by | September 8, 2012 · 11:00 am

UW vs. LSU Predictions

The Huskies face one of their toughest road games in years tomorrow, as they travel to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers.  The game is huge for a slew of reasons, especially because LSU is really good and the Huskies are reaching a point where they need to pull off a surprise.  We and everyone else have covered all of those reasons, so I’m going to talk about something else, like I usually do in these posts.

Before last season, after all of the conference expansion talk, I wrote about how I was sad about Texas not joining the Pac-whatever because it took away a chance to visit Austin.  Austin is high on my list of places to visit that I will probably never visit because I would probably only go for a few days and I don’t have the money to do that often, or at all.  Hope that made sense.  Just going to Austin for fun isn’t real likely, but if I could work a trip around a Husky game, that somehow makes it more possible.  I have no idea why that’s the case, but it makes sense in my head.

This is suffering from a serious lack of direction, so I’ll just cut to the chase and say that New Orleans is first or second on that list with Austin.  It’s a little more likely vacation destination, but a game at nearby LSU is an opportunity I shouldn’t have passed up.

So, for this travel themed UW-LSU prediction post, a purely travel based ranking of the Huskies’ 2012 road games.  The games themselves don’t matter, this is just a completely subjective look at which places I’d most like to visit:

1.  LSU:  It’s the food in large part, and the music.  I’m not a big partier, so I’ll skip Mardi Gras, but walking around listening to blues and jazz and eating gumbo sounds great.

2.  (Tie) Colorado: I’ve never been to Colorado except the Denver airport, and I’d love to see the mountains, plus Boulder and Denver sound like my kind of towns.  I would have put Cal ahead, because San Francisco is one of my favorite places, but I was already there this year and am always up for visiting somewhere new.

4. Arizona: The options really drop off here.  I’ll go with Arizona for Mexican food and sun in late October.  Arizona State would be a better option, because Tucson isn’t terribly appealing.

5. WSU: These last two are pretty much tied for last, but I’ll go with Pullman because I know a few people there, it’s a slightly shorter drive, and there aren’t any Ducks.

6. Oregon: No explanation is needed.

That’s kind of rough.  Not a lot of premier destinations. Only one out of conference game and no LA trip hurt.  In the future, how about Minnesota or Illinois in September, one of the Carolinas in October and any moderately good game in a big city.  What we really need is someone to provide The Good Guys with a travel budget!  If you have some extra cash or a road game you’d love to see on the schedule, put it in the comments.  For now, on to the predictions!

Andrew

I usually try to write something before I jump into my prediction but this week I can’t because Tigers are cool.  Sark brought a live one to practice.  How ridiculous is that!  It is so awesome.  Here we go!

As you pour through the numbers that set up this weeks matchup, there aren’t many that favor the Huskies.  Sure, there are a few spots to feel good about (I’ve got a post planned for tomorrow to show that), but the Dawgs have an uphill battle to climb.  LSU just doesn’t lose home games, especially non-conference home games.  The Tigers haven’t lost there since 2009 and that was against a number one ranked Florida team.  I look for Sark to pull out all the stops though.  He’s brought in a live tiger, he’s brought Shaq in to talk to his players (the basketball legend, not the true freshman), and it seems that this is more than just a normal game for him.  Even with that, I think the sheer power and speed of LSU will be too much.  I think we’ll be encouraged by the game but it won’t be the upset we’re dreaming of.

LSU – 31, Dawgs – 21

Matthew

There is no good reason to think the Huskies will win this game.  They are overmatched at every position except quarterback, tight end and maybe the secondary.  The mismatches on the lines appear huge.  For UW to win, they’ll have to gang up to somehow stop the run, hope for/force LSU mistakes in the passing game, and convert some huge plays on offense.  Upsets happen, and this wouldn’t be the hugest one in history or anything, but it’d be up there.  Coming into the year, a lot of people said a worthy goal was to stop being blown out against big favorites, and that’s extremely true here.  I think the Huskies hang around, but I doubt they’re ever in position to win in the second half.

