Pac-12 Football Championship Game

Fall is here and football is in full swing. And as if I'm not excited enough for college football every week, I now see a commercial for the Pac-12 Football Championship Game.

I can't wait!

Apple Cup week

I love college sports. More than professional by a long shot. As a kid you claim a University and that's the team you root for. Then you grow up and maybe you go to a different University for school. Well, you still root for your old favorite team, but you now have a special place in your heart for your alma mater. And fans of your rival, well they might be your friends but for a few hours one day each year when the two teams meet, the trashtalk flys and the rivalry spurns. But it's all in good fun.

Take Brandon and I for example. I grew on the westside of Washington and before I could walk I was a Husky Pup.

Brandon grew up on the eastside of Washington and unfortunately became a WSU fan.

However, we both went to Eastern Washington and our Eagle pride outshines all. But once a year our favorite FBS teams meet in the Apple Cup.

Since Brandon already got an anti-Husky post up, I figured I would post why I hate the Cougars. But then I figured, why do that? Why not just compare the two programs and let the stats and numbers speak for themselves.

Sure UW fans haven't had a lot to cheer about in the last 5 years, but then again, neither have the WSU fans. With a win on Saturday UW goes to a bowl game, and with a win on Saturday WSU goes to a....oh wait....3 wins doesn't get you to a bowl game?

Let's start with the Apple Cup itself. This game hasn't really been a battle for the length of the rivalry. The Huskies lead with a 65-31-6 record. UW has won eight consecutive Apple Cups twice (1959–66 and 1974–81) while WSU's longest win streak is two.

UW won last years game 30-0.

Now on to National Championships. UW claims four (1960, 1984, 1990, 1991) while WSU has a big ol' ZERO.

As for bowl games well the numbers aren't even close. WSU has been to 10 bowl games in the history of the program while UW has been to 30.

And let's not forget about the Granddaddy of them all in the Rose Bowl. WSU has made it to four coming away with only a win only once, and that was in the 1916 game. UW has gone to 14 Rose Bowl games and won it seven times. Most recently in 2001.

This weekend will mark the first time in years that the game has more on the line than just state bragging rights. And that is thanks to UW with their possible bowl birth on the line. Well I guess that's not totally true. A win by the Cougars might buy Paul Wulff another year with the program.

I'm sure Just South of North will have more posts throughout the week before the Apple Cup. But one thing that is for sure is come Saturday I'll be rooting on the Dawgs and Brandon will be rooting on the Cougs. A blog divided.

Just for fun...

We've posted this before but... Jake Locker kissing his Mommy never gets old.

Kasen Williams picks UW

Check out the video of Kasen Williams picking the University of Washington. It's unique and pretty awesome!

College football in Washington

College football season kicks off in just a few weeks. And that means that the state of Washington will once again become divided. Huskies vs. Cougars. Cougars vs. Huskies. Either way, you have to pick just one.

In case you're not partial to either team, I figured it was a good time to get some facts about each school out there that have been bouncing around in the media as of late.

Washington has been singing the praises of Steve Sarkisian since, in his first year at UW, he lead the Dawgs from a dismal (to say the least) 0-12 season to a 5-7 record with a landmark win over powerhouse USC.

The future isn't looking as bright for Sarkisian's WSU counterpart Paul Wulff. In Wulff's two seasons at WSU he has a gruesome 3-22 record. The fact is that Wulff is on the hot seat. By hot seat I mean that the seat has been lite on fire and if he can't do things fast this year I don't see him coming back for a fourth year. (And could someone find him a larger hat!!!) The problem for Wulff is that the Cougars are predicted to be terrible. Their defense is awful. Just awful. Last season they gave up 6,144 yards in 12 games, which converts to 3½ miles. And along with all those yards, the Cougars also gave up a ton of points. They allowed 30 points or more in nine games. Perhaps these are a few of the reasons that Maxim dubbed the WSU Cougars THE WORST team in college football for the 2010 season. Sorry Coug fans.

