drives the last nail in the coffin for Charlie and that means my good friend Randy Hart will again be out of a job.  Randy got fired with Lambo, Rick Neuheisel, Gilby, and Tyrone and now has a chance to get fired with Weis.  The great optimist that Randy was always said, “There are only two kinds of coaches, those who have been fired and those who will get fired”. He should know because he has been in the profession for close to 40 years and has been fired at least a 8-9 times already. I’m rooting for the Irish because of Randy but I think Stanford will run it down their throat. Of course, the Irish kids could fire up and win one for the Gipper or the Pillsbury doughboy, whatever.

    Arizona got knocked down last weekend as well, getting beaten by Oregon in a battle for the conference championship.  They played a really good game going into double overtime before losing 44-41 in what was a really hard fought and hotly contested.  Now Arizona must prove it is for real by beating the Sun Devils on the road and then beating USC to finish the season. They should take care of the first part as Dennis Erickson’s team is staggering toward the bottom right along with Washington and WSU.

   Arizona’s loss tumbled them from a potential 1st to 6th in the conference and puts them in a must win before they play the Trojans to end the season.

   UCLA is at USC for the battle of LA and both teams need the win to maintain any hope of the Holiday Bowl or in the Bruin’s case maybe any hope of a bowl at all.  The Bruins stand at only 6-5 and are technically eligible for a bowl but at 6-6 they would be a real week consideration.  UCLA fans don’t travel much for lower bowls and they may be passed over unless they win. With their consecutive victories over the Washinton schools the Bruins are getting better and could contest the Trojans but I think USC will win a close one.  Both of these teams are really good on defense because they both are loaded with athletes who can run.  They play the night game and the Trojans are at home so I think they control the game with their run and win going away.

    That leaves the Apple Cup and I want to be clear that I want the Huskies to fire and really have a good game. I make no bones about it, I know I played at WSU and fully respect all my team mates and the school, but I am a Husky now and have been for almost 25 years.  I was a Cougar for the years I played there and remained loyal until I went to work at Washington.  I put in a huge chunk of my career into the Washington Huskies and will always be proud of what we accomplished under Coach James and Coach Lambright.

   There is no doubt Washoington should win the game but I know this will be the best effort of the season for the Cougs.  Over there this is the game. No question about it, this is the most important game in every Cougar’s year.  At Washington, they have other rivalries like Oregon and USC to distract them.  For the Cougars its Washington.

    I hold the distinction of accepting the first Apple Cup ever won by WSU.  It was after the 1967 game won 9-7 by the Cougs. Then Gov. Dan Evans and Miss Washington presented me and my fellow captain with the trophy.  It was simply one of the greatest athletic moments of my life.  That’s exactly what I’m talking about. The Cougars had lost 8 straight years until that moment.  We were terrible coming into the game having only won 1 game and losing 8.  Sound familiar? That’s what makes the Apple Cup so special.

   Washington will need to attack hard right off the start and put pressure on the Cougars on both sides of the ball. There will be a premium on not making mistakes because both of these teams have those tendencies.  Washington is one of the most penalized teams in the league and WSU’s opponents have been penalized more than any other team. In fact, that is the only catagory that WSU leads the conference in; opponents penalties, where they have gained more yards (814) than they have gained rushing (801). I know you’re thinking this can’t be, but it’s true.  The Cougars have gained more in penalty yardage than they have running the football.

    If Washington can run the football and stuff the run on defense then they will dominate this game. Now they may have to set up the run with the pass but running the football will win this game for Washington.  From my viewpoint that means Jake Locker too. Turn him loose and tell him to run on bootlegs and roll outs as well as the zone option play off a fake to Chris Polk. Then keep mixing the run plays to Polk and periodically take some long shots at the Cougar corners.

     Both of these teams are inconsistent in their special teams and should either get a return or block then it would certainly swing momentum. The Cougars punter will keep them alive in the field position battle but Washington needs to finally get a return for a touchdown.

    Defensively, the Huskies should be able to adjust to the no-huddle offense of the Cougs because they are very slow and deliberate about it. The Cougs will always immediately line up, then get the call from the bench,  then see what the defense is going to show and then change their call. I think Kevin Lopina starts at quarterback because he is a senior and then they will go to their freshman, Jeff Tuel. Washington should dial up some blitzes and pressure who ever the QB is.

     Allowing the Cougars to hang around will be asking for trouble so the Huskies should ride any momentum they get and try to put it away early.  There doesn’t appear to be much chance for the Cougars but that was the case last year and in 1967.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post 

   Washington’s coaches would be smart to hide the Pac-10 stats from their players as they prepare for this week’s game against the WSU Cougars.  Oh, let them watch the films but don’t let them look at see the box scores because the Cougs aren’t just bad, they are down right awful.

     Statistical comparisons in this conference are all washed out anyway because of the discrepancies in out of league play. The right way would be to just keep in-conference stats and throw out games against Portland State, Northern Arizona, Idaho State, and LSU and Notre Dame for that matter.

   Even if they did that, the Cougars would still look terrible and all their statistical data would still indicate they are a terrible football team.  They might be but they are obviously getting better than they were and that is why they are not talking about firing their coach, Paul Wulff.  Of course the real reason is they don’t have enough money to fire him and besides after two years on the job, Wulff is at least developing his young talent and obviously needs 2 more full recruiting classes before it will even be fair to evaluate the progress he is making in Pullman.

    The Husky team knows how losing to a bad team can be because they lost to the Cougars last year and the Cougs were worse then than they are now.  They will see that in their film study but they will also see lots of different combinations of players because the starting line-ups for the Cougars look like a revolving door.  Every week they have different starters and lots of them are true freshmen. That in itself can get you beat in this league.

    So here they are, getting ready to try and win the Apple Cup with everyone telling them they are going to do so because WSU is so bad and the only question will be by how much.  That is the task at hand for Steve Sarkisian.  How does he keep his team focused and respectful of an opponent that looks so terrible on paper? Probably by treating this game just like the USC game and that is exactly what he is doing.

    Sure there is the added emotion of a rivalry and he does have Johnny Nansen on his staff and Nansen did play for the Cougs and he will be telling the Huskies how emotionally charged up the Cougs will be for this game.  He will no doubt tell the Huskies how this game will make the Cougars’ whole year.  How any Cougar will tell you that beating Washington is the most significant thing  every year and one of the biggest games of their lives.

    It was for me when I was a senior at WSU and we came into Husky Stadium as the worst team in the conference at 1-8 and left a winner.  We had only beaten Idaho and Washington but if you’re a Coug, then what else is there? This is their bowl game and their biggest game every year.  Nothing compares to beating the Huskies if you’re a Coug and it doesn’t make any difference is you’re 10-1 or 1-10, which they are.

    That is what Washington faces this weekend.  It is really unfair to the Husky kids because it’s not going to be great just to win the game.  They are expected to win easily and by lots of points but when you don’t score many yourself it’s hard to beat someone, by say 26 points, especially when you havn’t even scored that many in 7 of your 10 games.

    This game will be a good football game played by two not very good football teams and the team that makes the most mistakes will probably lose. That’s the way it usually is and turnovers could again be the deciding factor. Like I said though, winning is all that matters to WSU whereas Washington is expected to win big.  I think it will be a closer game than statistics would indicate and from my view Washington will be excited just to win this game and they probably will.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post