Previewing The Pac In 10 Days – #5 Washington Huskies
Posted on 30. Aug, 2010 at 11:01 am by bbryan in Football, NCAA Football, PAC-10 Football, Washington Huskies Football
Over the last 10 work days leading up to the start of the season we will be previewing the Pac-10 in reverse predicted order of finish. Previous reviews can be found here: 10 9 8 7 6
Last year: 4-5 7th place
The Good - Jesus Jake, The Messiah or whatever nickname you want to give him, Jake Locker is poised to have a breakout season this year.  How many times have we seen a talented quarterback have a great season his senior year? It happens all the time in the Pac-10 and Husky fans are hoping it happens again this year with Jake. To help Jake out, Washington returns two very good receivers in juniors Jermaine Kearse and Devin Aguilar. Sophomore James Johnson gives the Huskies a 3rd option that will really stretch defensive backfields.  Balancing the attack is sophomore running back Chris Polk who last year became the first freshman running back to run for 1,000 yards in Washington’s glorious history. Mason Foster returns at linebacker for the defense, as one of the best linebackers in the conference.
The Bad - Much like Stanford, Washington’s defense stinks.  We all remember the Cover 0 they played against ASU in the closing moments of a tie game right?  (If not I provided video at the bottom). They gave up 30 or more 6 times last year, including 43 and 48 to the Oregon schools.  The offensive line is also a weak spot as Locker was sacked 28 times last year, and flushed from the pocket numerous other times.  Locker had 112 rushing attempts last year, and not many of those were planned runs.  And while Polk finished 4th in rushing yards in the Pac-10, he was 10th in yards per carry, showing that the line wasn’t consistently providing good holes to run through.
The Skinny - Washington will be much improved and will make a bowl game this year. Ever since Locker announced he would return fans have been sleeping in their beds with dreams of a Rose Bowl dancing in their heads.  However that is too optimistic for a team that will give up points in bunches and at times won’t protect their quarterback. Washington hopes that experience alone will improve their defense. While this may be true, experience won’t make their defense great, which is what it needs to happen to be a legit Pac-10 title contender. This is a big year for Sark and the Huskies. They will lose a lot after this year and it may be another two years before they are a bowl team again. If Locker gets hurt or if things go wrong and the Huskies don’t make a bowl game it will seriously stunt the programs growth under Sark.Â
The Prediction: 5-4
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