You left off an important scenario -- sweep the regular season, win the Pac12 championship, then lose the semifinal game... one loss season without getting to the natty but getting to the playoffs. Like our 2016 season, but undefeated until the playoffs.
This is my prediction, because I think we have the coaching and talent to go all the way, but I think injuries will make our depth thin late in the stretch. Good enough to win the Pac12 (and beat Auburn in week 1), but no better.
You left off an important scenario -- sweep the regular season, win the Pac12 championship, then lose the semifinal game... one loss season without getting to the natty but getting to the playoffs. Like our 2016 season, but undefeated until the playoffs.
This is my prediction, because I think we have the coaching and talent to go all the way, but I think injuries will make our depth thin late in the stretch. Good enough to win the Pac12 (and beat Auburn in week 1), but no better.
BTE will be off his leash in semi final game. nice try.
Losses to Auburn and Utah early. Loss to Stanford. Lose to one of UCLA/Oregon on the road. Loss in bowl game.
Jake is the QB. Until there is concrete proof that Gaskin gets the ball 25 times a game I will never believe we can be anything more than a solidly above average team who can maybe make a lucky run against a shit schedule like 2016.
If Chico is healthy and we can make use of him, Salvon, and Gaskin receiving out of the backfield I think Jake could be way more successful. All he needs to do is develop a safety net relationship with one of those guys and not FS scramble and our offense could look much improved.
Start off good (We? fade fast in the latter part of every season) get my hopes up, liver is spared for maybe 6 weeks, get upset a couple of times, start drinking heavily, my life sucks, dawgs fade. Beat Wazzou but I am drinking too much to even notice. Wife number 3 leaves me sometime in November. Save money not having to buy Christmas stuff
Start off good (We? fade fast in the latter part of every season) get my hopes up, liver is spared for maybe 6 weeks, get upset a couple of times, start drinking heavily, my life sucks, dawgs fade. Beat Wazzou but I am drinking too much to even notice. Wife number 3 leaves me sometime in November. Save money not having to buy Christmas stuff
If by "start off good" you mean lose two of our first three games, then yes, you nailed it.
Losses at Auburn, at Utah, and either UCLA or Oregon to go 9-3 on season. We win the north if the 2nd conf. loss is UCLA, we don't if it's the Ducks as they have tiebreaker.
My best guess barring significant injury changes through fall camp:
Auburn: W (I'm thinking something in the neighborhood of 24-20 or something like that. I'm not sold on Browning but I do think that we'll be getting Gaskin a ton of touches in this game and between him, Ahmed breaking a significant play, and the usual pull from the bag of tricks that will get us into that mid 20 range. Defensively the only question mark is at the LB position going into this game as Auburn's got a ton of WR injuries making their passing game a massive problem for them and with their OL turnover, I could see the running game spotty. Stidham will make a few mistakes in this game against our secondary. If this game was last year, we'd have a massive gap in the kicking game but Auburn's replacing their K so who knows what they will have there).
Directional Dakota: W (nothing to see here)
@ Utah: L (this is the game that worries me most this year as IF there is a material weakness to our defense it's that we've failed to really contain a real mobile QB and Huntley is mobile. First road games in conference are always a challenge to begin with although that could be partially mitigated by the trip to Atlanta. The special teams gap could really be the difference in this game. I see something like 27-24).
ASU: W (For as much as we suck playing in Arizona, Arizona schools suck playing in Seattle. ASU has a good chance to be a disaster this year. UW wins this rather easily … 45-13)
BYU: W (There's been a massive drop off at BYU moving from Mendenhall to Sitake and I don't expect that to change. This will be another easy win … 38-13)
@ UCLA: W (This could be a tricky spot coming off a game last year where we ran right over a super soft team. UCLA isn't going to be good this year but I also expect that they are going to get somebody at home this year that makes you take notice. We also run the risk of having the look ahead to Oregon the following week. I'd worry much more about this game later in the year as I expect UCLA will play better as the year goes on and the buy-in gets stronger particularly from the younger players. As is, it will be a game that is tougher than it should be but in the end a game that we get a late score in the 4th quarter to get the final separation needed. 31-20)
@ Oregon: W (It won't be like it was down there in 2016, but this is actually a game that I'm not worried about as I expect with all of the off-season natty and what not going on down in Eugene that our players will be tanned, rested, and ready to remind them who big brother is. This will be one of the more impressive wins of the year with UW winning 42-17)
Colorado: W (Boring game that starts slow coming off of the Oregon game ... will be similar to last year's game in Boulder. UW wins 38-17)
@ Cal: W (Another potential trap game with Stanford the following week where I expect we'll get a good effort from an improving Cal program that still lacks the talent to ultimately come up with this kind of win against an elite level program. UW wins 31-20)
Stanford: W (The type of game where if we are the program that we aspire to be that we win. Stanford should have a good offense with Love and their OL but I suspect that their defense is going to have some substantial challenges this year. We'll win the game something to the tune of 31-20).
