The Morning Haul: 9/4

When discussing next week’s road contest against Illinois, I have often said things like “the Huskies will be heavily favored.” Or even that “Washington will not face a true road test until Stanford.” Fans have responded to that by saying that no road game is easy and that no opponent should be taken for granted. See, this happens all the time. People are confusing the attitude that a coach or a player should have with the attitude that a writer or even a fan should have. When Washington is clearly much more talented and has a track record of better execution when compared to an opponent like Illinois, I’m comfortable saying that they should and probably will win. My confidence in the Huskies does nothing to increase their chances of being complacent come September 14th. Now, if a coach or a player has the attitude of “we’ve got this, we’re going to blow them out,” that is not so good. I think all good teams look past opponents at least a bit, but it’s a dangerous practice in that you don’t truly know your opponent until you play him. Ask Oregon State about playing a team that you’re suppose to beat easily.

Stories Especially Worth Reading:

Washington came in at a very solid #20 in the AP poll, but Ted Miller and Kevin Gemmell both had Washington in their top-15 for their submissions to the ESPN Power Rankings, where Washington ended up 18th. That’s a whole lot of love for the Huskies, even if it is a power ranking. Way more love than the Huskies have received in years. After the bye, blowout wins against Illinois and Idaho State won’t impress much, but through attrition in the rankings above, UW may end up as high as 15 in the AP and as high as 10 in any sort of power ranking.

Anthony Cassino at the Dawg Pound took the time to chart every one of Keith Price’s passes and he found out some interesting things through that process. Also from the Dawg Pound, The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown from the win.

The Huskies are definitely sticking hard to the “we haven’t done anything yet” mantra, which is typical but I suppose also encouraging. Taking that kind of approach might not prove that UW won’t slip up and take opponents for granted, but if they were already resting on the laurels of a single home win to open the season, we would know that trouble was ahead.