My day of college football has started as I’m sitting down watching Michigan fall behind early to Wisconsin. Are the Wolverines really as good as they looked last week? And if they lose, what does that say about Notre Dame?
I’m looking forward to watching a little of the Cal-Arizona State game before I have to head out to Husky Stadium. I picked ASU not only to win the game, but to finish second in the Pac-10 but it sure hasn’t looked like a great team yet. I’m curious to see if the Sun Devils’ defense is as good as it’s been so far, and Cal will challenge that. Marshawn Lynch is one of the best players in the country. But I think ASU’s defensive line will give the Cal offensive line some trouble. I’m one of the few who doesn’t think Cal is as good as it’s been hyped up to be, and we’ll see if that’s true today.
It’s a pretty big day in the Pac-10 overall. Husky fans will be really interested to see how Arizona holds up at home against USC, as Washington plays at Tucson next week. The Wildcats were able to hang a bit with the Trojans last season but Arizona has been pretty poor so far this season, and USC has been as good as I expected.
I picked Stanford to beat Washington State today, but I’m regretting it a little. Maybe not regretting, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cougars win, and win fairly easily. Stanford is really bad and outside of quarterback Trent Edwards, the Cardinal doesn’t have much. But I just think Stanford is bound to win a game this season, and WSU’s injuries are troubling.
As for the Husky game, I picked Washington by a touchdown, and I stand by it. I think the crowd could play a big factor. Husky fans will have extra time to, ummmm, get their game-faces on, and there’s expected to be a crowd of 65,000 or so. A much smaller crowd made a lot of noise last week and certainly gave Fresno’s offensive line problems, and the same could happen today. I don’t think that Bruins’ quarterback Ben Olson will be as rattled as a typical inexperienced quarterback would be playing in a loud, hostile environment. The guy is 23 years old and spent two years on a church mission, so he’s faced some hostility before.
The two biggest factors will be Washington’s power running game and the UW’s secondary. The Huskies could not run inside against Fresno State but those were some huge tackles clogging those holes. UCLA relies more on speed – like Oklahoma – and could make it tough for the UW to get outside, so watch for Kenny James to play a big role today.
On defense, Washington will have to keep up with a fast, athletic group of receivers and a quarterback who is very accurate. The Husky defensive front is going to have to really pressure Olson to help out the defensive backs. If Olson gets going early, it could be a really long day.
It’s interesting that the line for the game has dropped two points in the last few days to UCLA by 3. Having worked in Reno and done plenty of sports betting stories, I know those guys don’t just throw numbers around arbitrarily. There is a ton of money at stake, and they do their home work and know what they’re talking about. So that could be an encouraging sign for Husky fans.
Either way, it should be a fun day out there. Six-and-a-half hours or so to go before kickoff and about four hours before I head out to the stadium. The excitement over this game is what Husky football games should always be. Maybe this is the start of the turnaround.
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