Oregon St: W (Oregon St is going to be bad ... real bad. Might be a slow start after the bye but it won't matter. UW wins 55-10)
@ Wazzu: W (Going to be a tough year for the Coug and the Apple Cup isn't going to be much better for them. UW wins 41-14)
Arizona (P12 Title Game): W (Like Utah, this will be as difficult a game as we have on the schedule because of Khalil Tate. The offense will have the opportunity to put up some big numbers against an Arizona defense that will not be great. But let's be honest, Arizona is going to be in this game because of Tate, their offense, and their schedule. There will be a lot of angst in the game but UW will hold on to win 38-31).
Clemson (National Semifinal): L (We'll get back to the CFP but once again the limits of the program at this point will be on display as Clemson's DL will at least cause enough of a stalemate to contain Gaskin/Ahmed forcing Browning to win the game with his arm. That won't happen. Defensively we'll play well but not well enough. Clemson wins 27-17).
UW has been winning with Brownshorts at QB for two years and they will win again this year. I really like this team outside of JB. The purple, gold and black will win the Pac 12 again because the conference sucks but they miss out on the final four because the conference sucks.
My best guess barring significant injury changes through fall camp:
Auburn: W (I'm thinking something in the neighborhood of 24-20 or something like that. I'm not sold on Browning but I do think that we'll be getting Gaskin a ton of touches in this game and between him, Ahmed breaking a significant play, and the usual pull from the bag of tricks that will get us into that mid 20 range. Defensively the only question mark is at the LB position going into this game as Auburn's got a ton of WR injuries making their passing game a massive problem for them and with their OL turnover, I could see the running game spotty. Stidham will make a few mistakes in this game against our secondary. If this game was last year, we'd have a massive gap in the kicking game but Auburn's replacing their K so who knows what they will have there).
Directional Dakota: W (nothing to see here)
@ Utah: L (this is the game that worries me most this year as IF there is a material weakness to our defense it's that we've failed to really contain a real mobile QB and Huntley is mobile. First road games in conference are always a challenge to begin with although that could be partially mitigated by the trip to Atlanta. The special teams gap could really be the difference in this game. I see something like 27-24).
ASU: W (For as much as we suck playing in Arizona, Arizona schools suck playing in Seattle. ASU has a good chance to be a disaster this year. UW wins this rather easily … 45-13)
BYU: W (There's been a massive drop off at BYU moving from Mendenhall to Sitake and I don't expect that to change. This will be another easy win … 38-13)
@ UCLA: W (This could be a tricky spot coming off a game last year where we ran right over a super soft team. UCLA isn't going to be good this year but I also expect that they are going to get somebody at home this year that makes you take notice. We also run the risk of having the look ahead to Oregon the following week. I'd worry much more about this game later in the year as I expect UCLA will play better as the year goes on and the buy-in gets stronger particularly from the younger players. As is, it will be a game that is tougher than it should be but in the end a game that we get a late score in the 4th quarter to get the final separation needed. 31-20)
@ Oregon: W (It won't be like it was down there in 2016, but this is actually a game that I'm not worried about as I expect with all of the off-season natty and what not going on down in Eugene that our players will be tanned, rested, and ready to remind them who big brother is. This will be one of the more impressive wins of the year with UW winning 42-17)
Colorado: W (Boring game that starts slow coming off of the Oregon game ... will be similar to last year's game in Boulder. UW wins 38-17)
@ Cal: W (Another potential trap game with Stanford the following week where I expect we'll get a good effort from an improving Cal program that still lacks the talent to ultimately come up with this kind of win against an elite level program. UW wins 31-20)
Stanford: W (The type of game where if we are the program that we aspire to be that we win. Stanford should have a good offense with Love and their OL but I suspect that their defense is going to have some substantial challenges this year. We'll win the game something to the tune of 31-20).