LSU 31, UW 17

Dan

I can’t think of a tougher opponent than LSU, in Baton Rouge, in the evening.  This game is one that you pencil an L in months ago because creating a scenario where the Huskies pull off the upset is just not realistic.  UW can match LSU in the skill positions on offense, and that’s about it.  In the trenches, on the o-line and d-line, that’s where LSU has a huge advantage.  I’d expect LSU to have their way on offense because of this mis-match, and on defense, the Tigers will certainly have Keith Price running around all night, trying to squeeze the ball through tight windows.  Kasen, ASJ, and Price provide the small hope for the Huskies, and sometimes in college sports, a hot QB can win a game on his own.  I will certainly be hoping for this, but a common trend for lesser opponents facing LSU is a blowout loss, and that’s my prediction for tomorrow night.

LSU-44, UW-17

Joe

If we let history be our guide, this game should not be close.  24 point underdogs don’t win on the road, especially on the road in Death Valley, aka LSU.  The Huskies come off a good win over SDSU.  Not impressive, especially on the offensive side of the ball, but still, a win is a win.  The defense played well, essentially giving up no legit touchdowns and constantly dealing with the Aztecs going for it on 4th down.  The performance from the defense last week gives me hope the Huskies can keep this game close.  LSU will establish the run early and often, which I believe will lead to a worn out and battered defense.  Compound that with a UW offense that will struggle to run the ball, and this game has the recipe for being a slow death in the 4th quarter.  I really see no reason why the Huskies can win this game, outside of a complete flop by the Tigers.  Prediction:  UW offense struggles to run, leaving Price running for his life, while LSU ground and pounds to 200+ rushing yards, while UW covers.

LSU 31 – UW 17

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by | September 6, 2012 · 3:22 pm

The Good Guys Pac-12 Picks – Week 2

The first week brought on games that weren’t exactly difficult to predict.  There was the Colorado upset and the Cal upset.  Joe correctly predicted the Colorado upset but his pick of WSU didn’t come anywhere near to fruition.  Blame his man crush on Marquess Wilson for that pick.  This week there are a few more marquee games and chances for upset.  If there was a week for the Pac-12 to make a statement, this is it.  I wrote a few sentences about each team earlier in the week if you’re looking for a little more of a preview.  But, here are our picks for the week.  If you are so inclined, please put your picks in the standings and see how you stack up against the Good Guys!  Here we go!

Arizona vs. Oklahoma State

The Good Guys: Oklahoma State

Arizona State vs. Illinois

Joe, Matthew, and Dan: Arizona State

Andrew:  Illinois

California vs. Southern Utah

The Good Guys:  California

Colorado vs. Sacramento State

The Good Guys:  Colorado

Oregon vs. Fresno State

The Good Guys:  Oregon 😦

Oregon State vs. Wisconsin

The Good Guys:  Wisconsin

Stanford vs. Duke

The Good Guys:  Stanford

UCLA vs. Nebraska

Joe, Matthew, Dan:  Nebraska

Andrew:  UCLA

USC at Syracuse

The Good Guys:  USC

Utah at Utah State

The Good Guys:  Utah

WSU vs. Eastern Washington

The Good Guys:  WSU

Good Guys Pac-12 Pick Standings:

Everyone is tied at 10-2

Thanks for stopping by!

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by | September 6, 2012 · 12:31 pm

John Clayton: Legend

This video has gone completely viral. It’s the latest “This is SportsCenter” ad featuring John Clayton along with the west coast SC hosts, Neil Everett and Stan Verrett. I can’t tell you the level of awesomeness this video represents. The most noticeable is the “Robbed” Sonicsgate cap on Neil’s desk, along with the Seahawks Helmet in Clayton’s room. The rest is just fantastic.

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by | September 4, 2012 · 10:24 pm

Lions, Tigers, and Giraffes! Oh My!

If you haven’t heard, Steve Sarkisian brought a live Tiger to Husky football practice today.  She was in her cage and not the defensive tackle of the scout team.  This is supposedly happening so that the Huskies won’t be distracted by LSU’s tiger on Saturday night.  Personally, I think Sark was inspired by ‘We Bought A Zoo’ (I haven’t actually seen that) and wants to start his own.  Sark will get made fun of for this stunt, which is fine, but I’m all for having live animals around.  That brings me to the point of this very short, and very ridiculous blog post!  This is a top 5 list of animals I’d like to see at football practice.  I left off a tiger, although it’s very close a to a top-5 finish.