On a brighter note for the state of Washington, UW has a Heisman candidate on their roster. And it's no surprise that candidate is none other than THE Jake Locker. ESPN has him slated at number two starting the season:

2. Jake Locker, Washington: The NFL loves the quarterback's skills. The Dawg fans just love him. The Heisman voters won't love this senior unless the Huskies return to the winning ways of yore.

Speaking of the Huskies winning this season they have a HUGE game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on September 18. Lincoln, Nebraska is already talking about the National Championship parade and even Brian Griese says that the nation will be all about the "Big Red". And won't have any problems in Seattle. Eventually going 11-1. A win over these "touted Huskers" would do wonders for Sarkisian and the Dawgs season. Not to mention cause the midwest to implode.

Let's not forget how the 1991 Washington Huskies went into Lincoln and blew-up the Huskers hopes for a National Championship. UW beat NU 36-21Husker Nation still hates UW because of that. Oh, and the fact that instead UW raised the National Champion banner.



With one team on the rebuild and one sinking further into the cellar, it's sure to be an interesting season. I'm just glad football is back!

New PAC 10 logo

The PAC 10 is gaining momentum across the nation. To help with their goal of not being overshadowed by the East coast schools the PAC 10 added two more schools and almost caused the destruction of the Big 12.

Once Colorado and Utah join, the Conference announced the name will change to the PAC 12.
And sticking with the theme of change, the PAC 10 unveiled a new logo.

Here's the old logo:


And the new:

What do you think about the change? I really like it. The new logo is crisp and sharp. It features the mountains of the northwest, the ocean waves of the coast and the desert sun. Pretty sweet.

Also what's pretty sweet is that it's almost football season. Check out this preview for PAC 10 football.

DAWG-GONE!

WASHINGTON 80, MARQUETTE 78

Quincy Pondexter drove for a tiebreaking bank shot with 1.7 seconds left, and 11th-seeded Washington rallied for an 80-78 victory over Marquette in the first round of the East Regional on Thursday night.

The real winner in all of this? The Pac-10.

Purple and Gold Day

What do you think they declare for the Washington State University homecoming? Run and Hide Day? The Season Isn't Over Yet Day? Awwww.....Crap Day?

In celebration of the University of Washington's Homecoming weekend, and the football game against Oregon, Gov. Chris Gregoire has proclaimed that Friday, Oct. 23, will be "Purple and Gold Day'' in the state of Washington. (Yes, apparently even in the Palouse).

Gregoire is a 1971 UW grad and has issued a "Purple and Gold'' proclamation each of the last three years.

"The University of Washington has a rich history of academic excellence, groundbreaking research, winning athletics, and life-changing innovation,'' the proclamation reads. "I urge all citizens to don purple and gold in honor of this world-class institution.''

The College Football Top 25

Tim Tebow, you look happy and sorta like a douche in this photo. Anyways... here is the Top 25 in college football...

1	Florida (55)	3-0	1488	1
2	Texas (2)	3-0	1428	2
3	Alabama (3)	3-0	1390	4
4	Mississippi	2-0	1213	5
5	Penn State	3-0	1212	5
6	California	3-0	1169	8
7	LSU	3-0	1120	9
8	Boise State	3-0	1038	10
9	Miami (FL)	2-0	920	20
10	Oklahoma	2-1	862	12
11	Virginia Tech	2-1	852	13
12	USC	2-1	825	3
13	Ohio State	2-1	810	11
14	Cincinnati	3-0	739	17
15	TCU	2-0	674	15
16	Oklahoma State	2-1	478	16
17	Houston	2-0	455	21
18	Florida State	2-1	363	NR
19	Brigham Young	2-1	349	7
20	Kansas	3-0	347	22
21	Georgia	2-1	318	23
22	North Carolina	3-0	271	24
23	Michigan	3-0	247	25
24	Washington	2-1	194	NR
25	Nebraska	2-1	132	19

Wait a minute? Washington at 24? That's got to be the most knee jerk reaction in college polling I've ever seen. They beat Idaho and a USC team that overlooked them. Maybe if they won another Pac-10 game or two... but to go from 0-12 to ranked in country is just ridiculous. Somebody punch Casey before he gets too happy about the Huskies.

