by | October 26, 2011 · 9:46 am

The Walden Rant

If you have not yet heard the interview Ian Furness had with Jim Walden (WSU color man) yesterday, well, you missed out. I happened to hear it live, and almost pulled over for fear that I would cause an accident on the road. The words coming out of Walden’s mouth, during his 10 minutes of continuous ranting, were beyond ignorant. He made so many outlandish comments, it was hard to keep up, and my mind was left swirling. Jim Walden is kind of the cougar equivelant to Dick Baird, so this would be like Baird going on a station in Spokane, and losing his mind. In a nutshell, Walden is up in arms over the idea of Paul Wulff being fired, and goes as far as to say anyone who thinks otherwise is stupid. Coug Center with SB Nation does a terrific job summarizing the interview. Check it out, laugh a little, then be glad you are a Dawg!

Jim Walden Wants To Know: ‘Why Do I Have To Keep Explaining To The Stupid?’

-Dan

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by | October 22, 2011 · 10:42 pm

‘The 2-Hour Rule’

On Thursday night I wrote about what tonight’s game meant for the Washington football program.  A win, or even a respectable, hard-fought loss would have earned this team national respect and shown that the Dawgs are another step up Sark’s metaphorical mountain.  Well, instead of that happening, the Huskies took out their toboggans and sled down the mountain as if it were the historical December of 2008 (Ty’s last game as Husky head coach).

Being out of the game at halftime was a sight Husky fans have grown accustomed  to seeing but we thought it was behind us.  Tonight it wasn’t behind us and that’s a pretty disgusting and annoying feeling.  The defense didn’t move and the offense, while racking up quite a bit of yards, didn’t have the firepower to stay with a physically dominant Stanford team.  The Huskies will be elite again soon, we’ve seen flashes of it, but that doesn’t change how frustrating that game was.

There.  I’ve said it and it’s out my system.  As far as the Good Guys go, Dan and Joe are usually the emotional reactors.  They have no problem telling us about how much our teams sucked it up.  There’s value in that because without it, you get the Cougar syndrome (I’ve coined this phrase right now and I do apologize Cougar fans) and then, you justify your team keeping a coach for a 4th year even though he’d won 2 pac-10 games in his tenure.  Matthew and I usually take things a little differently then that and try to be a little more optimistic (as hard as that is with Seattle sports).  There’s value in that too, especially when talking about the Huskies this year.  It’s easy to get greedy, and start dreaming of Rose Bowls but the truth is this team is still only 3 seasons removed from 0-12 and has made steady progress each year.

Having said that, Dan was the one who sent me a text to remind just how far the Huskies have come in a short amount of time and how great this coaching staff has been for the program.  There is progress being made and there’s no reason to doubt that progress won’t continue, even after tonight’s debacle.

No, maybe the Huskies aren’t quite ready for a regular slot in prime-time.  They are a good football team, who clearly wasn’t at their best tonight, that is fun to watch and will continue to grow.  If they plan to continue to grow they have to forget about this game quickly.

Sark has a 24 hour-rule, where the team is allowed to think about the game for 24 hours afterwards whether it’s a win or a loss.  From what I can tell in his tenure, this rule has worked and the team has generally shown up to play the week after an ugly loss.  Maybe this week the 24 hour-rule should turn into a 2 hour-rule though.  And maybe this rule should go for fans this week too?  There is no point in dwelling on this game.  There may be a few teachable moments for the team, but mostly they got beat by a much better team tonight.  That might not be the case next year, but it is this year.  Because of that, it’s time to move on.  Once the team gets off that plane tonight I hope Keith Price is smiling, Sark is scheming up some more amazing offensive game-plans, Nick Holt is coaching instead of screaming, and our Dawgs are ready to beat the crap out of Arizona.

