The Morning Haul: 9/3

In the last few minutes of Washington’s 38-6 victory over the Broncos, a friend asked if I thought the Huskies would be ranked this week. I said maybe, but that I figured they’d probably be just outside. I’m not really sure what I was thinking given the magnitude of the win and the fact that the Huskies had received a handful of votes in the first week of polling. It appears to be fairly certain that the Huskies will be represented in the AP poll to be released in a handful of hours, probably between #20 and #25. With a bye week followed by two games against much weaker opponents (Illinois and FCS Idaho State), it may be difficult for the Huskies to move up in the rankings much further over the next three weeks. If they dominate both opponents they could very well climb a few spots as higher teams disappoint and slide down, but it won’t be until the Pac-12 schedule starts against Arizona on September 28th at Husky Stadium that Washington will have another chance to make a serious statement.

Stories Especially Worth Reading:

Speaking of rankings, here are the Bleacher Report rankings for week two. The Huskies are slotted at #22, which seems just about right to me.

Ted Miller of the Pac-12 Blog believes that the Huskies are setting a high bar for team identity.

Phil Steele and his computer say that the Huskies had the second best game in the country during week one.

Washington may have a bye week, but they are already looking forward to their next opponent, Illinois, and the road game at Soldier Field on September 14th. The Illini barely slipped past FCS opponent Southern Illinois 42-34, and Ryan Kraemer of the Writing Illini has three things to be learned from the game. Meanwhile, Illinois has two tough opponents to face in the next two weeks. First Cincinnati, and then the Huskies.