If the Cougs win next week will they be in the Top 25 as well? They play USC.

Oh who am I kidding? They'll lose by 80.

Montana to Washington

It is official. Well, verbally anyway.

Nick Montana, a quarterback and son of hall of fame quarterback Joe Montana is coming to the University of Washington.

Montana, 6-foot-2, 190-pounds, will be in the class of 2010 for UW. And he gave his verbal commitment to Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and will sign his letter of intent in February.

Now this signing is awesome for UW and exactly what they need.

The soon-to-be senior qb from Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, Calif., will not only bring a great arm, quarterback thinking, and quick decision making (he's ranked in the top 20 players at QB in the country) but he brings with him the reputation of being a hall of fame quarterbacks son.

Montana also had scholarship offers from LSU, Ohio State, Stanford, Alabama, Notre Dame and Georgia.

But evidently he knew his choice after his recent visit to Seattle.

UW might have lost Sammamish native and stud QB Jake Heaps to BYU. But they brought in another great QB in Montana.

Oh, and an interesting note, on September 18, Montana will lead Oaks Christian High School into Sammamish, Washington to take on Heaps and Washington powerhouse Skyline High School.

And you can bet the Northern Rangers will be out there covering that game.

Huskies in Oklahoma City

The Washington Huskies softball team is currently playing the Florida Gators in game 1 of the NCAA Championship.

It's a best of 3 game series. Currently the Huskies are up 4-0 in the top of the 4th. The announcers have been talking about how Tim Tebow was in the stands. But then, they cut to the Husky fans and who should be sitting front and center?

Jake Locker of course.

Go Dawgs!

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

Well she's done it again. Danielle Lawrie broke another Washington Huskies school record on Sunday when she fanned 24 batters in 15 innings pitched in the 3rd and deciding game of the Softball Regionals against UMass. She totaled 251 pitches in the game which lasted 5 hours and 13 minutes. With the 6-1 win UW advanced to the Super Regionals against Georgia Tech starting on Saturday. The game was the longest for the Huskies since 2006 against Arizona State, a game they lost in 13 innings.

And that wasn't all from Lawrie, this was game two of double header. The first game UMass won 5-1 and Lawrie only threw 144 pitches in that game. The total time for the two games was 7 hours and 49 minutes.

Also in the Pac-10 Crew Championships the UW men took home second in the final team standings, coming up 3 points shy of 1st place California. At the same event the women took home 3rd behind 1st place California and 2nd place Stanford.

JustSON the Numbers: Tim Lincecum vs. Brandon Morrow

You gotta love Bill Bavasi if you are a Mariners fan. I'm going to break down the careers so far of pitchers Brandon Morrow, who the Mariners selected with the 5th overall selection in the 2006 MLB draft, and Tim Lincecum, who the San Francisco Giants took with the 10th overall pick in the same draft.

It is believed that the deciding factor on why the Mariners decided on Morrow (grew up in California and played college ball for the California Golden Bears) over Lincecum (who attended high school in Renton, Washington and played for the Washington Huskies) was because of how small Lincecum is. Morrow is the size of your average pitcher at 6'3" and about 200 pounds while Lincecum is much smaller at 5'11" and 170 pounds, so it was assumed that Lincecum was more at risk for injury.

The injury theory has so far proven to be incorrect as Lincecum has never been on the disabled list in the major leagues and Morrow missed two weeks of spring training in 2008 and was then put on the disabled list on May 2, 2009 with bicep tendinitis. Also Morrow is a Type 1 diabetic, which even he acknowledged was a factor in his decision to move out of his role as a starting pitcher and move into the bullpen because it is easier for him to balance his blood sugar.