A few more thoughts after the jump and then the 2-hour rule (it might be 3 hour-rule by the time I’m done writing this) kicks in. Continue reading →

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by | October 22, 2011 · 10:15 am

UW vs. Stanford Predictions

A couple of quick thoughts before we get to the predictions:

Most people have probably heard about the Arizona-UCLA game Thursday night.  It had a lot of implications for a Thursday night game between two bad teams, namely that it’s probably the game that ensures Rick Neuheisel will be fired and it might signal a bit of an awakening for the Wildcats.  The most interesting part of the ingame action, though, came with 8 seconds left in the first half.  UCLA was lining up for a possible Hail Mary when someone ran on the field from the stands.  Like usual, the cameras didn’t show him, instead focusing on a shot of a referee and some players.  Suddenly, those players took off running and a full-scale brawl broke out.  When it was eventually broken up, two players were ejected, Kevin Prince threw an unsuccessful pass toward the end zone, and both teams walked off, the coaches looking disgusted.

I understand why they don’t show streakers or other people who get on the field.  I personally would rather see what’s going on, but the idea of not giving these people attention is fine.  However, I find it ironic that they won’t show some dummy running through the end zone, but they’ll show a fight between 100 college kids that perfectly embodies the poor sportsmanship that society discourages.  I’m not saying that TV should show the guy on the field or shouldn’t show a brawl.  I just think that if the choice is between having someone toilet paper my house or break in and beat me with a baseball bat because they don’t like how I care for my yard, I know which option I’m picking.

Moving on, I came across this article on WSU running back Carl Winston.  Winston has 224 yards rushing on the year, with a high of 47 in one game.  In the article, Paul Wulff names Winston as his offensive MVP so far this season.  I’m not trying to pick on Winston, and I honestly don’t remember seeing him play, so maybe I’m underrating him.  Still, let’s compare him to the Husky options for offensive MVP.  The clear choice is Keith Price, who is on pace to obliterate most UW season records for a quarterback.  He is currently fifth in the nation in passer efficiency and second in touchdown passes.  If not for that guy in Stanford, he’d be the clear choice for all-Pac-12 QB, in my opinion.  Even if you don’t want to go with him, Chris Polk has about 500 more yards than Winston and is second in the conference in rushing.  I’m not meaning to pick on the Cougars here; they are significantly improved this season.  Wulff’s comment just reminded me of the Huskies in the last few Willingham years.  I’m sure it’s at least partly coachspeak.  If he had to pick one offensive guy on his team, I’m guessing Winston would be at least third, behind Marquess Wilson and either quarterback.  Wulff’s reasons for calling Winston his MVP consist mainly of his excellent blocking and toughness.  Not sure where I was trying to go with this, but I guess I’m just glad that the Huskies can now recognize players for their incredible production, rather than for their incredible toughness.

On to the predictions!

Andrew

Well, this is an exciting game!  One team has only lost once in their last 10 games and the other has the longest winning streak in the nation.  The whole world thinks Stanford is the better team, and rightfully so.  They are older and the more proven team.  A writer for uwdawgpound.com pointed out that they execute extremely well and don’t make many mistakes.  But, he also pointed out that Stanford doesn’t have any absolute stars on the defensive side of the ball (especially now that Skov and Howell are out).  When you think of their offense you think of power running, tight-ends, and a quarterback who is the best in the nation.  Now, the Husky D isn’t set up to stop the quarterback, no one is, but it seems built to do well against the others.  Stanford will get yards, no doubt about it, but I see a little reason for optimism.  I don’t see any reason to doubt our offense won’t score either.  They are too good not to score.  Stanford has been incredible in the 3rd quarter though (and the 1st quarter but so have the Huskies), and that’s what scares me.  It’s what happened against Nebraska and I’m scared that the Dawgs won’t be ready for the fateful 3rd.  If they are, I see them winning to be honest.  There’s more NFL talent on the Husky roster in my honest opinion, it’s just young talent.  Maybe I’ve talked myself into something bad here.  The Huskies will either get blown out or win a close game, that’s what they do in these games.  But, I’m thinking that tomorrow we win.  This team has been doubted too much and, dang it, I’m ready to believe in them and believe that they’re going to win every single week.  Plus, they’re playing trees… While big, they aren’t agile.  Let’s do it Huskies!  Forget the Holiday or Alamo Bowl, after tomorrow lets be talking about the Rose Bowl!
Huskies – 42 Cardinal – 38

