The Morning Haul: 10/18

I was sitting in class today, looking through Arizona player stats on my laptop, and a cool thought struck my mind. It will be really nice to see the Huskies play a normal team. By normal, I mean a team that isn’t as ridiculously powerful as LSU, or as blazing fast as Oregon, or as loaded at the skill positions as USC. Just a normal, competitive Pac-12 team.

The crazy high level of competition the Huskies have faced has, I fear, warped my view of the team to the point that I really don’t know how good they are anymore. A small part of me wouldn’t be surprised if Washington comfortably outplayed Arizona, as if to say that perhaps looking terrible against monumentally good schools doesn’t mean struggling against the middling teams. More likely, it is a close game, decided by the number of sloppy mistakes or big plays. Wouldn’t that be refreshing, rather than the “do we have a prayer of getting the upset?” weeks that have seemed so common this year?

Stories Especially Worth Reading:

First of all, please read this article about Austin Seferian-Jenkins. It is beautiful, and it is about the sort of stuff that makes us care more deeply about sports and the athletes that play them.

It’s the middle point of the season, so here’s Condotta reflecting on the first half.

Two nice, comprehensive offerings from the Dawg Pound. First, a very, very thorough look at Husky football recruiting this season, both what has happened and what may happen soon, to go along with a debate on how perceptions of the team have changed.