5.  Giraffe

This scores an A for awesomeness, but a D for actual possibility of happening.  Of course, bringing a giraffe to football practice is completely plausible!  If you bring two, you could just use their necks as the field goal posts.  But, the problem is there is no college with a giraffe as a mascot.  There are Fighting Pickles, Fighting Okra, and Purple Aces but no giraffes.  My goodness.

4.  Bald Eagle

The Long brother’s have a fascination with eagles.  Can you imagine how inspiring it would be to look up at a bald eagle soaring over your practice field and then calling, “Hike!”  Touchdown every time.  Plus, there are tons of teams that have eagles as their mascot.  A giraffe would kill an eagle, just saying.

3.  Hippos

Another one that scores high on the awesome list but drops down due to plausibility.  Hippo’s are very dangerous and it’d be hard to control them.  Do they have cages that big?  Where do they get cages that big?  Also, the only school with a hippo as the mascot, George Washington, has now dropped that mascot.  What are these schools thinking?  Hippos are so menacing.  They kill more people in Africa than all other animals combined.  Really, that was the only true and serious sentence in this blog post.

2.  Elephant

I hate the Alabama Crimson Tide.  But, if Sark wanted to bring an elephant wearing a red sweater to practice then I think he should be up for a lifetime contract extension.  He could spray the players off with his trunk after a hot, hard day of practice.  I’m on to something.  Aren’t you excited to see what’s number one!

1.  Lion

He’s the king of the Jungle and also the king of football practice fields.  I understand why coaches don’t bring lions in now, they are too majestic.  If you bring in a lion, then it’s all downhill from there.  Pride Rock can’t hold a lion.  They’re the only animal worthy of an Elton John song.  They are just the so awesome.  Unless you talk to me about bulldogs, camels, and flying squirrels.

I’m sorry your read this!

Andrew

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by | September 3, 2012 · 9:57 pm

Around The Pac-12 – Week 2

The first week of college football is done and over with.  That’s kind of sad when you think about it, but there’s no time to reflect because we must press on.  Before I move on to telling you dumb things about the rest of the Pac-12, I’ll cover just a few Husky notes.  The expected news broke today that Jesse Callier and Hau’oli Jamora will be out for the rest of the season.  Callier is a blow and the running back depth is very low.  He was the guy with the most experience back there and one of the most talented.  The true freshman, Erich Wilson, will now be the second running back and I expect him to play pretty well (he did in the opener).  He could have an impact that Callier did his freshman year.  The Jamora news was expected, but it’s too bad for the young man.  Also, tonight Sark admitted on the radio show that he kept the offense vanilla for the opener.  He said they have other running plays in their back pocket that they think will be ran effectively.  I truly think you’ll see a different offense this week.  Of course, the opponent is a very stiff test.  Anyway, on to the rest of the Pac-12!

Arizona – Beat Toledo 24-17 OT – Coming Up: vs. Oklahoma State

Arizona’s game against Toledo wasn’t an over-inspiring opener for Rich Rodriguez.  They did gain a ton of yards and would have scored a bunch of points if it weren’t for turnovers.  This week, they play a team who just scored 379 points in one game (not really).  Oklahoma State will test the Arizona defense and probably over-match them.  The Cowboys have beat Arizona 73-24 over their last two years of playing.  Good luck, Rich Rod!  I can’t believe I haven’t called him that yet.

Arizona State – Beat Northern Arizona 63-6 – Coming Up: vs. Illinois

The Sun Devils played spoiler to Northern Arizona’s dreams of a perfect season.  That’s a ridiculous thing to say but I bet the Northern Arizona players were dreaming of a perfect season, so stop being so disrespectful.  A much stiffer test come this against Illinois.  No, Illinois isn’t a top 25 team but they are a mediocre Big-10 team who could challenge for a bowl.  We could learn more about Arizona State this week!  Unless we don’t watch or read about them.  It’s hard to learn about something without observation.