Dan

When I analyzed the schedule this past summer and tried to project outcomes, at Nebraska and at Stanford were my only lock losses.  I just could not envision a scenario, at the time, where the Huskies would march in and win either of those games.  I still don’t think Washigton has a great chance today, but I certainly feel better than 3 months ago, when I see Stanford on the schedule.  This game can be broken down a million ways.  The 41-0 loss last year seems like it should be part of the conversation, the fact that this game is on national tv is intriguing, luck vs. price, etc.  To me, it’s as simple as this: Stanford offense-GOOD, UW offense-GOOD, Stanford defense-GOOD, UW defense-BAD (maybe average).  I think UW is at a point where we can keep this game fairly close most of the way, but until our defense is top 25 good, we won’t win many of these games.  I just don’t see us stopping Stanford, not for 4 quarters anyway.  The only scenario where a win is possible, in my mind, is if the defense forces some turnovers, the offense scores TDs rather than FGs, and we get lucky…impossible to do this post without one luck pun.

Stanford-45, UW-31

Matthew

It’s still really hard to predict what these Huskies will do on a weekly basis.  I think Stanford is still notably better, at least on defense.  The Husky offense is so balanced and creative, but this is the best defense they’ve played.  The UW offense is the best Stanford has played as well.  This might come down to who makes mistakes, which isn’t usually Stanford, but it isn’t really the Huskies either.  I really want to pick the Huskies, but when I think about this game, all I see is Andrew Luck throwing to his tight ends on third down.  Here’s guessing the UW defense isn’t quite ready to stop him.

Stanford 41, UW 31

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by | October 20, 2011 · 9:56 pm

What This Game Means

I got home about an hour ago and turned on the end of the abysmal UCLA-Arizona game.  Earlier in the game, these two teams got into a brawl.  Arizona killed UCLA, and there will be another Pac-12 coach fired by the time we all roll out of bed in the morning.  Yes, the Huskies play Arizona next week but this game didn’t really catch me by surprise and I wasn’t concerned about the outcome.  What did interest me was the announcers ripping the Washington Huskies apart.

Reece Davis, the play-by-play guy, said that the Stanford-Washington game was intriguing this weekend.  I thought, “Hey Reece, thanks!”  That was quickly shot down by Jesse Palmer and Craig James.  Palmer and James, not wanting anyone to tune into Saturday’s game, said a few things about how Washington had to hold on just to beat Eastern Washington, had to score 3 4th quarter touchdowns against Nebraska to make it look close, and was losing to Cal in the 3rd quarter.  I’m not going to say that he’s wrong about any of those things but, having watched this team play 6 more games than I’m sure Palmer or James have, I can tell you that he’s a bit misleading.

The Eastern game is what it is, but what do the Huskies have to do to prove that it was apparition?  If you’ve watched any of the 5 games since you could easily tell that was the outlier.  The Nebraska game got ugly at the start of the 4th quarter because of the Huskies not responding to adversity AND because of some poor officiating.  To their credit, the Dawgs still made a game out of it and their offense was very good against what some consider a good defense.  When the Huskies played Cal, the Golden Bears were a completely different team than they have been in the last 6 halves that they’ve played.  They had an offense that was functioning and Maynard could actually hit a target.

That’s without acknowledging how much this team has improved.  The Huskies have clearly gotten better throughout the season, something Palmer wouldn’t say since he doesn’t watch this team.

As if he hadn’t said enough about a team he doesn’t know about, James circled the game @Washington as one of Arizona’s more winnable games.  Of course,

Woof! Woof!

its winnable but he sure sounded confident in it happening.  Reece Davis sounded surprised and then James backtracked a little bit.  It was all fairly annoying.

