On September 6th the Cougars will travel to Husky stadium (seating capacity 72,500) for a tough matchup with the University Of Washington. It will be the seventh meeting between the two schools. Present will be the opportunity for the Cougs to win their first non conference road game since 2002. Their last meeting was in Provo with the jerseys in blue victorious 35-28. Washington last week traveled to Oregon and was absolutely embarassed. Returning home to Husky stadium Washington will definately be looking for some payback and to getting back on track. Husky stadium was used in 1990 for the Goodwill Games and is one of the loudest college football stadiums. During a game (against Nebraska) back in 1972 ESPN measured the crowd noise at over 135 decibels. Over the years the names have kept rolling (Greg Lewis, Lincoln Kennedy, Corey Dillon, Ron Holmes, Mark Brunell, Lawyer Milloy, Marques Tuiasosopo, Warren Moon to name a few) with the latest being all everything Jake Locker. In the Husky rich history they have won 15 PAC10 titles, 7 Rose Bowls and even 2 National Championships. The Cougars are 2-4 overall against the University Of Washington. Since 2002 the Huskies have fallen on some hard times in not producing a winning season (7-6 under Rick Neuheisel). At the coaching helm is Tyrone Willingham who may be on a hot seat (currently 11-26 win loss record). The schedule doesn't supply any relief. According to ESPNs Mark Schlabach the Huskies have on slate the second toughest schedule in the nation. To make matters worse the leading tackler linebacker EJ Savannah (6.2/228) was deemed academically ineligible (111 tackles in 2007). Starting center Juan Garcia (6.3/305) suffered a left foot Lisfranc injury (hmm sounds familiar) roughly four and a half months ago and amazingly returned healthy enough to play in last weeks game against Oregon. With his return the Husky OL returns all but one starter. They are big and strong averaging 332 across the line. Expectations are high for quarterback Jake Locker (6.3/225). Last year Jake had over 3,000 combined yards (2,062 air and 986 yards ground). Although his accuracy could be questioned with 14 TDs and 15 INTs in 2007 (47 completion percentage). He is a physical runner who won't shy away from contact. Newcomer true freshman tailback Chris Polk turned down USC and graduated early to enroll in time for spring ball. Polk will turn some heads. On defense Washington only returns 6 starters from a rather poor "D". Husky defense gave up over 31 a game and 446 yards. Thus, Ed Donatell was brought in who was a NFL defensive coordinator for the last twelve years. This contest should be interesting keeping in mind on both sides of the ball for the Huskies there are 10 starters who are sophomores or younger. At stake for the Cougs is the nation's longest winning streak (11) and the quest for a possible BCS berth.
31 August 2008
Husky Haven
On September 6th the Cougars will travel to Husky stadium (seating capacity 72,500) for a tough matchup with the University Of Washington. It will be the seventh meeting between the two schools. Present will be the opportunity for the Cougs to win their first non conference road game since 2002. Their last meeting was in Provo with the jerseys in blue victorious 35-28. Washington last week traveled to Oregon and was absolutely embarassed. Returning home to Husky stadium Washington will definately be looking for some payback and to getting back on track. Husky stadium was used in 1990 for the Goodwill Games and is one of the loudest college football stadiums. During a game (against Nebraska) back in 1972 ESPN measured the crowd noise at over 135 decibels. Over the years the names have kept rolling (Greg Lewis, Lincoln Kennedy, Corey Dillon, Ron Holmes, Mark Brunell, Lawyer Milloy, Marques Tuiasosopo, Warren Moon to name a few) with the latest being all everything Jake Locker. In the Husky rich history they have won 15 PAC10 titles, 7 Rose Bowls and even 2 National Championships. The Cougars are 2-4 overall against the University Of Washington. Since 2002 the Huskies have fallen on some hard times in not producing a winning season (7-6 under Rick Neuheisel). At the coaching helm is Tyrone Willingham who may be on a hot seat (currently 11-26 win loss record). The schedule doesn't supply any relief. According to ESPNs Mark Schlabach the Huskies have on slate the second toughest schedule in the nation. To make matters worse the leading tackler linebacker EJ Savannah (6.2/228) was deemed academically ineligible (111 tackles in 2007). Starting center Juan Garcia (6.3/305) suffered a left foot Lisfranc injury (hmm sounds familiar) roughly four and a half months ago and amazingly returned healthy enough to play in last weeks game against Oregon. With his return the Husky OL returns all but one starter. They are big and strong averaging 332 across the line. Expectations are high for quarterback Jake Locker (6.3/225). Last year Jake had over 3,000 combined yards (2,062 air and 986 yards ground). Although his accuracy could be questioned with 14 TDs and 15 INTs in 2007 (47 completion percentage). He is a physical runner who won't shy away from contact. Newcomer true freshman tailback Chris Polk turned down USC and graduated early to enroll in time for spring ball. Polk will turn some heads. On defense Washington only returns 6 starters from a rather poor "D". Husky defense gave up over 31 a game and 446 yards. Thus, Ed Donatell was brought in who was a NFL defensive coordinator for the last twelve years. This contest should be interesting keeping in mind on both sides of the ball for the Huskies there are 10 starters who are sophomores or younger. At stake for the Cougs is the nation's longest winning streak (11) and the quest for a possible BCS berth.
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2 comments:
You know, week one did a lot to assuage my fears about Washington.
First of all, BYU was able to prepare for and play against a big, strong athletic quarterback in Pat Gracy for UNI. I don't know about you, but I was very impressed with Gracy--he is a big, strong guy and he can run the football. In preparing for Gracy, BYU got an extra week to prepare for Locker, who is faster, but not as good a thrower.
Secondly, after seeing UW play Oregon in their season opener, I am very much convinced that Washington is not the scary team I thought they were. Locker looked unimpressive, and the Husky defense was abysmal.
UW will put up a couple TDs, but BYU will beat up on their defense just like Oregon. BYU 38, UW 14.
Adam
Man I sure hope you are right about the Huskies. I'm buku nervous about the game. I don't think they are that great. They are incredibly young on both sides. We will also be taking on the officials. Hopefully the Cougs will take care of business in order to eliminate the men in stripes. Keep in mind one official crew was suspended a few yrs back callin a OR/OK game on controversial calls or lack thereof.
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