California – Lost to Nevada 24-31 – Coming Up: vs. Southern Utah

This was probably the Pac-12’s worst loss of the week.  I didn’t think the Golden Bears would lose and I expected them to be in the upper-echelon of the conference.  This could be a blip on the radar or it could be the beginning of the end of Jeff Tedford.  This week they play Southern Utah.    Southern Utah’s mascot is the Thunderbird.  Cal will probably drop their wrath on the Thunderbirds.  This is because Southern Utah is bad, not because a Thunderbird isn’t powerful.  They sound very powerful.

Colorado – Lost to Colorado State 22-17 – Coming Up:  vs. Sacramento State

Colorado had the other bad loss for the conference this week.  No one expected them to be good, so it’s not surprising but it doesn’t help the Pac-12’s reputation.  This week they play Sacramento State.  I would make some remark about Sacramento State but they beat Oregon State last year so they’ve earned some respect.  Still, this shouldn’t be much of a game as Sac. State lost to New Mexico State 49-19 last Thursday.

Oregon – Beat Arkansas State 57-34 – Coming Up: vs. Fresno State

If you hadn’t already heard this score, you’d probably think, “Wow!  That’s a lot of points Oregon gave up!”  It’s true that they gave up a lot of points but they were also ahead 50-3 midway through the second quarter.  Good for Chip Kelly to not be like Oklahoma State and score 522 points (they didn’t really score that many).  Although it is a little strange that the Duck’s backups gave up that many points.  I still wouldn’t really look far into that.  This week the dreadful team from Eugene continues it’s non-conference gauntlet against a mediocre at best Fresno State team.  At least we’ll get to find out more about Oregon’s backups these first few weeks!

Oregon State – Postponed vs. Nicholls State – Coming Up: vs. Wisconsin

It’s amazing how quickly something can change your perception on a game.  For some reason I thought that the Beavers played at Wisconsin this week.  I didn’t give them a chance.  Once I looked it up and saw that wasn’t the case I thought that an upset could occur.  Wisconsin is a very good team who should beat Oregon State but that’s a tough place to play.  Unfortunately for the Beavers, they weren’t able to get the kinks out last week because their game was postponed.  An upset would be a stretch, but I’m guessing that this game might be a little closer than people think.  I’m usually wrong though, so sorry Beaver fans.  Some of you seem nice and I don’t mean to ruin your chances.

Stanford – Beat San Jose State 20-17 – Coming Up: vs. Duke

If you’re feeling bad about the Huskies opener, I suggest you look to northern California to feel bad.  The Golden Bears lost to a team from Nevada, which shouldn’t happen and the Trees had to do everything in their might to beat a state team from a city.  If you can make sense of that sentence, congratulations.  Stanford looked bad in their opener.  Maybe worse than everyone aside from Wazzu.  I don’t expect them to be bad going forward and I think that if you survive the first week you should celebrate.  Still, they have some major question marks and didn’t look like the physical team we’d grown accustomed to.  This week they face off against Duke in a battle of very smart football players.

UCLA – Beat Rice 49-24 – Coming Up: vs. Nebraska

Of all the Pac-12 teams, UCLA might have had the most impressive opener.  They went on the road and beat a team by 25 points.  That’s not an easy thing to do, even if that team was the Rice Owls.  This week they face a much stiffer test, because they’ll be sore.  Wait, that’s not right.  They’ll face a much stiffer test in opponent in Nebraska.  I have my doubts about the Bruins putting up another 49 points against Nebraska but I don’t think a win is out of the question.  UCLA has been known to surprise in their non-conference schedule.  Plus, I’d take a Bruin over a Cornhusker any day.

USC – Beat Hawaii 49-10 – Coming Up: at Syracuse

USC’s first offensive play of the season was a touchdown.  There will be many more of those plays coming.  The Trojans are very good and look to improve as they face Syracuse in New Jersey this Saturday.  This shouldn’t be much of a game, as Syracuse is about the same kind of team as Hawaii (that being mediocre).  I’ve heard that Matt Barkley will stay and play for the New York Jets on Sunday, as well.  Take that Tebow and Mark Sanchez fans!  Are there any Mark Sanchez fans?