Both pitchers made their debuts in the 2007 season and have both had success. Lincecum has amassed 28 wins with 11 losses and a career 3.17 ERA in 65 total appearances (64 of them starts). He has also struck out 473 batters in a combined 417 2/3 innings. In 2008 Lincecum was selected to the All-Star Game but was unable to participate because of flu-like symptoms. He went on to win the 2008 National League Cy Young Award. Lincecum is one of only two Giants to win a Cy Young, the other was Mike McCormick in 1967.

Brandon Morrow holds a career record of 6 wins and 10 losses with 16 saves (5 blown saves) and a 3.90 ERA. He has appeared in 114 games (5 of them were as a starter) and has 150 strikeouts over 136 innings. In Morrow's first career major league start against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 5, 2008 he pitched 7 2/3 innings of no hit baseball before eventually winning the game 3-1.

Now both pitchers are still only 24 years old so they have long careers ahead of them but from where I am sitting I would much rather have Tim Lincecum suiting up every 5th day for the Mariners. Not only because of his statistics, lack of injury history and the fact that he is a starting pitcher which at this time the Mariners are in sore need of. I'd also like to see him with Seattle because this is where he grew up and played college baseball, now what Mariner fan out there wouldn't be excited to root on a local product?

Who knows though, maybe Morrow turns into a dominant closer and goes on to many years of success for Seattle and maybe Lincecum turns into a 4th or 5th starter. Only time will tell, but so far it appears the Giants got a steal.

If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

No more football until August, so it looks like the focus this week and many others will be on other Dawg sports.

In softball the no. 4 Washington Huskies had a great week as they went 4-0. The winner of every game was Danielle Lawrie. She bookended the 4 victories starting with a 3-0 no-hitter versus # 2 UCLA last Wednesday and finished it off with an 8-2 win over Oregon on Sunday, a game in which she tied her season high with 18 strikeouts. Lawrie is now 30-5 on the season with a 0.76 ERA. She also became the 25th pitcher in NCAA history to record over 1,200 career strikeouts.

With the wins over the weekend the Huskies are still in contention to win the Pac-10 title, they are just a game back of UCLA and Stanford with 3 games left. UW has a chance to get even with Stanford in the standings on Thursday when the Cardinal visit Husky Softball Stadium. A lot has to happen for UW to win the conference title but they still have a punchers chance.

Oh and I can't forget to let everyone know that Washington beat Washington State in track on Saturday at Husky Stadium, you know if anyone was interested in something like that.

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

The UW football team finally won a game. Well I guess they couldn't lose since they were playing themselves in coach Steve Sarkisian's first spring game as head coach for the purple and gold. It was a lopsided affair as the Purple team beat the White team 33-0.

I was at the game (a friend of mine took pictures and has promised to send them to me soon, so I will post them when I get them), and even though it was my first Husky spring game, I did walk away impressed with the turnout and how excited all the fans were. Jake Locker looked really good, especially after coming back from a broken thumb and playing in a new offense. Locker completed 16 of 18 passes and had his receivers held on to the other two passes he would have been perfect. Granted this was the spring game and they were going against the no. 2 defense but it was great to see how efficient Locker was.

Other than Locker, I was impressed with Jermaine Kearse (My friend Lisa gave him the evil eye after he dropped the first pass thrown to him) who ended up catching 5 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown at the end of the game. Chris Polk was also impressive in running for 95 yards on 12 carries and scoring a touchdown. Polk had a lot of room to run on sweeps and Off Tackle plays.

After the game fans had 30 minutes to go out on the field and get autographs and photos with players and coaches. We got in on some photos with Coach Sarkisian, Jake Locker and a giant of a man, Offensive Lineman Ben Ossai, who seemed happy to see us because he could stand up to get his photo taken instead of kneeling down to get shots with the kids.