Oregon St: W (Oregon St is going to be bad ... real bad. Might be a slow start after the bye but it won't matter. UW wins 55-10)
@ Wazzu: W (Going to be a tough year for the Coug and the Apple Cup isn't going to be much better for them. UW wins 41-14)
Arizona (P12 Title Game): W (Like Utah, this will be as difficult a game as we have on the schedule because of Khalil Tate. The offense will have the opportunity to put up some big numbers against an Arizona defense that will not be great. But let's be honest, Arizona is going to be in this game because of Tate, their offense, and their schedule. There will be a lot of angst in the game but UW will hold on to win 38-31).
Clemson (National Semifinal): L (We'll get back to the CFP but once again the limits of the program at this point will be on display as Clemson's DL will at least cause enough of a stalemate to contain Gaskin/Ahmed forcing Browning to win the game with his arm. That won't happen. Defensively we'll play well but not well enough. Clemson wins 27-17).
I give you massive credit for putting this out here. But, Auburn is going to kick our asses. They are TUFF to run on, and we have Brownsox.
My best guess barring significant injury changes through fall camp:
Auburn: W (I'm thinking something in the neighborhood of 24-20 or something like that. I'm not sold on Browning but I do think that we'll be getting Gaskin a ton of touches in this game and between him, Ahmed breaking a significant play, and the usual pull from the bag of tricks that will get us into that mid 20 range. Defensively the only question mark is at the LB position going into this game as Auburn's got a ton of WR injuries making their passing game a massive problem for them and with their OL turnover, I could see the running game spotty. Stidham will make a few mistakes in this game against our secondary. If this game was last year, we'd have a massive gap in the kicking game but Auburn's replacing their K so who knows what they will have there).
Directional Dakota: W (nothing to see here)
@ Utah: L (this is the game that worries me most this year as IF there is a material weakness to our defense it's that we've failed to really contain a real mobile QB and Huntley is mobile. First road games in conference are always a challenge to begin with although that could be partially mitigated by the trip to Atlanta. The special teams gap could really be the difference in this game. I see something like 27-24).
ASU: W (For as much as we suck playing in Arizona, Arizona schools suck playing in Seattle. ASU has a good chance to be a disaster this year. UW wins this rather easily … 45-13)
BYU: W (There's been a massive drop off at BYU moving from Mendenhall to Sitake and I don't expect that to change. This will be another easy win … 38-13)
@ UCLA: W (This could be a tricky spot coming off a game last year where we ran right over a super soft team. UCLA isn't going to be good this year but I also expect that they are going to get somebody at home this year that makes you take notice. We also run the risk of having the look ahead to Oregon the following week. I'd worry much more about this game later in the year as I expect UCLA will play better as the year goes on and the buy-in gets stronger particularly from the younger players. As is, it will be a game that is tougher than it should be but in the end a game that we get a late score in the 4th quarter to get the final separation needed. 31-20)
@ Oregon: W (It won't be like it was down there in 2016, but this is actually a game that I'm not worried about as I expect with all of the off-season natty and what not going on down in Eugene that our players will be tanned, rested, and ready to remind them who big brother is. This will be one of the more impressive wins of the year with UW winning 42-17)
Colorado: W (Boring game that starts slow coming off of the Oregon game ... will be similar to last year's game in Boulder. UW wins 38-17)
@ Cal: W (Another potential trap game with Stanford the following week where I expect we'll get a good effort from an improving Cal program that still lacks the talent to ultimately come up with this kind of win against an elite level program. UW wins 31-20)
Stanford: W (The type of game where if we are the program that we aspire to be that we win. Stanford should have a good offense with Love and their OL but I suspect that their defense is going to have some substantial challenges this year. We'll win the game something to the tune of 31-20).
Oregon St: W (Oregon St is going to be bad ... real bad. Might be a slow start after the bye but it won't matter. UW wins 55-10)
@ Wazzu: W (Going to be a tough year for the Coug and the Apple Cup isn't going to be much better for them. UW wins 41-14)
Arizona (P12 Title Game): W (Like Utah, this will be as difficult a game as we have on the schedule because of Khalil Tate. The offense will have the opportunity to put up some big numbers against an Arizona defense that will not be great. But let's be honest, Arizona is going to be in this game because of Tate, their offense, and their schedule. There will be a lot of angst in the game but UW will hold on to win 38-31).
