The Morning Haul: 9/17

The Huskies have come to a pretty unique moment in the college football season, one that only occurs occasionally for some teams, and can be gone in as little as a single week. That is, the moment where no one really has a clue how good the team is.

I’m sure you’ve heard it a half dozen times by now. Washington beat SDSU but didn’t impress, got beat way too badly by LSU, and then dominated Portland State like everyone knew they had to. So now, with a game against a suddenly top-10 ranked Stanford team fresh off an upset of then #2 ranked USC, anything could happen. It’s not a true tossup, I will admit. Stanford will be heavily favored, but that consensus will be almost completely based on that USC game. It was a huge game, but it’s important not to forget that before Saturday, the UW vs. Stanford game was being trumpeted as the perfect opportunity to measure Washington’s progress over past years.

The point is, even if someone tells you they “expect” Washington to do this or that, it’s really more of a guess. No one can know because every game the Huskies have played so far has kept some part of them hidden from the world, and what this team is truly made of can’t be known until September 27th. Until that time, enjoy this elusive phase of the season. In just over 10 days, for better or for worse, things will appear much clearer.

Stories Especially Worth Reading:

Bud Withers believes that the upset of USC hurts the Pac-12’s relevance. I can’t say that I fully agree, but it’s a well made argument that is worth checking out. Personally, I think that with both Stanford and Oregon now in the top-10, the Pac-12 will have every opportunity to stay relevant on the national stage.

The Dawg Pound has another Husky Stadium Update. It’s really amazing to see how much progress has been made, and how quickly the construction site is beginning to look like…well, a stadium.

Yesterday was the first day of fall practice for the Husky baseball team. Figured I’d pass that along.