State of Washington Report
kkirk
Senior Member
A clean sweep last weekend (3-0) as WSU covers the 45 easily against USC and both Washington and the Seahawks fail to cover (or win). Now 5-4 for the season.
On to this week's action:
WSU: Once again we face another big line as the Cougs go into Eugene to face the Ducks as a 33 point underdog. Cougs fans have been upbeat this week for two reasons--a respectable showing at USC and the emergence of true-freshman QB Jeff Tuel, who will get the start this week. The last time the Cougs started a true freshman was 1990, some guy named Bledsoe, and of course Coug fans would love for Tuel to be Drew's reincarnation (note here: I realize Bledsoe is not dead; by reincarnation I mean a reincarnation of Bledsoe the football player
). The Cougs are, according to Seattle Times Pac-10 writer Bud Withers in his column this week, the most beat up/injured team in the conference, especially on the offensive line. The WSU staff said one of the reasons they are going with Tuel is that he is more mobile than the other two QB's, and with the injuries on the O-line, whoever the WSU QB is will have to scramble and run, probably for his life (I added the "for his life" part--Coug coaches didn't say this, at least not out loud). Tuel ran for nearly 40 yards against USC in just one half of work and in watching him, I was reminded of Jason Guesser, the Coug standout of the early 2000's who took the Cougs to a Rose Bowl and a Sun Bowl in his 3 years as a starter. He did a lot of good things with his feet, as will Tuel. I think the Cougs will still struggle on offense against Oregon, as they have few if any playmakers, and the under 54.5 might be a good thing to look at in addiion to a side bet. I'm going to take the large amount of points again, as Oregon is in a classic "sandwich" situation here, having won a HUGE game last week against Cal, and then facing a resurgent UCLA team next week. I just don't think they'll be up for the blowout on Saturday and they'll win something like 31-10.
Pick: WSU +33
UW: The Husky revival party came screetching to a halt over the weekend, as Stanford rolled over the Huskies last weekend in Palo Alto. The Dawgs were ranked 24th after beating USC the week before, and one of the NFL draftniks said QB Jake Locker was the top draftable QB in the country. As anyone could have predicted, of course, Locker had his worst day of the season, completing barely 50 percent of his passes (he had been well over 60 percent in the other 3 games) and throwing 2 picks. Speaking as a Coug fan, I'm very much hoping that he is still considered a top draft pick at the end of the season, because I'd LOVE to see him go early. This week the Dawgs travel to Notre Dame and I really like the Huskies here as 13 point underdogs. Notre Dame has squeeked out 3 very close wins against teams that have managed only two wins combined, over Toledo and Montana State. The two Husky losses are to LSU,a top 5 team, and Stanford, the team that is now in 1st place in the Pac-10. I look for Locker to have a good game through the air, as ND pass defense has been soft, and I'm hopeful they can find a way to at least control ND on the ground, because anyone that watches film of UW knows they struggle against the run. We just pick against the spread here on the Report, but I'd be tempted to toss a small bet on the ML at +350, but for our records here, we'll stick with the spread.
Pick: UW +13
Seahawks:
Another really beat up team that now travels to Indy ( 3-0) and finds itself on the wrong side of the biggest point spread on the entire NFL board (+10 1/2). Even DETROIT is 1/2 a point dog better than the Hawks this week! Ouch. It looks like the Hawks are getting a few guys back, most notably linebacker Lofa Tatupu, but their offensive line is total patchwork and is down to 3rd string guys in a couple of positions, particularly left tackle, though there is some talk of future Hall of Famer Walter Jones being back. Even if he is, he won't be close to full strength. QB Hasselbeck is still out, as are a couple of DB's. No doubt that the linesemakers have adjusted for all of this AND the Hawks do catch a break in that Indy's big pass rusher, Freeney, is out, and one of their D-Tackles missed practice Wednedsay as well, so that helps out the Seahawk O-line some.
This is a tough one to call, as we're again dealing with a large spread. I'm going to take thepoints here as I think there's a sense of urgency with the Hawks this week, as they must feel like slipping to 1-3 puts them well on their way to a repeat of last year (4-12) and I'm thinking Indy doesn't have that same sense of drive, since they are now 3-0 and already have a 2 game lead in their division. I also like that they were on the Sunday night game last week and looked really good. That has probabaly added a point or two to the line AND I also like that they areon Sunday night again the following week against a divisional foe. This could be a classic letdown situation for Indy, and while Indy still wins the game, I think the Hawks cover the biggest spread on the board this week.