All in all it was a great day (weather could have been better, but in Seattle when couldn't you say that) and the game gave me a football fix that should hold me until NFL camps start opening in July.

In other Washington Huskie news the Pac-10 Men's Golf Championships start today and continue until Wednesday here in Seattle. If you get a chance head over to the Seattle Golf Club to root on the 5th ranked Huskies.

Fuskies huck up Apple Cup at Qwest Field

Huzzah! The Apple Cup will remain in Pullman after the deal to move the college football rivalry to Qwest Field has fallen apart. The reason? The Huskies being the Huskies and demanding more tickets than the Cougars despite it's neutral site designation.

PULLMAN - A deal to move the Apple Cup to Qwest Field, which seemed so close a week ago, is dead, killed not by fan outrage, but by a lack of seats.

“It became evident an understanding on ways to maintain the neutral-site atmosphere in regards to ticket allotment could not be reached,” Washington State athletic director Jim Sterk said in a release Friday that announced WSU was ending discussions to move the game, “therefore, our student-athletes and Cougar fans would not be best served without this key component.”

According to sources in the WSU athletic department, the original agreement gave WSU and the University of Washington each 31,000 seats in Qwest Field every year. But in the past week, UW expressed its desire for about another 7,000 additional seats, the sources said, in an attempt to mollify season ticket holders.

I was surprised by two things, the fact that UW would mess up the chance for basically another home game every season AND the fact that there are still Washington Huskies season ticket holders. Who knew?

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

The Huskies wrapped up their 7th practice of the spring on Saturday with about 1,800 fans in attendance. In my opinion there were some definite positives that came out of this practice. The projected kicker for next year, Erik Folk, was 3 for 3 on his field goal attempts, hitting from 47, 46 and 35 yards out. Also on special teams Jordan Polk took a kickoff back for a touchdown.

Another Tuiasosopo is playing for the Huskies, Trenton. He had an athletic diving interception on a pass that went through the hands of tight end Kavario Middleton. Also the defensive line looked much improved as they gave up only a couple runs over 10 yards during the 80 play scrimmage.

Even though this is spring practice it still is great to hear positives, or anything for that matter (Tyrone Willingham and his closed practices). Also of note no injuries were reported except for running back Curtis Shaw who already had a bruised knee coming into the scrimmage and aggravated the injury then sat out the rest of scrimmage.

Oh and I almost forgot, on Saturday the Women's varsity eight beat the Cougars by almost 2 full seconds, this was the first time in 3 years that they had beaten Wazzu. UW ended up sweeping all 10 of the races versus Washington State on the Snake River, which is the Cougs home course.

High School Sports Feature: McDonalds All-Americans

With the McDonald's All-American basketball game upon us today (5:30 pm ET for girls, 8:00 pm ET for boys) from the "U" (University of Miami for those unaware of what the "U" is, they have also asked not to be confused with the "O") I thought it would be a good time to highlight some local talent playing in this game.

Playing for the East team will be Guard Peyton Siva out of Franklin High School. Siva who is fresh off of leading the Quakers to the 3A state championship, and being named MVP of the tournament, will be heading to Louisville to play for Rick Pitino and the Cardinals. Scout.com has Siva ranked as the #7 rated point guard in his class. His strengths are listed as perimeter shot, speed/quickness and that he is a true point guard. Improvements are listed as decision making and mid-range game.

For the West side the state of Washington is represented by two players who up until this past season had been playing together on AAU teams or with Bellarmine Prep High School since 7th grade, in Abdul Gaddy and Avery Bradley. Last year Bradley transferred to Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada. Bradley will be heading to Texas as the #3 rated shooting guard according to scout.com and his attack mode and mid-range game are his strengths. His passing and 3-point range could use improvement.

