UW vs. Idaho State Predictions

Yep, that’s a shopping cart of Huskies.

Matthew

It’s been hard to muster a lot of excitement for this game.  There’s a reason the Huskies are 50+ point favorites.  Idaho State is a fairly bad FCS team.  The Huskies are a top 20 team in the nation.  The Huskies have played bad teams, and they’ve played FCS teams, in years past, but I don’t know if they’ve played anyone at Idaho State’s level.  This should be a game that is over in a quarter or less.  The Huskies need to come out with energy and execute immediately.  They need to dominate continuously and make it possible for the back-ups to play most of the second half.  This season is about the Huskies taking the next steps in their maturity, and a big part of that is dominating the teams they should dominate.  This is a game that should never be in doubt.  I don’t know if they Huskies will cover the massive spread, but only because Sark doesn’t like to run up the score.  I think the Huskies win this one easily and get some good rest for the starters before the schedule gets interesting next week.

UW52 – ISU 10

Dan

Few times can you go into a weekend knowing your 2 hometown teams will win barring a collapse or natural disaster or 35 injuries. But that’s the case this weekend, with the Huskies and Seahawks a combined 73 point favorites. In UW’s case, they are 53 point favs and the question is not if we will win the game, but by how much, and how much will we see from the backups. In essence, this is a preseason game played in season, that counts. So I guess it’s the opposite of a preseason game. But anyways, I know nothing of Idaho State other than they are 2-0 and probably hate the Vandals and Broncos. Over in Pullman, the Cougs will take on Idaho, so this really is a Washington vs. Idaho weekend. Here’s a question…if you combined the rosters of Idaho and Idaho State, would they be able to knock off Boise State? I tend to think not, but what say you?

UW 55 – ISU 10

Joe

Washington comes back home for two games, ISU and UA, that will feel very different from each other.  The Idaho State Bengals will not present a challenge to UW despite the mighty cats from Pocatello’s unblemished record of 2-0 (They hung 40 on Dixie State…).  I expect the Dawgs to score early and often, and to overwhelm ISU defensively.  My biggest concern here is injuries.

UW 46 – ISU 12  (Next week vs Arizona in the conf. opener is the real match up to be excited about. Enormous game for both programs!)

Andrew

The Huskies search for their first 3-0 start in over a decade on Saturday.  They should easily find it.  They play a team that is the third best football team in Idaho (and that might be generous).  Idaho State has really struggled in the past years and that is with playing FCS competition.  They lost to Portland State (the team the Huskies played last year) 77-10 last year.  While Idaho State looks a little more capable this year as their passing game has been pretty impressive and defense fairly stout, they just don’t have near enough weapons to keep up with the Huskies.  With there being zero questions about who the better team is, the storyline turns to the Huskies.  Here are some things that I will be keeping an eye on tomorrow:

Will the Huskies come out fired up and put the Bengals away in the first quarter?  It would be easy for the Huskies to look ahead and not take this game seriously.  If they do that, the Bengals could put up a score or two and some yards in the early going.  I don’t want that.

Will the penalties go away?  Another part of the focus aspect.  Against a team you are superior to, there is no reason for penalties (aside from officiating incompetence, which is all too likely).

How does ASJ fit in?  This is a question that I was mildly curious about last week and now I’m extremely curious.  ASJ struggled last week.  I look for Sark to get him involved early so he gets comfortable before an extremely important game next week.

Which young guy will shine?  Assuming the Huskies get up big early (which they should), there is no reason to keep the starters in much past half time.  Some young guys I’ll be keeping an eye on are:  QB Cyler Miles, RB Dwayne Washington, WR Damore’ea Stringfellow, LT Jake Eldrenkamp, DE Jojo Mathis, S Brandon Beaver, and two freshmen DB’s, Kevin King and Trevor Walker.
All of the factors involved should lead to a Husky blowout.

UW 56 – ISU 6