Ah, yeah. I feel fortunate actually. She knows that Fall Saturdays are for football only. No weddings or other nonsense. It does suck that I have to be aware of Ole Miss's schedule though. Like anybody cares about that.

this is what both USC (Matt Barkley) and Stanford (Andrew Luck) did v Washington last year...stayed away from passing it

Stanford only threw it 22 times vs UW last year (they threw it 30-plus vs everybody else), and Stanford only threw for 169 yards v UW (lowest of season) while they averaged 288 vs everybody else

Meanwhile, Stanford ran it 44 times v UW for 446 yards (which was the only time they ran for over 300 vs anybody last year)


USC only threw it 28 times vs UW last year (they threw it 32-plus for an average of 38 vs everybody else), and USC only threw for 174 yards v UW (lowest of season) while they averaged 305 vs everybody else

Meanwhile, USC ran it 40 times v UW for 252 yards (which was their season best and only one of 3 times they ran for over 200 vs anybody last year


as for Oregon, they threw it 25 times vs UW last year for 169 yards, which was their lowest passing yards total for the season for a team they threw 21 times or more against

Meanwhile, Oregon ran it 39 times v UW for 212 yards and 5.44 yards per carry


Baylor (RGIII) was also run-first vs UW last year...33 passes, 52 rushes, and they ran for 9.3 yards per carry for 482 rushing yards (Baylor's highest total of year and only time they ran for over 400 yards)

meanwhile, UW held Baylor to less than 300 yards passing, which was only 1 of 2 times Baylor failed to pass for 300 last year when throwing 23 times or more

in addition to seeing how well our new CB holds up vs the UW WRs, it's also going to be interesting to see how our two new starting OLBs hold up against UW TE Seferian-Jenkins and UW RB Sankey

#57 Lamin Barrow: only started one game last season (vs Northwestern State)
- Scout: #20 SLB, 3-star
- Rivals: #22 ILB, 3-star

#52 Luke Muncie: had zero starts last season
- Scout #35 OLB, 3-star
- Rivals #42 OLB, 3-star

Shaq welcomes the Huskies to Baton Rouge as a favor to fellow LSU grad Cheryl Taplin, who is now an assistant at UW...


"How big is the Huskies' game Saturday night at LSU? Shaquille O'Neal big.
...
(Inside the UW team hotel's front door Thursday night, Shaquille O'Neal) welcomed arriving Huskies players and staffers to his old college town. ...(the UW players) gathered around him, shook his hand and snapped pictures of the retired NBA superstar
...
O'Neal was here at as a guest of Cheryl Taplin, UW football's assistant to coach Steve Sarkisian. The 1991 national college basketball player of the year and Taplin went to school together at Louisiana State.

"Shaq is downstairs!" Huskies called to each other in the second-floor hallway after the first wave of players had made it to their rooms.
...
The Huskies practiced for more than an hour Thursday morning before leaving campus.
...
The first thing the Huskies saw upon landing in the dark Louisiana night (last night) was a flash of lightning off the end of the tarmac. The current forecast for Saturday's kickoff at 6 p.m. local time: a 30-percent chance of thunderstorms with temperatures in the upper 80s."

here's what UW's offensive line looks like:

LT #72 Micah Hatchie (6-5, 293) -- first season as starter
Scout #25 OT (4-star), #256 on the Scout300
Rivals #68 OT (3-star)
offers to Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Cal, Arizona, Colorado, etc

LG #64 Colin Tanigawa (6-3, 281) -- started 11 games in 2011
Rivals #32 OG (3-star)
Scout #75 OT (2-star)
offers to Nebraska, Washington, Arizona State, Iowa State, Washington State, etc

C #73 Drew Schaefer (6-4, 294) -- Team Captain -- has started 30 consecutive games
Scout #32 OT (3-star)
Rivals #39 OT (3-star)
offers to Stanford, Washington and Washington State

RT or RG #75 Erik Kohler (6-4, 299) -- started all 13 games in 2011, and started 5 games in 2010
Rivals #4 OG (4-star), #211 on the Rivals250
Scout #5 OG (4-star), #139 on the Scout150
offers to Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA, Cal, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, etc

-----------------------------------------

and one of these two is going to start to replace new starter Ben Riva, who was going to be UW's starting RT until he broke his arm. it depends on where they want Kolher, if they want him at RT, then Atoe will start at RG, if they want him at RG, the Criste will start at RT. the lastest news is that Atoe will likely start at RG and Kohler will move out to RT for the injured Riva...

RG #70 James Atoe (6-6, 335) -- would be his first time as a starter for UW (note the guy he'd be replacing on the line, Riva, only had 1 start before this season)
Scout #146 OT (2-star)
Rivals NR (2-star)

RT #78 Mike Criste (6-5, 295) -- would be his first time as a starter for UW (note the guy he'd be replacing on the line, Riva, only had 1 start before this season)
Rivals #54 OT (3-star)
Scout #95 OT (2-star)
offers to Notre Dame, Washington, Arizona State, Oregon State


College Football News had this to say about the UW O-line in their 2012 preview:

"The only way the gears of the (UW's potent offensive) attack will grind to a halt is if the O-line fails to give Price the time he needs to operate. ... Washington should be able to run the ball successfully behind the physical trio of Schaefer, Kohler and Tanigawa"

My concern is more look at what N. Texas dine did to Mett and that UW dline will be better.