I guess that all of this frustrating me so much just goes to show how far the Huskies have come.  3 years ago I would have been thrilled with any positive attention but now I get annoyed with someone talking bad against our Dawgs.  When I think about it, maybe the Huskies haven’t done all that much.  The Huskies have been hurt by teams falling apart after playing them.  I can guarantee you that the EWU, Hawaii, and probably Cal played their best games against the Dawgs.  They have been different teams since.  But, that doesn’t change the fact that we haven’t played against a team with a winning record.

All that changes on Saturday.  The Huskies face what’s arguably their toughest test this season will bring.  Stanford is really good.  They are just physically dominating, like the U-Dub teams of the early ’90’s.  If the Huskies get pasted, which is a possibility, the Dawgs will continue to not get national respect.  If they put up a fight or, dare I say it, win then the Huskies will be back on the college football scene.

That’s the reason this game is the biggest Husky game in a decade.  That’s the reason I haven’t been able to concentrate on my own life as well this week.  And that’s the reason why I got a little upset with the ESPN guys when they disregarded the Huskies.

Tomorrow at this time the Good Guys’ will have their predictions up and Stanford will be the popular choice.  But, it’s about what happens on the field on Saturday.  Lets hope that the Huskies show up and burst back on to the national scene so Palmer, James and other talking heads won’t bash us for no apparent reason.  As we climb the mountain (as Sark says), the next step is Stanford.  But, it’s more than just Stanford, it’s respect.

-Andrew

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by | October 20, 2011 · 11:33 am

Another Milestone

I noticed today that we’ve surpassed 13,000 views on this, the most viewed blog on the internet (at least, of those blogs that have good guys in the name). In light of this feat, on behalf of the good guys, I want to extend our thanks to the 6 of you that have refreshed our homepage 100x a day, in order to make us feel loved. Your thoughtfulness does not go unnoticed.

In addition, there have been some rather intriguing searches that have lead readers to our blog. If you are the guy that looked up, “good would you rathers for guys,” “probability of beating a team 3 times in one season,” “how to not stalk a guy,” “my brother is a good guy,” “m and m commercials in 2011,” or my favorite, “fantastico! liddi launching salamis,” we sincerely hope you found what you were looking for.

We are your one stop shop for answers to these difficult quandaries. Stay tuned for more absurdly intelligent content, spot on predictions, and solutions to America’s debt crisis. The Good Guys won’t let you down.

-Dan (and the other 3)

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by | October 14, 2011 · 9:35 pm

UW vs. Colorado Predictions

Hello, and welcome to the Good Guys Sports Blog.  I’ll be your host this evening.

Here’s tonight’s question: Who is your favorite Pac-12 player to watch that is not on your favorite team?  That means no Chris Polk for Husky fans, no Marquess Wilson for Cougars, etc.

For me, LaMichael James is probably the guy.  He’s a Duck, and you can argue he’s a product of their system, but consider me skeptical that any of their other backs will be nearly as good as he is.  He’s out for at least this week though, so I’ll try for someone less obvious, if possibly just as talented.

Every year, the Good Guys plus a few others have a Pac-10/12 only fantasy draft.  It’s slightly ridiculous but a lot of fun, and we know as much about Utah’s fourth string running back as anyone outside of Kyle Whittingham, which, I guess that’s a good thing?  Anyway, last year, I was looking for late depth at wide receiver and grabbed California’s Keenan Allen, then a probable starter as a true freshman.  The first few weeks, I think he gave me more points on end-arounds than on receptions, but by the end of the year, he was a solid starter for my team.  This year, I think I grabbed him in the fourth round or so, which raised a few heckles from fellow drafters.  It was the best pick I made.

Allen and Cal QB Zach Maynard are half-brothers, and the hope for Bear fans was that the two would develop into a dynamic duo that would provide the passing attack Cal has mostly been missing the last couple of years.  That’s been the case at times, but Maynard has been extremely inconsistent, and just plain bad the last couple of weeks.  Allen has had no such issues.  He’s been solid to spectacular, with the Huskies getting most of the spectacular.  He went for 10 catches and 197 yards with a touchdown in Husky Stadium.  Last night against USC, he seemed like Cal’s only offensive weapon, ending with 13 catches for 160 yards.  He’s gone over 100 yards receiving in every game but one this year.