Pick: Seattle +10 1/2
Good luck all
On to this week's action:
WSU: Once again we face another big line as the Cougs go into Eugene to face the Ducks as a 33 point underdog. Cougs fans have been upbeat this week for two reasons--a respectable showing at USC and the emergence of true-freshman QB Jeff Tuel, who will get the start this week. The last time the Cougs started a true freshman was 1990, some guy named Bledsoe, and of course Coug fans would love for Tuel to be Drew's reincarnation (note here: I realize Bledsoe is not dead; by reincarnation I mean a reincarnation of Bledsoe the football player
). The Cougs are, according to Seattle Times Pac-10 writer Bud Withers in his column this week, the most beat up/injured team in the conference, especially on the offensive line. The WSU staff said one of the reasons they are going with Tuel is that he is more mobile than the other two QB's, and with the injuries on the O-line, whoever the WSU QB is will have to scramble and run, probably for his life (I added the "for his life" part--Coug coaches didn't say this, at least not out loud). Tuel ran for nearly 40 yards against USC in just one half of work and in watching him, I was reminded of Jason Guesser, the Coug standout of the early 2000's who took the Cougs to a Rose Bowl and a Sun Bowl in his 3 years as a starter. He did a lot of good things with his feet, as will Tuel. I think the Cougs will still struggle on offense against Oregon, as they have few if any playmakers, and the under 54.5 might be a good thing to look at in addiion to a side bet. I'm going to take the large amount of points again, as Oregon is in a classic "sandwich" situation here, having won a HUGE game last week against Cal, and then facing a resurgent UCLA team next week. I just don't think they'll be up for the blowout on Saturday and they'll win something like 31-10.Pick: WSU +33
UW: The Husky revival party came screetching to a halt over the weekend, as Stanford rolled over the Huskies last weekend in Palo Alto. The Dawgs were ranked 24th after beating USC the week before, and one of the NFL draftniks said QB Jake Locker was the top draftable QB in the country. As anyone could have predicted, of course, Locker had his worst day of the season, completing barely 50 percent of his passes (he had been well over 60 percent in the other 3 games) and throwing 2 picks. Speaking as a Coug fan, I'm very much hoping that he is still considered a top draft pick at the end of the season, because I'd LOVE to see him go early
. This week the Dawgs travel to Notre Dame and I really like the Huskies here as 13 point underdogs. Notre Dame has squeeked out 3 very close wins against teams that have managed only two wins combined, over Toledo and Montana State. The two Husky losses are to LSU,a top 5 team, and Stanford, the team that is now in 1st place in the Pac-10. I look for Locker to have a good game through the air, as ND pass defense has been soft, and I'm hopeful they can find a way to at least control ND on the ground, because anyone that watches film of UW knows they struggle against the run. We just pick against the spread here on the Report, but I'd be tempted to toss a small bet on the ML at +350, but for our records here, we'll stick with the spread.Pick: UW +13
Seahawks:
Another really beat up team that now travels to Indy ( 3-0) and finds itself on the wrong side of the biggest point spread on the entire NFL board (+10 1/2). Even DETROIT is 1/2 a point dog better than the Hawks this week! Ouch. It looks like the Hawks are getting a few guys back, most notably linebacker Lofa Tatupu, but their offensive line is total patchwork and is down to 3rd string guys in a couple of positions, particularly left tackle, though there is some talk of future Hall of Famer Walter Jones being back. Even if he is, he won't be close to full strength. QB Hasselbeck is still out, as are a couple of DB's. No doubt that the linesemakers have adjusted for all of this AND the Hawks do catch a break in that Indy's big pass rusher, Freeney, is out, and one of their D-Tackles missed practice Wednedsay as well, so that helps out the Seahawk O-line some.
This is a tough one to call, as we're again dealing with a large spread. I'm going to take thepoints here as I think there's a sense of urgency with the Hawks this week, as they must feel like slipping to 1-3 puts them well on their way to a repeat of last year (4-12) and I'm thinking Indy doesn't have that same sense of drive, since they are now 3-0 and already have a 2 game lead in their division. I also like that they were on the Sunday night game last week and looked really good. That has probabaly added a point or two to the line AND I also like that they areon Sunday night again the following week against a divisional foe. This could be a classic letdown situation for Indy, and while Indy still wins the game, I think the Hawks cover the biggest spread on the board this week.
Pick: Seattle +10 1/2
Good luck all
Comments
You're living the dream my man. Hit em straight.