College football kicks off this Thursday, with a 16 game schedule that includes WSU at BYU. The highlight being this Saturday, that offers 16.5 hours of non-stop football starting at 6 A.M. in Dublin, Ireland with Notre Dame vs. Navy and ending with UW at home taking on San Diego State.
During the off-season the UW Husky's had to improve their defense that ranked 108th in points allowed for the 2011 season. They fired Nick Holt and brought in Justin Wilcox from Tennessee as their new Defensive Coordinator, who comes in with a more aggressive style. Keith Price is starting his second full season at quarterback and Jesse Callier will try to fill Chris Polk's shoes at running back. I can't see the Husky's having any difficulties scoring but games will come down to the defense not allowing high scoring games. I am looking at the Husky's having a 7-5 season and a bowl game.
WSU Cougars are looking to improve on their 4-8 record from last season. They started by bringing in new Head Coach Mike Leach. They have Jeff Tuel back for his first full season as starting quarterback, he will fit in well with Leach's air attack style offense. A player to watch is freshmen wide receiver Gabe Marks; he comes in with high praise and amazing athleticism. WSU has the makings for a 6-6 record and making a bowl game.
The most fun this season will come from Mike Leach's press conferences. When asked about the health of sophomore quarterback Connor Halliday, this was Leach's response (which I am still trying to understand):
“Any stuff on that is so closely guarded. I don’t know if you saw Harry Potter, but in the basement of this building, it’s guarded by serpents and wild dogs and things like that, and you can go try to find the secret to that, but chances of survival – always a risk. Heck, it took until movie five before he got it done himself, and he had magic powers. Anyway, he’s doing just fine and we’re excited about him.”
I predict the Pac-12 Championship game will be Oregon vs. USC with the winner being USC. I don't think USC will make the National title game; I have Alabama and Oklahoma playing for that with Alabama taking it all. Until someone can take down Alabama I will continue to roll with the tide.