Clemson (National Semifinal): L (We'll get back to the CFP but once again the limits of the program at this point will be on display as Clemson's DL will at least cause enough of a stalemate to contain Gaskin/Ahmed forcing Browning to win the game with his arm. That won't happen. Defensively we'll play well but not well enough. Clemson wins 27-17).
I give you massive credit for putting this out here. But, Auburn is going to kick our asses. They are TUFF to run on, and we have Brownsox.
This is the first year I fell that our OL might be pretty decent, run towards kaleb side he might able to pave the way.
Comments
This is my prediction, because I think we have the coaching and talent to go all the way, but I think injuries will make our depth thin late in the stretch. Good enough to win the Pac12 (and beat Auburn in week 1), but no better.
Jake is the QB. Until there is concrete proof that Gaskin gets the ball 25 times a game I will never believe we can be anything more than a solidly above average team who can maybe make a lucky run against a shit schedule like 2016.
#mybush please!
no way that happens barring another massive injury collapse, in which case socha should be on the hot seat
Auburn: W (I'm thinking something in the neighborhood of 24-20 or something like that. I'm not sold on Browning but I do think that we'll be getting Gaskin a ton of touches in this game and between him, Ahmed breaking a significant play, and the usual pull from the bag of tricks that will get us into that mid 20 range. Defensively the only question mark is at the LB position going into this game as Auburn's got a ton of WR injuries making their passing game a massive problem for them and with their OL turnover, I could see the running game spotty. Stidham will make a few mistakes in this game against our secondary. If this game was last year, we'd have a massive gap in the kicking game but Auburn's replacing their K so who knows what they will have there).
Directional Dakota: W (nothing to see here)
@ Utah: L (this is the game that worries me most this year as IF there is a material weakness to our defense it's that we've failed to really contain a real mobile QB and Huntley is mobile. First road games in conference are always a challenge to begin with although that could be partially mitigated by the trip to Atlanta. The special teams gap could really be the difference in this game. I see something like 27-24).
ASU: W (For as much as we suck playing in Arizona, Arizona schools suck playing in Seattle. ASU has a good chance to be a disaster this year. UW wins this rather easily … 45-13)
BYU: W (There's been a massive drop off at BYU moving from Mendenhall to Sitake and I don't expect that to change. This will be another easy win … 38-13)
@ UCLA: W (This could be a tricky spot coming off a game last year where we ran right over a super soft team. UCLA isn't going to be good this year but I also expect that they are going to get somebody at home this year that makes you take notice. We also run the risk of having the look ahead to Oregon the following week. I'd worry much more about this game later in the year as I expect UCLA will play better as the year goes on and the buy-in gets stronger particularly from the younger players. As is, it will be a game that is tougher than it should be but in the end a game that we get a late score in the 4th quarter to get the final separation needed. 31-20)
@ Oregon: W (It won't be like it was down there in 2016, but this is actually a game that I'm not worried about as I expect with all of the off-season natty and what not going on down in Eugene that our players will be tanned, rested, and ready to remind them who big brother is. This will be one of the more impressive wins of the year with UW winning 42-17)
Colorado: W (Boring game that starts slow coming off of the Oregon game ... will be similar to last year's game in Boulder. UW wins 38-17)
@ Cal: W (Another potential trap game with Stanford the following week where I expect we'll get a good effort from an improving Cal program that still lacks the talent to ultimately come up with this kind of win against an elite level program. UW wins 31-20)
Stanford: W (The type of game where if we are the program that we aspire to be that we win. Stanford should have a good offense with Love and their OL but I suspect that their defense is going to have some substantial challenges this year. We'll win the game something to the tune of 31-20).
Oregon St: W (Oregon St is going to be bad ... real bad. Might be a slow start after the bye but it won't matter. UW wins 55-10)
@ Wazzu: W (Going to be a tough year for the Coug and the Apple Cup isn't going to be much better for them. UW wins 41-14)
Arizona (P12 Title Game): W (Like Utah, this will be as difficult a game as we have on the schedule because of Khalil Tate. The offense will have the opportunity to put up some big numbers against an Arizona defense that will not be great. But let's be honest, Arizona is going to be in this game because of Tate, their offense, and their schedule. There will be a lot of angst in the game but UW will hold on to win 38-31).
Clemson (National Semifinal): L (We'll get back to the CFP but once again the limits of the program at this point will be on display as Clemson's DL will at least cause enough of a stalemate to contain Gaskin/Ahmed forcing Browning to win the game with his arm. That won't happen. Defensively we'll play well but not well enough. Clemson wins 27-17).