Nit that I'm much concerned with the game.

on the UW defense, their weakness is their LBs...

here's what College Football News wrote about them in their 2012 preview:

"the (UW) linebackers, who had played poorly in 2011, could be a liability again in 2012. ... No (UW) defensive group will be under more scrutiny...than the linebackers. ... the Washington D will be most vulnerable on the second level"

"Strength (of LBs): Range (Speed). When going from sideline to sideline, the Huskies linebackers move with all of the quickness and agility of well-sized defensive backs. Their athletic make-up allows them to be used in myriad different ways, from pinning their ears back on blitzes to fluidly dropping back in coverage to blanket a target in the passing game."

indeed, most of UW's LBs are actually DBs moved to LBs, kinda like what Chavis has done with some of LBs at LSU

"Weakness (of LBs): (Size) ... The starters are not very big, which could present problems against downhill running opponents."

here's a look at the 5 LBs that UW listed on their 2-deep for the game...

#10 John Timu (231 lbs) -- Team Captain -- started 8 games last season
Scout #60 S (3-star)
Rivals #69 ATH (3-star)
offers: Oregon, Washington, etc

#41 Travis Feeney (209 lbs) -- new starter
Rivals NR CB (3-star)
Scout NR S (2-star)
offers to Washington, Arizona

#37 Princeton Fuimaono (210 lbs) -- started 13 games last season
Scout #51 MLB (3-star)
Rivals NR OLB (3-star)


reserves

#50 Thomas Tutogi (242 lbs)
Rivals #1 JUCO LB (3-star), #21 on the JUCO Top50
Scout NR MLB (3-star)
offers to Southern Cal, Washington, etc

#14 Taz Stevenson (215 lbs)
Scout #47 S (3-star)
Rivals #49 S (3-star)
offers to Washington, Oregon State, Washington State, Utah, Colorado, etc

as for the UW secondary, they are pretty stacked. the top 3 guys to keep an eye on are:

#7 Shaq Thompson, starting nickleback -- new starter
--Rivals #1 S (5-star), #4 on the Rivals100
--Scout #1 S (5-star), #3 on the Scout100
--US Army All-American, Parade All-American, USA Today All-American, etc
--offers to Alabama, Southern Cal, Oregon, Notre Dame, Florida, Michigan, Auburn, Cal, Washington, Arizona State, UCLA, Utah, etc

#1 Sean Parker, starting safety -- Team Captain -- started all 13 games last season
--Scout #6 S (4-star)
--Rivals #21 S (4-star)
--US Army All-American, USA Today All-American, etc
--offers to Southern Cal, Oregon, Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Stanford, UCLA, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Minnesota, Washington State, etc

#6 Desmond Trufant, starting CB -- Team Captain -- started all 13 games last year
--he's an elite CB, for example here's projection of him as a possible 1st Round pick by Kevin Weidl of Scout, Inc.: "Week 2 of the college football season offers plenty of chances to see top NFL prospects against strong competition, but three players stand out as must-sees this weekend.
...
Washington CB Desmond Trufant
(Scouts Inc. grade: 90)
The brother of 2003 No. 11 overall pick (Seattle) Marcus Trufant (All-Pro CB), Desmond also shows the potential to be a first-round pick based on game tape. Desmond (5-11¾, 180) shows good instincts and awareness, especially when the ball is in the air, and his balance and foot quickness are impressive. He keeps his feet under him and can change directions quickly, giving him excellent short-area burst. Desmond has the versatility to play outside or slide in and cover the slot, and is tough in run support. He'll face a big test this week against the speed of LSU, though. That will be especially true when lined up against Tigers WR Odell Beckham, who showed off his elite long speed in Week 1 against North Texas. Trufant doesn't get as much attention as he should playing on the West Coast, so a big showing against a top-five team would certainly turn some heads and begin to raise his national profile."

it'll be interesting to see how the LSU OTs hold up tonight against one of the best DEs/Rush LBs in the country, UW's Josh Shirley (#22)

compare how he did last year to how Montgomery and Mingo did last year:

Josh Shirley (13 games)
8.5 sacks, 12.0 TFL, 2 forced fumbles

Sam Montgomery (14 games)
9.0 sacks, 13.5 TFL, 1 forced fumble

Barkevious Mingo (14 games)
7.0 sacks, 15.0 TFL, 1 forced fumble

and compare how Shirley ranked as a recruit to how Montgomery and Mingo ranked as recruits:

UW #22 DE Josh Shirley
Rivals #9 OLB, 4-star, #137 on Rivals150
Scout #12 OLB, 4-star
US Army All-American
offers to Southern Cal, Oregon, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Tennessee, Miami, Stanford, UCLA, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Utah, Colorado, etc

Sam Montgomery
Rivals #6 WDE, 4-star, #110 on Rivals150
Scout #7 DE, 4-star
Under Armour All-American
offers to LSU, Bama, Southern Cal, Georgia, South Carolina, Oregon, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, Auburn, Clemson, Miami, UNC

Barkevious Mingo
Rivals #9 OLB, 4-star, #155 on Rivals150
Scout #6 SLB, 4-star
US Army All-American
offers to LSU, Bama, Oklahoma, Michigan, Notre Dame, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Tennessee, UCLA, etc

-------------------------------------------------

other UW D-linemen to keep an eye on include...

#55 Sione Potoa’e
Scout #4 DT, 4-star, #52 on Scout100
Rivals #10 DT, 4-star, #92 on Rivals100
U.S. Army All-American
offers to Southern Cal, Oregon, UCLA, Cal, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State

#44 Pio Vatuvei
Rivals #11 WDE (4-star), #145 on the Rivals150
Scout #43 DE (3-star)
offers to Southern Cal, Washington, Arizona, Cal, Oregon State, Colorado, Utah, Washington State, etc

#71 Danny Shelton (6-1, 317)
Rivals #10 DT (4-star), #120 on the Rivals150
Scout #32 DT (3-star)
offers to Oregon, UCLA, Cal, Washington, Oregon State, Washington State, etc