Vikings' Ship Going Down

It's not like I go to a ton of Division II football games, but the small-college guy in me was sad to see this: Western Washington University is dropping its football program. The Vikings started playing football in 1903, but the school decided to cut its most expensive sport to spare its 15 other sports (which will no doubt bring some Title IX haters out of the woodwork).

As the P-I article states (incidentally another entity that is rumored to be going under), Western travelled a lot for a small school. No surprise, given that there will now only be four Div. II programs west of the Rockies: the directional schools Central Washington and Western Oregon, along with renowned pot haven Humboldt State, and southern Utah's own Dixie State. Aside from Western itself, this hurts its biggest rival, Central. They played each other twice a year, and I had a grand old time at one of them, the Battle in Seattle in October. Where else can students go to a game at a pro stadium and have it be quiet enough for them to pass out? Oh, um, maybe that was part of the problem.

You might not know this, but the Atlanta Falcons' punter, Michael Koenen, went to Western. And New York Giants' tight end Kevin Boss went to Western Oregon. And interception machine Jon Kitna went to Central, while current Wildcats QB Mike Reilly is supposedly a legitimate pro prospect. So it's not like they're playing terrible football in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Besides, how many other schools will ride into the sunset with a win over the Colorado School of Mines in the Dixie Rotary Bowl?

Even though the boys from Bellingham will no longer be playing football, Western will always have this ridiculous catch and its lingering notoriety. Hey, an ESPY is an ESPY, even if Joe Theismann is presenting it. And as some are already suggesting, this can only help a UW Huskies squad desperate for talent.

UW head coach rumor mill

The news came out yesterday that the University of Washington interviewed Notre Dame offensive coordinator Michael Haywood to replace Ty Willingham. I can't imagine that Haywood is a serious candidate, because 1) Notre Dame's offense stinks and 2) he is not even calling the plays for the shitty Notre Dame offense.

More significantly, I think he's not a big enough name that will appease the fans. The school wants someone who creates buzz and I just don't think the mastermind of the shitty Notre Dame offense is that guy.

The Dice Game and Lady Dice were at dinner with some friends talking about this news when Dice Friend, an individual who happens to be in the know about these things, shocked us. I asked, "Dice Friend, who do you think is going to be the next UW coach?"

"Jim Mora, Jr."

Isn't this the same individual who is under contract to coach the Seahawks next year? The chosen one? Dice Friend said it doesn't matter and that the Seahawks will not hold him to the contract because of the PR disaster it would cause locally if the team prevented him from taking the UW job. Even more surprising was the next name thrown out by Dice Friend.

"Mark Richt."

The Georgia coach? Why would he leave a top flight SEC school with fertile recruiting to come coach at UW? Dice Friend says money. Georgia is apparently not compensating Richt that well and UW is willing to pay to make a big splash. Richt can recruit, but can he coach? Is there a more disappointing team this season in college football than the Georgia Bulldogs? That whole idea seems crazy to me.

One coach that had been mentioned -- Gary Pinkel from Missouri -- seems like he's now off the market for the UW job.

I just share the knowledge. Y'all can discuss.

Colt Who?

An eagerly-awaited college rivalry game with a snappy title kicks off at a neutral site. The Red River what? Try The Battle in Seattle -- the game, not the movie. It's the throwdown between the Central Washington University Wildcats and the Western Washington University Vikings. Once a year, you don't have to drive to Ellensburg or Bellingham for bruising Division II action. Today it came to us, with the winner receiving the Cascade Cup presented by Comcast. After Holy Cross beat Brown 41-34 earlier in the day, SGB staffers tired of small-college football. All of them except me.

As soon as you entered Qwest Field, you knew this was going to be different. Two guys were putting on face paint in front of a bathroom mirror as the PA announcer laid down the law: "Any footballs kicked into the stands must be returned to the field. Thank you." Meanwhile, no one bothered to cover or erase the Seahawks logo at midfield or in the end zones. The Seahawks got scored on a lot tonight.

A female Central student told me this is the highlight of their season. "More people come to this game than go to most home games," she said. A Western student seemed to agree as he flew this placard: "The Wind Doesn't Blow from the West -- Central Sucks."

The Battle in Seattle has been played here since 2003, and tonight's game drew more than 12,000 people, a respectable number for two small state schools. Even so, Qwest Field fractionally-filled is a strange place. It gives the feeling of a five-year-old who proudly tries on his dad's oversized shoes and then stumbles around in them. Qwest Field alcohol-free furthers that impression.

