It has been three years since the Washington Husky fan base has had anything to look forward to for the upcoming season. Coming off of a 5-7 season that followed two 10-loss campaigns, coach Tyrone Willingham looks to bring the Husky football program back to respectability and their first bowl game since 2003. Will the Huskies be able to overcome a very tough schedule? Will a redshirt freshman QB be able to handle the pressure and lead the team to a winning record? Will anyone west of the Rockies care what the latte drinkers do in their mid-major conference?
Here we find the lone Harris Poll voter to rank Washington #1 in the 2007 Preseason Poll.
Team: The University of Washington Huskies
Location: Seattle, Washington
Stadium: Husky Stadium - Capacity 72,500
Coach: Tyrone Willingham
2006 Record/Finish: NR – 5-7, 9th in Pac-10; Last game: 35-32 Win: @ Washington State
2007 H2DN Prediction: 7-6 (6-3), T-4th in Pac-10
Top returner: RB Louis Rankin
Biggest loss: QB Isaiah Stanback
ESPN incessant talking point: Tyrone Willingham being on the hot seat and needing a good year to stick around, despite having an empty cabinet of talent to start with in 2004, nearly having a winning season last year with offensive star and starting QB Stanback missing the final six games, and playing through arguably the toughest schedule in college football in 2007.
Key off-season event: Three of the top players in the 2007 recruiting class likely not making it in for the upcoming season. DL/OL Emeka Iweka was not close to getting a qualifying score and will go the JC route, likely never setting foot in Husky Stadium. WR Anthony Boyles is still up in the air, but it does not appear his latest test will get him in, either. He still looks to get in for next season. WR Devin Aguilar has a problem with his score, but believes that everything will be settled in time for him to enroll when regular students do, in late September. He would likely greyshirt or redshirt if that is the case.
Additional notes: As stated before, the Huskies’ schedule is one of the toughest schedules in the nation. Their out-of-conference schedule starts with a game in the Carrier Dome against a Syracuse team whose magical pixie stadium is the only thing that has kept them relevant since Dwight Freeney and Donovan McNabb left. After that trip, Washington comes back home with back-to-back games against everyone’s darling mid-major from last year, Boise State, and the defending national championship runner-up, Ohio State. The final game of the season is no easier, with a trip to Heisman (really) hopeful Colt Brennan and the Hawai’i Warriors. The conference schedule gives the Huskies a slight break, with all but one of the toughest games coming in Husky Stadium.
Though the roster has more talent on it than the previous 3 seasons, do not expect a large improvement from the Huskies this season. With 9 out of 13 team on the 2007 schedule reaching a bowl in 2006, and another 2 finishing the season at .500, Washington will have their work cut out for them if they wish to reach a bowl. Winning 2 out of 3 early out-of-conference games will certainly give this team a needed confidence boost heading into the conference schedule, but even being able to keep the games close should help make freshman QB Jake Locker feel better about leading this team. Look for the Huskies to beat Syracuse, lose a couple of close games to Boise State and Ohio State, and then surprise the Pac-10 with 6 wins in conference to reach their first bowl in 4 seasons.
Fun fact: Both the leading rusher (Rankin) and leading receiver (WR Sonny Shackelford) from last year’s team finished the year with 666 yards in their respective statistic. Obviously, Willingham has made a deal with the devil, so despite all I have said in this article up to now, expect a number of upsets and a perfect season from the Huskies in 2007.