Utah – Beat Northern Colorado 41-0 – Coming Up: at Utah State (Friday)

Utah beat a bad team.  This week they’ll play a slightly better team and will probably win, but by fewer points. How’s that for analysis?  Some team’s pre-season’s just aren’t fun.  I’d rather see my school play against one really good team (or at least a unique team) than a whole bunch of uninteresting team.  I’ll see how I feel about this thought after LSU injures every single starting player the Huskies have.

WSU – Lost to BYU 30-6 – Coming Up: Eastern Washington

Wow, the Cougars looked bad.  I didn’t expect them to have such a difficult time scoring.  If the team plays like that for the rest of the season, Jeff Tuel will be injured and they’ll only win 3 or 4 games.  This game is one that they will win.  They should have no problem with Eastern Washington, although we’ve seen bad things happen against the Eagles.  I think we’ll see improvement from the Cougars as the year goes on.  I just hope it happens at a Paul Wulff improvement rate.  Sorry Coug fans, I couldn’t help myself.

Over all, it was a pretty underwhelming week for the conference.  There were a few close games that shouldn’t have been close and a few losses that should have been wins.  The Pac-12 has a chance to make a statement this week, although week 1 didn’t boost anyone’s confidence.  Here’s to a few upsets!

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | September 2, 2012 · 12:57 am

The Dawgs Defend And Win!

The last time we saw the Husky football team on the field, they were in the process of giving up 67 points to the Baylor Bears.  That night, the defense was incredibly bad.  So bad that I’ve washed most of it from my memory.  Tonight was the first time the Dawgs had been back in a competitive game.  They gave up 12 points.  67-12=55.  You could score 12 points in 5 football games and still be a touchdown and a PAT away from 67 points.  I’m good at math and it’s 1:20 in the morning.

A lot will be made of how ugly the offense looked for the last 3 quarters of the game.  I’ll get to that in a minute.  A lot will be made about Rocky Long’s decision-making  in this football game.  His decisions were bad but he had said that his team would do this.  He stuck to his word, and it worked out for the Huskies.  After those two things, people will talk about the defense.  That’s a complete reverse of what it should be.  We’re all so cynical.

Justin Glenn is asleep.

The Huskies gave up 12 points, and 6 of those were on an illegal play.  Yes, San Diego State did drive for some yards and you could say that if they had settled for field goals, the game would have been much more uncomfortable.  That’s true, but remember that the Aztecs, on their only touchdown drive, went for it twice on fourth down.  If they settled for a field goal there, then they don’t get their touchdown, obviously.  There’s two sides to every coin.

Now, Ryan Katz and the San Diego State offense isn’t USC or Oregon.  But, they appeared to be a formidable foe, especially at some points.  The defense appeared faster than it has in a decade.  Desmond Trufant locked down his side of the field, until his injury.  The secondary was the best I’ve seen in… I’m still think about that because we haven’t seen a dominant secondary in a long time.  There was one blown coverage tonight and the trick play the Aztecs ran.  Can you think of any other time a receiver ran completely wide open?  Can you think of a time when bubble screens didn’t work against this team?  It was refreshing.  For most of the game there was a pass rush.  Containment on Ryan Katz wasn’t very good but I won’t be overly worried about that going forward.  The defense was good and people should talk about that first and foremost.

I’m going to keep this recap pretty short because I haven’t watched the game for a second time and it’s time for bed.  I’m just listing things about the defense now anyway and that isn’t beneficial to anyone.  I’ll just skip ahead to a few bullet points and then we’ll have a more thoughts as the week goes.