On the field, Central ruled. Coming in ranked 11th in Div. II, the Wildcats seem to make a living as a safety net for players who wash out from larger schools. Senior Central quarterback Mike Reilly is a transfer from Washington State, and according to The Seattle Times, is ranked by scouts.com as the 9th-best pro prospect at his position in the country. That has led to some national publicity as well. He showed why tonight. Reilly broke an all-division NCAA record with a touchdown pass in his 41st straight game and surpassed Jon Kitna's career school record with his 100th TD throw (he now has 103). In all, he passed for 371 yards and four scores, often from a shotgun formation with five wide receivers. If you squinted, you saw Texas Tech running around the field. Among his weapons are former Huskies tight end Jared Bronson and running back JR Hasty. Hasty was a prized Ty Willingham recruit out of Bellevue (and son of former NFL defensive back James Hasty) who never panned out, amid injuries and off-field troubles. Tonight he ran for a robust 15 yards on five carries -- no surprise to those who slam all things Willingham. 

Central dominated in other ways too. Perhaps not surprisingly coming from the windy wheat fields of the Kittitas Valley, Central fans handily won the battle of the cowbells. The school's well-regarded music program doubtlessly ballooned their marching band to at least twice the size of Western's (not to mention they were the only band worthy of playing on the field at halftime). The final score: Central Washington, 50, Western Washington, 28, with at least two students passed out.

Nightmare on Montlake Part IV

It may seem like we're running out of options to explain the myriad ways the Huskies are losing. But Saturday's 35-28 loss to Stanford is easy to get a handle on: no Jake Locker = no chance. When the sophomore stud QB broke his right thumb in the second quarter while blocking, any chance of UW winning quickly dissipated. Yet they made a game of it, and redshirt freshman QB Ronny Fouch wasn't bad.

Regardless, Washington is 0-4, Locker could be out six weeks and the coaching staff is running out of answers. The calls for coach Willingham's head grow louder, and the opinions on the Seattle Times' Husky blog predictably espouse firing Ty (and hiring Lane Kiffin) or recommend that he do the "honorable thing" and step down. 

If fans want to spew venom at the coaching staff, some of it should go in defensive coordinator Ed Donatell's direction. UW gave up 466 yards to Stanford, a season-high for the Cardinal, and amazingly, the Huskies still don't have a single sack this season. But Donatell is no joke. He was a longtime NFL defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, including a stint with the Broncos when they won two straight Super Bowls. Maybe he's turned into a terrible coach, or maybe he's dealing with an inexperienced unit that still should have a bright future.

Willingham deserves a mulligan this season. With a brutal non-conference schedule and now dealing with the loss of their leader, the Huskies are living in a bad dream. But kicking out a good recruiter and solid citizen like Willingham under these conditions is not only unfair to him, it could potentially scare away established successors. Think about what it would look like to the rest of the country if UW fired its coach four games into a season that featured three games against top-25 clubs, a terrible excessive celebration penalty and a major injury to its starting QB. UW isn't a top program any more, and the administration can't think they would get top-shelf candidates if the head job were vacant. But the decline started before Willingham got here. Let him see this through and no doubt next year will look a lot better. Besides, UW isn't even the worst team in the state; it's only 54 days till the Apple Cup. 

The Worst Is Over

A national championship contender from a tradion-steeped Midwestern program visits the West Coast, in what turns out to be a blowout. USC-Ohio State? Of course not. We're talking about a battle played deep in that game's shadows, surely seen by dozens of viewers on ESPN. They saw Oklahoma ruin a beautiful afternoon at Husky Stadium, crushing Washington 55-14. UW's same old problems cropped up: poor tackling, dropped and airmailed passes and a frightening 591 yards given up. Now the Huskies are 0-3 and staring at the abyss, with chants for the coach's head growing louder. But really, this is a script anyone could have seen coming, so let's not get rash.

I heard a radio caller on the Huskies postgame show say that the Huskies were more poorly coached than mighty Bellevue in their victory over Bothell. That's Bellevue High School. Really, is this what things are coming to? Now "fans" are calling in to say Tyrone Willingham couldn't even outclass his opposite number on a high school sideline? People need to get a goddamn grip.

This is where we step away from the ledge. Everyone knew the Huskies' first three games were an unholy trilogy that would probably leave them winless. Those three opponents -- Oregon, BYU, and Oklahoma -- are ranked 17, 14 and 2, respectively. Yes, UW took a step back after last week's hearbreaker, but OU is going to make a lot of teams look foolish this year. And if it's possible for a team to take refuge in its conference schedule -- because it's so much easier than its non-conference slate -- then the Huskies can be that team.

UW has a bye week, then plays three of its next four games at home: Stanford, at Arizona, Oregon State and Notre Dame. All of those are winnable. Suddenly, the Pac-10 looks very weak. The conference went 3-7 against non-league foes on Saturday, lowlighted by inexplicable losses by Cal-Berkeley to Maryland, Arizona State to UNLV and Arizona to New Mexico. UCLA, thought to be resurgent under Ricky Neuheisel after an upset of Tennessee, got whacked by 59 points to a BYU team UW took to overtime last weekend -- oh sorry, I forgot. Aside from USC and Oregon, the Pac-10 now appears filled with teases, have-nots and never-will-be's.

