The Monday Morning Wash

The message boards, and newspapers have spoken, Ty Willingham is on borrowed time at Washington. All the major boosters have called Todd Turner to express their displeasure at what is going on at Montlake. Honestly I haven't seen this type of venom ever directed at a head coach this early in his tenure as Washington.

My opinion is that I like Willingham, I think he is a fine man, but he has dug himself a serious hole by ignoring and being difficult with the media. He has also made some very questionable decisions over the past week which really have put himself and the program in a very precarious position. This blog has publicly supported Coach Willingham even though we wished he was more PR savvy. I also have felt that if he didn't win early enough he was going to be put under extreme fire. If UW had won yesterday, even by the most narrow of margins everyone would have been happy because we all know they are running out of players. That being said there was no reason to lose to a terrible Stanford team, and you have to place the blame firmly on the current coaching staff.

Saturday was a huge out of state recruiting day for UW with many prospects coming in from the Islands, and California this weekend to visit. What type of impression did they leave with after reading all the negative notes in the papers this week followed by the worst performance by a Husky team in the last 50 years? No doubt about it, this past Saturday set the program back in such a hole that Willingham may not be able to survive beyond next season.

Enough about the Huskies, let's talk about what happened in the Pac Ten this past weekend. It was wild, and wooly out there this past weekend.

First of all USC is back in the national championship picture after humbling Oregon at home 35-10. This was a big statement making victory for the Trojans who climbed back to #3 in the polls and are once again in the drivers seat after the all the upsets this weekend. One thing about Pete Carroll, he knows how to win in November, and once again the Trojans control their own destiny. If they win out against Cal, UCLA, and Notre Dame they will play the winner of Michigan/Ohio State for all the marbles. Oregon played probably it's best game of the season last week, but they followed it up with a pathetic performance this week.

California on the other hand blew the opportunity to play for it's first BCS bowl, and national championship by losing to Arizona 24-20. How exactly do you lose to the Mildcats? Well the same way you almost lose to Washington in overtime. The Bears have been looking ahead to next weeks game against USC all year, and it finally caught up with them. As far as Arizona goes it was a milestone victory for Stoops who has been stockpiling talent since his arrived in the Pac Ten. It was always a matter of time till he got that team to mature.

UCLA rose from the dead to shock Oregon State 25-7. It was a big win for Coach Dorrell and his reeling program. For Oregon State it has to be a tremendous disappointment. How exactly do you play that bad against a team that was on the ropes? Ask Ty Willingham who lived the same nightmare against Stanford.

What exactly is wrong with the Cougars? Just a couple of weeks ago we figured they were a shoo-in for the Holiday Bowl, now they aren't even guaranteed a trip to Hawaii after being smacked around by Arizona State 47-14. ASU at 6-4 now has an eight win season in it's sights which seemed so unlikely only a couple of weeks ago. If Koetter can coax 7-8 wins out of a team that was given up for dead he will stay another year at ASU. Funny how quickly things can change.

Nationally it was a week of upsets that stood the BCS on it's collective ear. The mayhem started on Thursday with Rutgers beating Louisville and kicking them out of the national championship game.

Texas was knocked off by Kansas State 45-42 which was preordained when Kirk Herbstreit picked them to be the likely survivor to play the Big Ten winner. I haven't been impressed with the Horns defense this year, and it finally caught up with them.

Florida slipped by South Carolina by one, and is still in there with USC for the final spot. I predicted an upset and fell only one point short. Keep an eye on the other USC, it is just a matter of time with Spurrier at the helm.

Georgia finally showed up and salvaged their season by knocking the snot out of Auburn 37-15 at home.

Notre Dame got by Air Force with little problem and is in the picture if they can beat USC in their season finale.

Boise State barely held off San Jose to clinch the WAC title. Dick Tomey has done a masterful job rebuilding the Spartans which were on the verge of giving up the sport.

Wake Forest shut out Florida State 30-0 and Bobby Bowdens reign is about over after this one. Not much but loyalty can save him, is anyone loyal to anything in Florida? The race between him and Paterno for the all time win record has been reduced to a limp, no pun intended Joe Pa.

Nebraska held off Texas A&M by one, and Maryland had similar result against Miami who decided to show up for the first time in weeks.

The BCS Picture

1. Ohio State....It all comes down to one game for the Buckeyes.
2. Michigan....The Wolverines control their own destiny.
3. USC....Strength of schedule puts the Trojans in the title game if they can win out.
4. Florida....The Gators are still in it if SC stumbles, but could be leapfrogged by the Irish.
5. Notre Dame....The cupcakes are paying off.
6. Rutgers....Finally these guys have a chance for all the marbles if they get by WVU.
7. Arkansas....An SEC championship game win over Florida may not be enough.
8. West Virginia....The loss to Louisville will keep them out.
9. Wisconsin....Not playing Ohio State kills any chance for these guys.
10. Louisville....A last season loss to Rutgers will keep them out.

I think the road to the championship is pretty exciting and unpredictable as we go into the last few weeks. Could two Big Ten teams pay for title in a rematch? USC obviously deserves the nod if they can win out, but I am rooting for Rutgers because I just love the underdog. You go undefeated you should be able to play for all the marbles, but would a win over WVU be enough to vault them past the one loss teams?

Dawg Biscuits

If you can believe Michael Braunstein's father Ty Willingham lied to the media last week regarding the perennial Lou Groza candidates future plans. Not a good move by Ty who had to know that the midget wouldn't go down without swinging.

Chris Hemphill had another good game at Safety, and he told the press he would love to come back next year but doubted Ty would take him. You really have to wonder if Ty has a clue about what he is doing and how bad this mess will make him look nationally. It could have been handled a lot better. One thing a poster brought up on the Dawgman board was whether walking with the seniors was an honor, or a public humiliation. You be the judge.

Husky players were PC after the game, but the feeling is that the early graduations did have a serious effect on the team this weekend.