Little things can mean a lot this season
Rich Linde, 24 Aug 2008
I have a feeling of
angst as I write this, for the foreboding days of reckoning draw near.
In fact, the pit of my stomach is churning.
Questions, questions,
questions concerning the Huskies haunt me? Do I really want to face this
pivotal season head on?
Rotating ten guys on the
defensive line, playing freshmen running backs and young receivers, testing
Jake’s hammy and Garcia’s foot, getting a handle on Ty’s job status, and
playing a tough schedule pose questions, among others, that will be sorted
out and mostly answered in just a few weeks, starting with the Oregon game
on Saturday.
How the Huskies finish up
the season is my main concern. Will they finish on their feet or lie decked
on the canvas?
Realistically, games
against Brigham Young, Stanford, Arizona, Oregon State, Notre Dame, UCLA,
and Washington State are potential wins. That would mean a 7-5 season, a
bowl game, and a contract extension for the coach if all the potentials were
deposited in the bank.
However, if each of the
seven winnable games is a 50-50 shot, that means Washington likely will win
three or four of them and post a 4-8 season, say. Losses to five teams --
Oregon, Oklahoma, USC, California and Arizona State -- are already debited,
the experts tell me. A win over one of the elite five on the schedule would
give Coach Tyrone Willingham a signature win, which his program badly needs.
A victory over Notre Dame
should count as a signature win in my estimation. It’s a revenge game for
Tyrone.
A winning season, a
contract extension, and a signature win would all give the recruiting
process a significant boost. I can’t say that crossing this collective
Rubicon would unite the NEGAdawgs with the POSIdawgs over at dawgman.com and
form one happy Husky family, for their rift is too great. There are plenty
of NEGAs who want the coach’s hide. However, eight or nine wins might just
do the trick. What are the odds of that happening?
Short of that goal, I can
console myself with the notion that what might seem like little things can mean a lot this
season, like:
-
Juan Garcia posts a
healthy season. All of the Huskies do, for that matter, but I’ll settle
for a high percentage of good health.
-
No serious, complex knee
operations are necessary. None!
-
Ryan Perkins boots
a 43-yarder – or plus -- and, mostly, is free from pain.
-
Washington either gives
out two Guy Flaherty Awards for the season’s most inspirational
players or acknowledges a runner up to the one given (Garcia and
Perkins are my early favorites but by no matter are shoo-ins).
-
Jake Locker
completes a goodly number of passes, nearly 55% or above.
-
A superstar, a
first-round draft pick, emerges behind Jake.
-
Sportswriters come
to realize they had it turned all around, that Tim Tebow is the Jake
Locker of the east, and not vice versa.
-
Tyrone Willingham
keeps his sanity; the same goes for defensive coordinator Ed
Donatell.
-
President Mark
Emmert and the new AD bring us together if the season wends south.
-
All of us fans keep
our sense of humor and realize our days on earth are limited.
-
Spirit doesn’t take
a bite out of Charlie Weis’ pants. Rick’s trousers need shredding
for exercising poor judgment.
-
Rick sues Spirit
for his torn pants and loses.
-
Spirit has
something to howl about this season, including the torn pants.
-
Tyrone is soaked
with a bucket of ice, one or more times.
-
Molly Yanity and
Bob Condotta deep-six Ty’s platitudes.
-
Molly and Bob fail
to mention they are limited to the first 25 minutes of practice --
just once.
-
Kim Grinolds over
at dawgman fails to say “wow.”
-
Coach Dick Baird
says “wow,” in criticizing a Willingham-coached decision.
-
It pours during one
of the Huskies’ home games and costs a visiting favorite a win.
That’s tough luck, baby.
-
The stadium
remodeling gets off the ground.
-
The Huskies post
one or more wins at a sold-out stadium, either at home or on the
road.
-
The Huskies don’t
take any cheap shots at that OSU guy, and vice versa.
-
The Seattle Times
doesn’t publish any more eight-year old revelations, and it fails to win a Pulitzer
Prize in sports for its past revelation.
-
Curtis Williams’
reputation is mostly restored.
-
The Seattle Times
apologizes to C-Dub's daughter for smearing her father because he
wasn't around to present his side of the story, like in he was on
the road to recovery at the time of the Stanford game and getting
his act together.
-
Fearing for his
job, columnist Art Thiel begins to appreciate big-time college
football as the Seattle sports scene continues to wane, with a Sonics
boom marking his enlightenment.
-
The Seattle sports
scene is pulled off its suicide watch.
-
The
State Legislature comes to realize that Husky football brings money
to the city of Seattle and that using tax money to refurbish Husky
Stadium is money well spent.
-
There are
no-worst-in-school-history defensive statistics to note.
-
One or more
offensive players post best-in-school-history records.
-
The media guide is
redesigned to list school records, e. g., the NCAA lifts its ban on
printing 209 pages or more.
-
None of the players
finds a police plotter. Add the Cougars here, too.
