The team on the rise in the Pacific Ten is the team that cannot go any lower. Last year in the greater Pacific Northwest a team that won a championship back in the 90's ended up winless in historic Husky Stadium in Seattle. The team led by one of the best quarterbacks in the country Jake Locker couldn't win anything and the closest they came to victory was a loss at the expense of a questionable call by the officials against star Husky Jake Locker for flipping the ball over his should that was interpreted as excessive celebration. The team was so bad that head coach Tyrone Whittingham was forced out of Seattle.
In comes former BYU Cougar record setting quarterback Steve Sarkisian. Just a dozen years ago Sarkisian led his Cougars to one of their greatest seasons outside of their 1984 National Championship Season leading the Cougars in 1996 with a 14-1 record including a come from behind victory over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl and a final ranking of #5 in the polls. Sarkisian has brought the winning attitude back to Seattle. Despite losing again at home the Huskies were tough on championship contender Louisiana State leading the Bayou Tigers early and playing them tough to the very end falling short by only one score. Defensively the Huskies gave up 31 points and have room to improve but on the offensive end the Huskies put up nearly 500 yards of total yardage including a hundred and fifty plus on the ground against not only one of the best defenses in the super tough Southeast Conference but one of the best in the nation in LSU. In defeat the Huskies have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming games and could be in the hunt for a bowl game by the end of the season.
The team in complete disarray is in Eugene. The Oregon Ducks started off the season with some stiff competition playing Boise State on the smurf turf in Idaho where only two teams have come out with a victory in the past 67 games. As a matter of fact most teams in the Pac-Ten probably would have lost heading into Boise. The problem is how the Ducks lost. The new head coach, former offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly couldn't get any offense out of the low powered Quack Attack. The Ducks were so predictable their big offensive line and big 240lbs tailback who averaged better than 7 yards a carry in 2008 averaged almost -1 yards a carry on the smurf turf. In the end the supposed leader of the Ducks couldn't control his team and ended up suspending their top offensive weapon LaGarette Blount for the remainder of the 2009 season. Now that the new coach who laid an egg in the first game and failed to stick up for his own player quitting on LaGarette Blount, it's just a matter of time before the rest of the team decides its time to quit on the new head coach. The Ducks are going to have to come together and find each other which will be very difficult with no apparent team leader. Despite a lofty top 20 ranking for the Ducks the Quack Attack will be lucky to finish in the upper echelon of the league.
Look for the Huskies that want to win start to win and the leaderless Ducks to fall into oblivion.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
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