Abdul Gaddy who attended Bellarmine Prep will be staying home to play for Lorenzo Romar and the Washington Huskies. He is listed as the #2 rated point guard with scout.com and his ability to create, instincts for his position and the fact that he is an impact player are serious strengths. He still could work on his strength to handle the college game and is not considered a big-time scorer. I think with Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter returning for the Dawgs he will have time to build strength and won't be counted on right away to be a major scoring threat.

Also of note, with John Calipari leaving Memphis to coach at Kentucky a number of his recruits with the Tigers have re-opened their recruitment. One of the players in Calipari's class, DeMarcus Cousins, who is from Mobile, Alabama had the University of Washington in his top 5....and with him now being back on the market.....I'm just saying. It would be great to add a 6-10, 245 pound Center to the recruiting class.

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

Starting pitcher Danielle Lawrie continued her dominance this past week for the #2 ranked Washington Huskies softball team in a game at #3 ranked Stanford that the Huskies ultimately lost. Lawrie struck out 16 batters over 8 1/3 innings on Saturday in a 1-0 loss in 11 innings. The winning run scored when a Cardinal was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded (talk about clutch, I remember my first year in fast pitch, high on base percentage, not so good batting average because of hanging over the plate).

Also in the game Ashley Charters extended her hitting streak to 12 games. UW had a few opportunities to score but could never get anybody home, ala the Mariners of last year, you know bases loaded nobody out then, popout, strike out, screaming line drive to a diving first baseman who snags a Sportscenter highlightesque ball. The Dawgs had a chance for revenge on Sunday in Palo Alto but were shut out again by the mighty Cardinal. The Huskies have one more chance to beat Stanford in the regular season on May 7th when they come into Seattle for a visit.

The weekend trip wasn't a total loss for the Huskies as 5 Dawgs qualified for the West Regionals at the Stanford Invitational in Casey's favorite event, the pole vault. Leading the way for Washington was sophmore Scott Roth who vaulted for the first time outdoors in almost two years. Roth took first in the event by clearing 17-feet, 8 1/2 inches which was better by 4 inches than runner up Robert Low of BYU. Taking third was fellow Husky Jared O'Connor.

Next up for the Huskies track team is a visit to Tucson, Arizona for the Jim Click Shootout on April 4th. Yeeee Haaaaaa!!!!!

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

Well the Washington Huskies basketball season is over after a 76-74 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday in Portland at the Rose Garden. UW came back from a 14 point deficit and almost won the game but ultimately came up short. A huge sequence took place with about a minute left in the game when the Huskies had the ball and had two shots blocked by JaJuan Johnson of Purdue. First Johnson blocked Isaiah Thomas then Quincy Pondexter.

The Huskies were led by Thomas (24 points), Pondexter (20 points and 10 rebounds) and of course Jon Brockman (20 points and 18 rebounds. 60th double-double of his career). Those 3 combined to score all but 10 of the Huskies points for the game. In my opinion the biggest key to the game was the virtual no shows of every other Husky besides Thomas, Pondexter and Brockman, with the exception of Venoy Overton who played great defense but didn't adjust to how closely the officials were calling the game.

Now that the season is over for the Dawgs most people think of what could of have been. I like to look into the future and think of how good this team will be next year. Granted the Huskies will be losing two major pieces to the team in Brockman and Justin Dentmon but they also gained a lot of experience and it was amazing to see how much better Quincy Pondexter played this year. UW will return 3 of the 5 starters as well as the top 4 guys off of the bench.

The recruiting class for 2009 is also going to be key as the Huskies have the #13 ranked class according to ESPN. They will bring in the #2 rated point guard, 6-3 Abdul Gaddy along with versatile power forward Clarence Trent, guard C.J. Wilcox and Junior College power forward Charles Garcia, Jr.

I'm disappointed the season ended for the Huskies but I am also amped for the possibility of what the Dawgs can do next year.