The Monday Morning Wash

Lot's of interesting things happened over the weekend. the most interesting in my mind was UCLA's upset of USC on Saturday. The Bruin's finally played up to their ability, and USC was obviously looking ahead after a grueling November schedule coming off the big win over Notre Dame the previous week. Congratulations to old friend Tim Cowan on his son's performance in nursing the Bruin's to a big win.

The BCS picked Florida, over Michigan which doesn't seem quite fair. The pollsters decided to make up a new rule that says if you were eliminated by the #1 a week, or two before you can't climb back in for a rematch. Coach Carr said it best when he mentioned that if USC had won Florida would not have leapfrogged them. Just another case that a modified playoff is needed in the future. You can also make a case that since a modified playoff will get rid of the intrigue it wouldn't be a plus either.

Oregon State picked up another big win, this time outlasting Hawaii. The Warrior's are a pretty good club, and for OSU to come int their stadium and pick up a win is a big deal. Congrats to Coach Riley who is my pick for Pac Ten coach of the year.

Stanford gave California everything they could handle in what could be Coach Walt Harris's last game at Stanford. The Tree is making a serious mistake if they fire Harris, and it will set them back even further. The problem is Buddy Teeven's, not Walt Harris.

Harris out at Stanford (Extra)

Walt Harris is out at Stanford and the speculation has begun on who will be the the next coach down on the farm. Whoever it is he will be somebody who can sell some tickets. Veteran coaches named so far include UTEP's Mike Price, Idaho's Dennis Erickson, and SJSU's Dick Tomey. all three could be entices with another ride in the Pac Ten before they retire. Harris' team was devastated by injuries this season and finished with the most losses in school history and the worst record since an 0-10 mark in 1960. AD Bob Bowlsby said the attendance was a factor in his decision, saying the football team plays a big role in raising revenue for other programs at the school. "No question it was a factor," he said. "People vote with their pocket books and vote with their feet." Insiders feel that Harris didn't get along with alums and administration so they decided to cut bait and fish for a new coach. Harris becomes the 14th Div One coach to lose his job this year.

Husky Basketball

On the basketball front Harvey Perry has decided to transfer from Washington to find more playing time. Since Perry is a 21 year old frosh he didn't want to sit on the bench any longer. To me, I think it may have been a little rash on his part...why give up a year of playing time? Why not play the season, and see how it goes since he is going to lose the year one way, or another? Anyway he leaves on good terms, no bad blood on either side.

The basketball team takes on Southern Utah tonight in Hec Ed in what could be a pretty tough contest. The young Huskies of course are looking ahead to Gonzaga in the Kennel on saturday and Southern Utah is a pretty scrappy club capable of upsetting the Dawg's.

We will be previewing the battle of the Canines on Friday. Right now you have to go with the Zag's who have more experience, look quicker if that is possible, and already have a few huge wins under their belts. they had little problem with Texas this past weekend.

Football Recruiting

Ty Willingham had his first big recruiting weekend and by all indications it was a complete success as it looks like the Huskies went 6 for 6 over the weekend. The Huskies picked up a couple of surprises at linebacker. The first kid is MLB Austin Sylvester from the Hun Prep School in Princeton New Jersey. Austin is originally from Reno, and took a 5th HS year at the Prep school back East. The kid is big, nasty, and fast which is exactly the kind of building block we need in the middle of the defense. A really nice pick up, and he counts against last years class.

The other LB was a complete surprise that was broken by the local Monterey, California newspaper. Mason Foster is an under the radar QB, and LB who comes from that area. He has great size at 6'3 220 and says he runs a 4.5 fourty. Evaluation is one of the key assets of this staff, and these two kids are obviously kids that came in under the radar. What does under the radar mean? Well the recruiting services can't evaluate, or even know about every kid out there. These are a couple of guys from little known programs. In Monterey- Seaside's case they aren't known for putting out football talent, and this is one of those rare years when the team actually made some noise. The Husky coaches have identified a couple other players like this for this year so stay tuned for the surprises.

Previous verbals S/LB Quinton Richardson from O'Dea, and WR/DB Alvin Logan from Colorado were also there helping pump up the excitement. The Huskies still await word from Hawaii's DE/Pass Rusher Kelani Aldrich, and Colorado CB Jared Campbell who wanted to talk to their parents before committing. According to Dawgman it is just a formality. More on them after they pull the trigger.

The Huskies also picked up a runing back from Oakland's Skyline HS who has been enamored with them for some time by the name of Willie Griffin. Griffin is described as a slasher with good balance but not a real burner, think Willie Hurst? Look for UW to continue signing RB's and moving them around the field to increase overall team speed.

This coming weekend will be the biggest recruiting weekend of the year with more than 15 PSA's coming in to visit. The list is not complete yeat, but check in over at Dawgman during the week because there are going to be some big time impact players who have not been mentioned visiting Montlake.

How is UW doing so far?

They are ahead of last year with 14 in the bag so far, and probably at least that many more to give out. The meat of the class however is still lacking since they need to really come through with some nasty lineman. Washington has room for 29-30 players in this class. Sylvester is a kid that can come in early, and count against last years class. Count on 2-3 JC's who can enter Winter Quarter. UW needs to get some players that USC, Cal, and the big boys also want. Shaw from Stockton, and Johnson from Compton are a couple of examples of that. Once again this coming weekend historically is the biggest of the year for Washington recruiting so stay tuned.