The Morning Haul: 9/29

A question many Husky fans are probably asking themselves in the wake of Thursday’s win over Stanford is where exactly will Washington be ranked tomorrow? My own personal guess is number 18. I doubt that the voters will decide to place the Huskies anywhere in the twenties, given that this was a top-10 win, but the loss to LSU, regardless of the Tigers’ top-3 ranking, was still ugly, so I think that top-15 is unlikely as well.

A more interesting question looking forward is where the Huskies would be ranked, if at all, following a hypothetical loss to Oregon. That would leave Washington 3-2, but with both losses coming against top-3 teams. Depending on the severity of the loss, I think somewhere around #23-#25 would be reasonable given those circumstances.

Another interesting, and far more optimistic, query: what ranking would be achieved by a win, on the road, against #2 Oregon? Well, at least top-10. There’s no way around that. If the Huskies defeat USC the week after? Definitely top-5.

Obviously this is all hypothetical to the point of being nearly pointless, as these games have not been played and rankings do not truly matter until, sometimes, at the end of the year. But personally, I think rankings are fun, and there is certainly a level of respect, nationally, that comes with the little number in front of your team name.

Stories Especially Worth Reading:

Not a whole lot of football links to pass along today, for whatever reason, but here’s Condotta’s week five picks, as well as his story on the improvement of the defense.

One more football link, this one to a News Tribune story on Washington’s strategy on defense.

It has been a huge week for Husky Volleyball, as the team followed up Wednesday’s upset of #4 UCLA with last night’s defeat of #3 USC.