Schedule Temperature Check?
I know it's early and we could lose to the Coug and the season could basically be over and we could run Fisch out of town but the first two weeks certainly feel like they make me feel better about our schedule. Am I still thinking 8-4 or 9-3 is a good expected outcome? Yes, but most of what teams on the UW sched has been promising. Cherry picking the most important:
Michigan - They don't have a QB until proven otherwise and oh boy, whoever it is gets their first road game in Husky Stadium. Bring it lunatic fringe. Ewers and Texas carved up their D on the road with efficiency and a guy named Gunnar Helm and it feels weird to write this, but we have a better RB (and more depth there) than Texas.
Iowa - This still is a terrible game with intangible but go look at their QB's stat line at home against the Fighting Matt Campbells. Still worried that they might be the rare team that will realize they can just run the ball down your throat and don't stop though.
USC - The only team thus far I think looks like a harder out than they were preseason. Miller Moss could oddly be an upgrade as a guy who just runs Lincoln's offense and looks like D'Anton Lynn did great work on their defense. This is a tough game.
Penn State - They were just taken down to the wire by Bowling Green, who is likely equal to or worse than Eastern Michigan. They still want to just run the ball so stack the box and hope you get some breaks. Definitely at least take this out of the "we need a miracle to win" category.
Oregon - The Ducks look a lot like a lower-upper or upper-middle Pac-12 team (which is what everyone should have seen coming) relying on a ton of transfers and their OL is a disaster. Long ways to go though and they could patch things up. Like Penn State, at least definitely needs to be taken off the we're not winning this game category.
Comments
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Two of those five teams will run it down our throats and we lose something like 27 - 20. I initially thought Michigan was a toss-up game, but now have us as at least a 4 point favorite. Iowa on the road (and probably what is equivalent to a 10 am kickoff) is still iffy to me because they play defense. I still think the lights are too bright at Penn State. At some point we? are going to need Rogers to win a game and I don't think he has it in him to go down the field in 2 minutes at the end of a game.
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I also think we're down 10 - 0 after one quarter to USC, Penn State, and Oregon if we start the way we did against Weber and EMU. I'll be curious to see how Fisch responds if the team is down two scores and how committed he stays to the run. No clue what his track record at Arizona tells us there.
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I generally agree that all look easier than they did before the season except for USC.
I watched virtually all of the PSU - Bowling Green game for reasons (I was multi-tasking). PSU came out fairly flat and slowly woke up, but not all the way. It was a 3 point game for all of the 3rd and most of the 4th, but they were up 10 with little time left before BG snagged a FG and tried an onside kick.
PSU does have their backup come in and run their version of the Wild Swede which scares me more than Allar does. Their TE and RBs make the offense go.
It did give me some additional confidence since they will have lost to Ohio State the week before and while it will be the white out that screams let down.
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At the start of the year, I was leaning more towards 6-6. Still need some more data points to feel like 9-3 is in play. Clearly, we have some talent on the roster and having a good RB and experienced QB can win you some games, but we're still just talking about practice.
My current over/under is 7.5 wins, up from 6.5 to start the year.
We need to roll the fucking COUG.
Jimmy Lake would be 0-2 on this season, so I'm feeling like we've, at least, dodged the epic failure type hire in Fisch.
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I would add the Coug looks like a tougher opponent than I would have thought. I knew Texas Tech sucks but I really thought the Coug might be in shambles.
Don't really have any thoughts on Northwestern, Rutgers, or Indiana yet.
UCLA looks predictably disinterested but assuredly will roll into Seattle greased to the gills and 3-7.
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Apparently WSU's defense is complete ass, their quarterback looks like an extra from a bar scene in Yellowstone and can't throw to save his life. Seems like UW would have to fuck themselves royally hard to even make it as close as it was last season.
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I'm just taking this season one game at a time. Focused on beating wazzu which will probably be a grind
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if cuog is that bad they just need to hang it up and go play intramurals, brother.
we? did a full program transplant, it should be close, but if its not, just shut it down, cuog.
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We roll WSU rather easily, the rest of the schedule is shaping up as expected. 8-10wins. There is literally no scary opponents on the schedule. A methodical, decent offense and a good defense. We can beat every team on the schedule, but we won’t, therein lies the potential disappointment. We beat Michigan handily, Husky Stadium will hit 130+ decibels and their QB pants shitting will commence
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It will only help like 1% but beating Michigan and being there in Husky Stadium for it in a few weeks will help. I don't dislike that program and my gut tells me the cheating thing didn't win them that game. It will still be cathartic though. Especially is we roll.