Conventional wisdom said Willingham needed to make a bowl this year to save his job. So UW would have to go 6-3 onward to get there. That looks unlikely, but fans need to use a different ruler to measure success from here on out. Let's see how hard this young team plays for its coach. If they still put up a fight and are consistently competitive, then Willingham deserves a chance to keep coaching his talented charges. If they roll over and die and go 0-12, then we'll talk. But if that happens, impatience dictates that Willingham would be long gone by then.

UW's Good, Bad and Ugly, or, How Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Wow, that sucked. Washington's first game of the rest of Ty Willingham's coaching life and they produce this? We know that Oregon is a top-25 team and this was the only conference matchup of any BCS schools on a day when most teams gorged on cupcakes. And it helped make for a really ugly day of football in Seattle, as WSU got thumped 39-13 by Oklahoma State at Qwest Field. But 44-10? Really? UW face-planted with a much louder thud than anyone expected, and it could set the tone for things to get really ugly around Montlake. But a measure of patience is urged. 

For all the talk of how this team would be different, the Huskies did just about everything the same from their hapless 4-9 campaign of last year. The offensive line didn't or couldn't block, and UW averaged a paltry 2.2 yards on 43 rushes. To call the O-line sieve-like is to disrespect sieves everywhere. The lack of protection forced Jack Locker to run for his life like Fran Tarkenton in an old NFL Films reel. For Locker to become Tim Tebow West, he needs to stay upright. But if the protection against Oregon is any indication, he will spend way too much time in the scrum this year. Also, Locker's accuracy continues to be an issue; he completed only 12 of 28 passes. However, he's not the problem here, but he will figure prominently in the solution, if there is one.  

The defense came out in a snazzy new 3-3-5 alignment, but often opted not to tackle. One of the results (or three): it gave up three touchdowns of 25 yards or more. And this wasn't against the juggernaut offense of Dennis Dixon and Johnathan Stewart. Injuries forced the Ducks to resort to their third- and fourth-string quarterbacks in the second half. You might recall that was the half in which Oregon pulled away, outscoring UW 30-0. If ever there was a time to catch Oregon in a bit of lull, this was it. Consider the opportunity squandered. 

But acknowledge one glaring fact: UW is a young team. 24 true or redshirt freshmen traveled to Eugene. They represent a potentially bright future, coming from two heralded recruiting classes. But they have to grow up fast. BYU and Oklahoma come calling the next two games and these Husky pups are playing for their coach's neck. The specter of 0-3 is staring them in the face and the calls for Willingham's dismissal will grow louder.

It's kind of funny to think that if Coach Ty had just scheduled, let's say, Idaho and Louisiana Tech as non-conference foes the next two weeks, he'd be fine. Dust yourself off after the Oregon debacle, crush a couple of tomato cans, and you're 2-1 going into the meat of conference play. Supporters just want wins, and it doesn't matter who they're against. At the end of the season, fans will call "early-season victories against inferior opponents" by a shorter name: wins. At any rate, give Willingham integrity points for scheduling tough non-Pac-10 teams. Unfortunately, UW fans probably won't hear that argument over the din of calls for his head. Washington should feel lucky to have Willingham as its coach, and doubly fortunate that Rick Neuheisel's baggage and chest-thumping are someone else's problems. But if things don't change soon, boosters will run him out of town. Then -- a la Charlie Weis' 19-6 record in his first two years at Notre Dame after Willingham's ouster there -- another coach will swoop in and get the credit for leading Ty's talented recruits to brighter times. And then fans will know that they were right, right? 

Flush With Bowl Ideas

Sure, remember the Alamo, but also don't forget your Capital One card, because that International flight for your Holiday in the Music City or Las Vegas will mean Independence from your money as you feast on Chick fil-A and Papa Johns pizza. I won't incorporate every one of the 34 NCAA bowl games into this entry, but everyone knows college football's postseason is larded with meaningless contests. Already, more than half the Division I schools (or whatever they're referred to now) get affirmation for craptastically mediocre seasons. New this year to fat guys with no lives: the St. Petersburg Bowl and the Congressional Bowl, which doesn't appear to have a website yet. So who says we need a 35th bowl game? (Slowly raising my hand) Me.

There's now talk of Seattle hosting a bowl game at Qwest Field. The hope is it would be a tie-in with the Pac-10, allowing a record 12th team from the conference to make the postseason. Hey, the Huskies need all the help they can get. And let's not forget that Seattle is tradition-rich in this arena. Who can forget that the Seattle Bowl ruled this town for two years earlier this century: in 2001, Georgia Tech bested Stanford, sending Ty Willingham skulking off to South Bend on a losing note. In '02, a stacked Wake Forest club routed Oregon. The following day, UW made its last bowl game to date, losing to Purdue in the Sun Bowl. It's unacceptable that we've been Bowl-less in Seattle for nearly six years.