Allen’s a joy to watch, big and smooth.  He’s one of those guys who doesn’t seem like he’s that fast until he’s running away from you, like he did in the first series against the Huskies.  The Pac-12 has a bunch of great receivers.  Robert Woods is just ridiculous in all aspects.  Juron Criner is excellent when he can stay on the field, and Marquess Wilson is lightning, scary as can be.  If I were picking guys for a team though, my pick might be Keenan Allen.

So who do you like to watch?  Put it in the comments.  Onto the predictions:

Joe

Even though the line on this game says it will be a blow out and not noteworthy, I believe this game is intriguing and could be another defining moment for this program (Sark has had a few defining moments, both wins over USC, the Holiday Bowl and last week vs Utah…).  If the Huskies want to be elite and return to conference dominance like so many long time fans want, they must, I repeat, must destroy Colorado.  The Buffs are simply not good.  They lost home to Wazzu and haven’t won a road game in four years.  If UW claims to be good, and 4-1 says they are, they gotta play like it and come out and crush CU.  No sloppiness like they showed against lesser opponents earlier this year.  I want to see crisp, aggressive play right from the start.  The Huskies tend to play well in the underdog role, it gets them jacked up since a hallmark of Sark’s coaching is playing with emotion and a chip.  Against Utah they had all of this.  How do they handle the biggest in conference spread since the Neuheisal days?  I am very curious to see.  I like swagger, in fact I love it, but if you want to be hardcore you better go out and back things up.  Bury them from the start.  No detailed player or scheme breakdowns in this prediction, just the plain truth: Dawgs in a blowout, POW!

UW 41 – CU 17

Andrew

The last 2 games I’ve picked against the Huskies and what have the results yielded?  The Huskies have beaten teams by more than 7 points 2 weeks in a row!  You may think that’s not a big deal, but it hasn’t happened since (I’m looking back through the records now, wait for it) the last two games in 2009.  That’s pretty amazing seeing how the Huskies record is 13-7 in that span.  By the way, the Huskies have won 8 of their last 9 games.  That’s better than most teams in the country, pretty cool huh?  It’s because of those records that the Huskies should blow out Colorado.  The Buffaloes haven’t won a road game since 2007 (double check that for me), they are completely depleted in the secondary, and they are missing one of their top offensive weapons.  I know Colorado has been going through down years but these road woes are pretty ridiculous.  Why don’t they bring the buffalo on the road with them?  You can’t convince me that they wouldn’t win at least a couple of road games in that span if they brought their buffalo along.  I know picking the Huskies to lose has worked out for us the last few games, but now is the time to start believing that the Huskies will win.  Our Dawgs have a tendency to keep things close but, on Saturday, I think we’ll see domination.  The Dawgs will run away with this one.  The fans will party out in the rain and our team will show up in the top-25 on Monday.  That will set up a showdown for the Pac-12 North that has early Rose Bowl implications.  Yes, I’m getting way too ahead of myself but it sure does feel good to write that.  Go Dawgs!

Huskies – 42 Buffs – 17

Matthew

Like many Husky fans, I’m still trying to get used to a good UW team.  I keep looking for reasons that they’re not very good.  Their opponents haven’t exactly gone on to great success.  It’s just going to take a bit before I’ll be able to expect continued excellence from them.  A blowout win over a bad and beaten-up Colorado team would be a huge step in the right direction.  I think they’ll do it.  There’s not a whole lot else to say.  Colorado isn’t terrible offensively, but they’re missing Paul Richardson, who accounts for something like 25% of their offense so far, which seems extremely high for a wide receiver not named Robert Woods.  Their defense isn’t anything special, especially if you pick up their blitzes.  The only thing really scary about them is the buffalo, and as Andrew said, he’s not making the trip.  The mascot making every trip should have been a requirement of Colorado joining the Pac-12.  Have to say though, I saw them run the buffalo out recently, and I was disappointed that they didn’t just turn him loose.  They have 4 people running along beside him.  Let that guy run!  Andrew pointed out that that would be dangerous and crazy.  I pointed out that I didn’t care!

