2009 Opponent Preview - Washington Huskies

The Tyrone Willingham effect: known as subtraction by addition; namely subtraction of any good qualities from your team by addition of a really, really bad head coach. Results in added divots to campus golf course, total void in talent on the roster, and a boost in recruiting efforts the year after he is fired. May be contagious, especially in the areas of lack of heart, laziness, and poor work ethic.

And so we usher in the Steve Sarkisian era, as the former USC coordinator takes over a once successful program and tries to re-establish it to prominence on the upper west coast. Willingham pulled an o-fer last season, leasing every single game on the slate, including games to Washington State in the Apple Cup, Oregon State by 21 points, BYU on a blocked extra point, and Arizona... by 34! Sarkisian definitely has his work cut out for him. Sark the Shark brings in former Fresno State offensive coordinator Doug Nissmeier to run things on offense and former Idaho head coach Nick Holt to run the defense. It's a good coaching staff, which is a start for the Huskies.

The Huskies have never beaten the Irish, losing all seven matchups by an average score of 38-11. Last year, the Huskies failed to get into Irish territory until there were 6 minutes left in the game. Somehow, they still mentioned to score seven points against us, though we scored 33.

So, let's commence with the positional breakdown of the Huskies in this Tyrone Willingham effect preview (All Ty, all the time).
Offense- Washington was terrible on offense last year, as you could expect a team that didn't win a game to be. They never scored more than 30 points in a game, which is going to spell trouble in the wild Pac-10, and they only made it into the 20s twice (against BYU and Stanford). U-Dub averaged less than 100 yds rushing/game last year, and only 263 yards total. A lot of their troubles were a result of injury, but you can expect these numbers to skyrocket under a competent offensive coach like Sarkisian.
Backfield: The Huskies return their starting quarterback, runningback, and fullback from last year's team. Jake Locker, the best athlete on the team, is the starting quarterback again as he heads into his senior season. I can't imagine anyone being more excited about the coaching change than Locker, who could see a lead in production similar to that of Brady Quinn when Weis took over (again, the Tyrone Willingham effect in action). Locker was 50-93 for 512 yards and a touchdown before injuring his thumb. Chris Polk, a redshirt freshman, will start at runningback. Polk had two starts last year as a true frosh before missing the rest of the year to a medical redshirt. Pail Homer is the starting fullback in his senior year. If this unit can stay healthy then they will give Sarkisian plenty to work with.
Receivers: Jermaine Kearse and D'Andre Goodwin are both returning starters at wide receiver. Kearse was a true frosh last year, bringing in 20 balls for 301 yards and 2 touchdowns. Goodwin was the leading receiver last season with 60 catches for 692 yards and one touchdown. Tight end Kavario Middleton had five starts as a true frosh last season, netting 12 catches for 82 yards. Again, Sarkisian has something to work with here.
Offensive Line: Three returning starters and two noobs. Center Ryan Tolar, left guard Ben Ossai, and left tackle Cody Habben all return as starters, protecting Locker's blindside. The right side of the line, comprised of sophomore Senio Kelemete and redshirt frosh Drew Schaefer, are both new sarters. Kelemete was moved from defensive tackle, where he had four starts as a true frosh. Washington only averaged 99 yards rushing per game last season, but they only had 263 total/game, so it was poor and poor in proportion. This unit can only get better, and will need to if the Huskies want to release some of their skill position weapon players.

Defense -
The Washington defense was as bad as their counterparts on offense. The Huskies gave up a whopping 452 yds/game last yera, with 241 yds/game coming on the ground. That's really an astounding amount, especially when considering the fact that the Huskies couldn't average more than 100 yds/game on their own. The Huskies gave up more than 40 points in five games last year and more than 30 in nine of their twelve matchups, which is really just pathetic. They return 10 starters, which could be a good thing, but then again they were really bad in those positions last year.
Defensive Line- All returning starters. Seniors Darrion Jones and Daniel Te'o-Nesheim are on the ends with junior Cameron Elisara and Sophomore Alameda Ta'amu in the middle. Te'o-Nesheim was a 1st team All-Pac 10 player last year, with 65 tackles, 8 sacks, and 11.5 tfl in 2008. Ta'Amu had 21 tackles in five starts last year, and the coaches think he can be a pretty solid player up front for the Huskies. They need to improve their performance against the run, having given up 5.7 ypc last year.
Linebackers- Also all back from last year. There's two seniors in the group, Donald Butler and EJ Savannah, and one junior, Mason Foster. Foster was the top tackler for the Huskies last year with 105 take downs, one sack, and 11 tfl. Savannah returns after disappearing from the team the year before. Trenton Tuiasosopo will see a lot of time at linebacker as well, returning from a 2008 season where he had 71 tackles. This unit will be greatly improved from last season, especially with the addition of Savannah.
Defensive Backs- Matt Mosley is the only new starter on the defense, stepping in at cornerback, though he did have three starts and 15 tackles last year. Quinton Richardson returns after starting as a true frosh last season, having started 11 games with 32 tackles in 2008. Nate Williams is the strong safety and Johri Fogerson is the free safety. Fogerson also started as a true frosh. The Huskies actually improved their pass defense by 50 yards from the 2007 season, though a lot of that had to do with the fact that teams were up on the Huskies and only needed to run in the second half.

Special Teams- Both kicker Eric Folk and punter Will Mahan are new this season. Folk is a sohpmore who hasn't kicked in college yet. Mahan is a JuCo kid who averaged 39.2 yds/punt at his previous school. The Huskies only averaged 19.2 yards on kick returns and 4.7 yards on punt returns, which is really craptastic.

Final Thoughts: There's two things I know heading into the 2009 season: 1) Washington will be much better, and 2) We will beat them. The game is in South Bend, so it's kind of unfortunant we couldnt have Ty return to campus, but the home-field advantage is almost an unnecessary advantage. Locker will keep them in games, but the Irish have too much talent against a depleted roster, and Washington's defense has too much room to make up. I don't think it will be a total blow out, but it will be a comfortable victory.

Washington has LSU, Idaho, USC, and @Stanford before taking on the Irish. They will get pounded against LSU and USC, though they should beat Idaho. I can't see them beating Stanford, but the Tree has been hard to be impressed by under Harbaugh so far. I can see the Huskies winning as many as four games this year, but not much more than that. And one of those games will not be against the Irish, you can book that.

Never Forget.