Sark will be the darling of the Pacific Northwest as he will take the winless Huskies to a respectable 6 win season. You heard it here first.
Every idiot sportswriter in town is talking about 3-4 wins. B-O-R-I-N-G! I'm not going to be happy with what the so-called experts call "improvement." Even Ty might have gone 3-9 if he were coaching the 2009 team. (In fact, the Huskies arguably should've had 3 wins last year -- Stanford, BYU and WSU). Sark will do even better.
Why?
Because the cloud of hopelessness is about to be lifted over the program. You'll see the guys playing with enthusiasm and passion. You'll see guys actually look like football players and not the skinny, underfed and underdeveloped lopers you saw in 2008. The weight room is an amazing place sometimes. Guys will stop playing like robots. Jake will get tutoring from a successful college QB, not the worst of the three Huard Brothers (Luke - the shitty one who didn't play here).
In addition, the talent level of the football team is potentially better than that of every other Pac-10 team except USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Cal. Don't believe me? Go to Scout.com and look up the UW's recruitment classes from 2005-2008. The UW has gotten commitments from plenty of 3 and 4 star kids; and arguably has the most talented QB in the conference, the most talented pair of TEs, and a deep crop of WRs.
The road to 6 wins won't be easy, but here's how they'll do it:
By winning at home vs. Idaho, LSU, WSU, Cal and on the road against ASU and Stanford. (I'm chalking up losses at home against Zona and USC and away against Notre Dame, UCLA and the Oregon St.)
The biggest game of the year is the Stanford game. If the Dawg's win that game, they'll start the season 2-2 and 1-1 in Pac-10 play. Lose to Stanford, and the team's confidence goes out the window.
Here are my optimistic predictions:
*Jake will be even better than expected. He'll complete 60% of his passes and the UW passing offense will win some shootouts this season. He'll have at least one 4 TD passing game.
* Chris Polk is the answer at RB. Polk will go the distance on a few long TD runs and will remind fans of what it's like to have a home-run RB.
* The UW receivers will be very busy (Goodwin will crack the top 5 in WR yards in the conference)
* Kavario Middleton and Chris Izbicki will be the best 1-2 punch at TE in the conference
* The UW defense will still be awful (but not dreadful)
* EJ Savannah will lead an improved LB corp
* The D will double its sack total from 2008.
* The defense will give up 30-50 less yards per game. (Now that's a dramatic improvement!)
* The UW will get into several shootouts this season. (Think 45-35)
With Sark's youthfulness and recruiting savvy, the UWs recruiting classes stand to be even better going forward. Keep in mind, USC is about to be hit with major sanctions for their sports teams (Reggie Bush = Billy Joe Hobert). If SC loses several scholarships, that's just the ammunition Sark needs to rip off even more studs from So-Cal.
All in all, look for 2009 to be even better than expected. You heard it hear first.
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