  • About the offense.  They were great in the first quarter.  They could do whatever they wanted and do it well.  Then, they kept moving the ball but didn’t score.  That truly is how I see it.  In my opinion, people are overreacting about an offense that was very vanilla and was saving things for next week.  Remember last year after the opener that Sark said he was embarrassed that they didn’t have a reception over 10 yards.  Then, the next game the Dawgs came out, threw vertically, and dominated offensively.  This was the same game plan.  How many times did the Huskies throw down field tonight?  I can remember 2.  One was a bad decision by Price and one was a touchdown called back that came on a broken play.  There were a couple of 20 yard passes but nothing that I would qualify as ‘taking a shot deep’.  This was Steve Sarkisian letting his playmakers beat the opponent and saving his intricate playbook for next week.  Of course, I could be proven wrong next week but I don’t think I will.
  • The one part of the offense that does worry me is the rushing attack.  They were bottled up in the second half and didn’t do much of anything.  Mike Criste struggled in trying to fill in for an injured Ben Riva.  Jesse Callier was injured.  There were things that didn’t break right for the rushing attack tonight but they need to be better than that.  They were pushed around and should be past the point of getting beat physically like that.
  • The injuries I mentioned above are the big ones.  Riva fractured his forearm and will be out for a couple of weeks.  Callier injured his knee and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out for the year.  Knee’s just aren’t a good thing to injure.  Trufant is a little banged up but he should be fine.  Princeton Fuimaono may have suffered a concussion but I can’t confirm that.
  • I worry that the defense may struggle against power running teams like they did last year.  They are clearly fast and will do better against a spread team but the Aztecs seemed like they could have run the ball pretty effectively.  The numbers don’t support that but that’s the impression I came away with.  Also, the open field tackling against the running back was not good enough.  Give him some credit, but that can’t happen next week.
  • Keith Price was good and this was a bad day for him.  If that doesn’t make sense, just know that Price is very good.  Let’s hope that the offensive line can keep him healthy.  He took way too many hits tonight.  Slide, young fella!

Final comment:  I’ll just summarize by saying that these are the type of games we should start to expect from Steve Sarkisian openers.  Try to hold the opponent at an arm’s length away and don’t show much offensively.  Next week, I expect to see many wrinkles in the offense.  It may not be enough, but the offense will take more chances next game.  The defense won the game for the Huskies and it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to say that.  They really played well.  There were a few mistakes but they were miles ahead of last year.

Again, one of us will probably add some more thoughts about the game in the next couple days but I thought I’d throw out some of my thoughts before I get some much-needed sleep.  We’re 1-0!  11 more to go!  Go Dawgs.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

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by | September 1, 2012 · 9:57 am

Gameday

Hello Dawg fans!

Gameday’s here.  There’s not much else to say.  We’ve covered pretty much everything this week.  The game basically comes down to this: if the Huskies play close to their abilities, they’ll win handily.  San Diego St. is a bit hard to figure.  They were solid last year with 8 wins, but they lost a lot and are expected to be no better than middle of the pack in the Mountain West this year.  It’s the first game though, so anything can happen.

If you’re looking for some reading, I’ll link everything we’ve written about the Dawgs this week.  Yes, this is a shameless excuse to plug our writing.

We have Andrew’s position previews: QB, RB, FB, TE, WR, OL, DL, LB.  Then he got lazy and didn’t do the DBs.  Come on!

Here are predictions for around the Pac-12, along with predictions for tonight’s game.  Also, I wrote quick previews of the conference and Huskies.

Finally, we have Andrew’s look at what could be this season, and a couple of different pieces, one from my sister about going to games and one from me about Deontae Cooper and other stuff.

Happy reading and go Dawgs!

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by | August 31, 2012 · 9:42 pm

UW vs. San Diego St. Predictions

And here we are.  In about 25 hours, the Huskies will have a game in the books.  It’s strange that, after waiting for months for the season to start, it will now be over in 3 short months.  By the end of September, the Dawgs will have played half of their home games.  Or slightly less than half if they host the Pac-12 championship.  Time keeps passing, but it will slow down for a few hours tomorrow night.

I just got home from dinner, and the drive took me along the east edge of Lake Sammamish, which is one of the better drives in the area, even in the dark.  Tonight, there was a clear sky and big moon lighting up some low hanging, patchy clouds.  It was exactly the kind of night I associate with autumn and football.  I grew up in Yakima, where clear skies are common, but in the fall as the temperatures drop, the sky takes on this misty quality that I can’t really describe.  The moon seems bigger, the stars brighter, the night clearer.

