The Morning Haul: 10/1

Good morning everyone, and happy October. As you know, this Saturday the Huskies will be playing the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, so obviously it is one of the most important, if not the most important, weeks of the football season. As for the month of October as a whole, Washington will play four games, and every single one of them is against a team that has been ranked at some point in the season, with only one of those four teams, Arizona, not currently ranked. at Oregon, vs. USC, at Arizona, vs. Oregon State. Finishing 2-2 this month would be, in my eyes, a huge victory, as November appears much kinder: at California, vs. Utah, at Colorado, at Washington State. As of right now, the Huskies would be favored against all four of those teams.

In case you don’t want to do the math yourself, we are 3-1 today, and if you assume an optimistic 2-2 finish this month coupled with an almost as optimistic 4-0 sweep in November, that results in a 9-3 regular season. If that isn’t the step forward everyone has been expecting of Sark, I don’t know what is.

Stories Especially Worth Reading:

The Ducks are a 24 point favorite over Washington. Given how well Oregon has played this season, that is an understandable number, but I’m certain that a 24 point loss would be a straight up failure in the eyes of fans, obviously, and in the wake of the Stanford game, I’m thinking the game will be significantly closer.

Ted Miller of the ESPN Pac-12 Blog has his conference power rankings updated, and you’ll be happy to see that Washington is third. Ahead of Stanford and USC. Hot damn. Also, if you haven’t noticed, half of the Pac-12 is ranked this week. That is impressive.

Monday Morning Wash from the Dawg Pound is a great source of information. If I forget to link it on future Mondays, check it out on your own.