Seattle needs some athletic civic pride these days following the loss of the Sonics. If backwaters like Mobile, Shreveport and Atlanta can host games, why not Seattle? But first, we're going to need some corporate sponsors. You know, the way the Independence Bowl (in Shreveport, of course) landed a title sponsor in the early '90s to create the best bowl name ever: the Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl.

Luckily, I've been thinking about this and have some ideas for local tie-ins. Wallingford will be a sexy debutante on the college football scene when we introduce The High-Maintenance Bitch Seattle Bowl. Or perhaps one of the region's many microbrews would want to get in the fray to promote its product among college students. The Seattle Bowl Brought To You By The Flying Pig Brewery rolls off the tongue. Cross-promotional jokes about how the Huskies won't make this bowl until porcine creatures take to the skies are also acceptable here. Of course, Seattle is the Emerald City, so why not work that into the title? Oh sorry, that's already been taken.

The Anticipation?

Where is one to find comfort in Seattle's bleak major-sports landscape these days? The Sonics are gone, the Mariners were out of contention before the days started getting shorter, and the Storm...well, maybe someone could page them to see how they're doing. Weather notwithstanding, many around here are looking forward to autumn, and maybe not just because the Seahawks are poised to rubber-stamp their next NFC West crown. Could this be the year the Seahawks' college brethren on Montlake turn it around? Their coach better hope so.

The Huskies have started the last two years tantalizingly well. In 2006, they shocked all by jumping out to a 4-1 record, including an upset of then-undefeated UCLA and a nailbiting loss to USC. But QB injuries collapsed the house of cards, and they ended up 5-7. Last year to start, UW thumped Syracuse on the road, then beat ranked Boise State. No small feat, considering the Broncos were fresh off a historic bowl win, stunning Oklahoma (including Clay Bennett, I hope -- although I may not have known I hoped it at the time) and a certain cheerleader. But the following week, the Huskies couldn't hold an early lead and lost to Ohio State. From there, a once-promising season devolved into a 4-9 campaign, lowlighted by come-from-ahead losses to lowly Arizona and Apple Cup foe Washington State. After letting coach Tyrone Willingham twist in the wind for awhile, UW decided not to fire him.

To be fair, the Huskies played what many deemed the toughest shedule in the country; in addition to the aforementioned out-of-conference teams, Washington also traveled to face Sugar Bowl participant Hawaii. The feeling was that the Huskies made strides despite their crappy record. This year, though -- in jockspeak -- UW has got to step it up and get some W's.

Unfortunately for win-hungry fans, Willingham doesn't schedule Directional Tech or Don Bosco Prep: The College Years. Once again, Washington's out-of-conference schedule looks rough: BYU, Oklahoma and Notre Dame. Yet UW needs to go at least 2-1 in its rugged opening trilogy against Oregon, BYU and Oklahoma (The Sonics Bowl?).

Washington has some horses. Talented redshirt sophomore QB Jake Locker is a duel threat, but he needs to rein in his throws. Some publications have rated recent UW recruiting classes in the top 25. And few Pac-10 teams north of Los Angeles seem to be ascendant at this time.

Willingham has always appeared to be a man of integrity, sometimes to his detriment. He turned an unenviable task at Stanford into a Rose Bowl berth for the Cardinal. He did a better job than you remember at Notre Dame, and his unfortunate ouster after three seasons and a 21-16 record sent Jesuit collars flying. Even waist-challenged savior Charlie Weis' record is only one game better in South Bend than Willingham, and his early success came on the backs of his predecessor's recruits. You think the UW-Notre Dame tilt might get some hype?

However, Willingham's unwillingness to get dirty could be his downfall. He seems reluctant to pluck potential talent from junior colleges and his lack of patience for malfeasance appears genuine. Rick Neuheisel he is not.

But in Year 4 -- nice guy or not -- Willingham must win. And the Huskies should win more then they have. UW looks like a middle-of-the-pac Pac-10 team with a shot at a bowl. But that's thanks to a myriad of craptastic postseason games that make teams feel marginally better about mediocre seasons. If Ty doesn't win, he better watch his back. The AD who pushed for Willingham's retention last year, Todd Turner, is gone. Administration and boosters will likely strike a hands-on-their-hips, toe-tapping pose if early losses mount. Basically, UW needs to make a bowl this year, or else. Or else we'll see Tyrone Willingham go the way of the Sonics -- not necessarily stolen from us by Bob Stoops, but sent off to some other place that will probably appreciate him more, at least for a few years.