UW 45, Colorado 20

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by | October 9, 2011 · 12:38 pm

The Thousand Yard Game

Husky Stadium is a special place for us, and we’re guessing a lot of our readers feel the same.  Given that this is the last year for the stadium as we know it, we thought we’d offer up some of our favorite memories that came on Montlake.  With memories, there’s always the chance that they’re only special to the people involved, but hopefully with this series you’ll see something of the importance these memories hold to us.  With a few of them, maybe you were there as well.  The bye week seems like a good time to start, with more posts to come throughout the season.

******************************************************************

My first trip to Husky Stadium was the 1995 Apple Cup.  I was in the eighth grade, and as near as I can remember, I went with my dad and his two cousins, Dave and Steve.  Reading about that game now, it turns out that it was a pretty great game, with the Huskies winning on a late field goal.  I have vague recollections; we walked out talking about Ryan Leaf’s debut, how the Cougars had themselves a quarterback.  Mostly, I remember being excited to be at a Husky game at long last.

My first real memory at Husky Stadium came a year later.  We bought season tickets for the first time, along with Dave and Steve, but they decided to stay home for a late-season game against cupcake San Jose State.  My whole family decided to go, along with my friends Mike and Tyler.  My birthday was the next week, so my parents gave me an early present: a corduroy coat I had picked out earlier.  They thought I might want to wear it, and I did, but I decided to go with my ski coat instead, in case of rain.  It was a good move.

We got to the game early and found seats in the east end zone.  It was cold already, and in the open bleachers at that end of the stadium, the wind blows off the lake and right onto your legs and back and neck.  On cold days, you hope the section is full and that big people are sitting behind you, because that’s the only thing that blocks the wind.  When half the crowd leaves for concessions or the restroom at halftime, the temperature seems to drop twenty degrees instantly.

As the band was lining up to take the field, my dad looked toward the sky in front of us and said, “If this was Yakima, we’d have a hailstorm in about twenty minutes.”

The band played, and the flag was unfurled for the Star Spangled Banner.  The flag holders made their dash across the end zone to retrieve their instruments, and the tuba players donned jerseys for their weekly pre-game game of football before the players took the field.

As the Huskies ran out of the tunnel, it started to hail.  Then, it started to rain. Continue reading →

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by | October 7, 2011 · 5:51 pm

It’s Time to Dream

Over the next couple of weeks, us Good Guys will be taking a look back at some of our fondest memories of Husky Stadium.  In fact, the first post in this series should be up shortly.  As you know by now, this old monument will be remodeled after the Dawgs and Ducks go on a date there November 5th.  Yes, the stadium will still stand and will be better but there’s not doubting that it will be different.  This is why we’ll be writing about memories.

But, maybe this old stadium isn’t quite done giving us memories yet.  In case you haven’t noticed, the Huskies are 4-1 for the first time since 2006.  They are 2-0 in the Pac-12 and have improved every week.  The offense looks like one of the best in program history, having scored over 30 points in each of the first 5 games.  The defense has struggled but has been opportunistic and continues to improve.

By all means, after next Saturday the Huskies should be 5-1.  They have the easiest game left on their schedule next Saturday (at home against Colorado) and while the Huskies will have to show up and play hard, a win is expected.  Not to get too far ahead of myself, but in 8 days the University of Washington football team should have their best record to open a season since 2000.  Yes, that was the last time the Huskies won a Rose Bowl.

Before I write anything more, I think it’s important to remember how far this program has come.  Two and a half years ago Steve Sarkisian was hired to fix a program that went 0-12.  Those dreadful years under Tyrone Willingham (also known as Lord Voldemort) tore apart a fan base and left Husky Stadium with empty seats galore.  It was tough to watch.  Truly, I think of all of those losses and I’m simply grateful for a win over Eastern Washington.  So, don’t take this post the wrong way.  I’m not a cocky fan who thinks this team is going to run the table but for the first time in, I don’t know, 10 years, I think it’s time for this fan base to dream.

Continue reading →

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