That kind of night will be forever linked in my mind with high school football games.  I never played, but I’m not sure I ever missed a game, either.  Our small stadium had bleachers sandwiched between a couple of small grassy berms where the students stood, on the left if you were in middle school, to the right for high schoolers.  There are not many places I remember more fondly than that stadium, huddled with friends, shivering in the cold.

I have no real reason for sharing all this, except tonight reminded me of those nights, which seems fitting for this weekend.  It’s not cold enough to really have the same effect, but I was glad that, a couple of miles up the plateau from where I drove, Skyline and Bothell were facing off in a bigtime season-opener.  Last night, Bellevue beat a Texas powerhouse in overtime in Memorial Stadium.  Tomorrow, the Huskies take on the Aztecs under the lights.  It’s the best time of year.

I hope you get to be at Century Link or your stadium of choice tomorrow.  I cannot tell you much joy it brings me to enter the stadium, waiting for kickoff.  If college games aren’t an option, check out your local high school.  There are few things better than cheering on a random high school team with some friends, or sharing a blanket with your lady (or man).  I’m rambling now, so I’ll stop and get on to the predictions.  Welcome to football season, everybody!

Joe

I have pretty high expectations coming into this season opener with SDSU. My expectation surround two areas: Keith Price and the defense.  Price is the unquestioned leader of the team, and a deep sleeper Heisman candidate.  Price has an opportunity early on to set the tone for year and show he is an elite level QB.  Look for Price to come out aggressive and throw deep a lot to give the fans some excitement right off the bat.  For obvious reasons, I’m excited to see the defense play.  After the nightmare in the Alamo Bowl, Sark fired the whole defensive staff and replaced them with young, energetic, but most importantly, talented defensive coaches.  Justin Wilcox is a clear upgrade at DC.  I’m excited to see how the unit gels over the first few weeks, and matching up against a solid Aztecs squad will be a great test.  Should be a fun Saturday night!

UW 31 – SDSU 20

Matt

I don’t really know what to expect from this game, except a win.  It could be close, it could be a blowout.  The offense could dominate, or it could struggle like in last year’s opener.  I’m hoping the offense can dominate without having to open the playbook too much and the defense can consistently tackle and make a few big plays.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask.  It doesn’t help that San Diego St. is hard to get a handle on, but I’m pretty sure the Dawgs are better.  I’m just hoping they play that way.

UW 38 – SDSU 17

Dan

No prediction from Dan yet.  I (Matthew) have decided that, since I’m the one compiling the predictions, I get to make fun of whoever doesn’t send one in.  So here goes.  Man, Dan is a smelly guy.  He is so smelly.  I think he forgets to shower and takes a bath in the drainage pond by his house instead.  Geez, that guy’s smelly.  I’m glad I’m not sitting by him right now.  Go take a shower!

Andrew

Season openers haven’t exactly been Steve Sarkisian’s strong point.  He’s 1-2 in them but the only good performance in these games came in his first season against LSU.  Last year, we had to sit through a nail biter as the Dawgs held on to beat Eastern Washington.  This year, they play a decent San Diego State team who will come to play.  I think the Huskies will be ready though.  Maybe I’m just being optimistic but I think as the second half wears on, the Dawgs will start to pull away and end up winning by 20.  Here are 3 reasons why:

1.  Keith Price is the best quarterback San Diego will face all year, and, even with 5 defensive backs on the field. the Aztecs just won’t have an answer to Price and ASJ.
2.  The Husky lines will be better than the Aztecs.  There haven’t been many times in the last decade where I think the Huskies will win the battle in the trenches but tomorrow is one of those days.  San Diego State is replacing quite a few guys up front and the Dawgs will rack up a surprising amount of rushing yards.
3.  The defense will be better.  Of course, it can’t be worse but I mean to say that the D will surprise some people.  They’ll have a few mistakes but they’ll make plays and they’ll look much faster.  Because they are.  Danny Shelton will have a good game and the secondary will cover up the linebackers mistakes.  At least for this week.

So, there you go.  Expect Shaq Thompson to wow you.  Expect to be frustrated at some points.  But, Keith Price and the Husky offense will be just too much for the Aztecs.

Huskies 45 – Aztecs 24

Go Dawgs!

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