NCAA Football Seattle

This Saturday night, UW will be wearing throwback uni's in tribute to their 1960 football team. Why the sudden honor of the 1960 team? Because UW will now officially recognize that team as a national champion, even in not many others around the county will follow suit. They'll have a ceremony honoring the team at halftime, and they'll even hoist a national championship banner. A nice idea to fire up the home crowd for top-ranked USC during the national TV broadcast. But, is it legit to give them the crown 47 years after the fact?

Here are the facts. In 1960, several of the major polls would actually do their voting before the bowl games were played. A weird way to do it, no doubt about it. Can you imagine if, for example, Ohio State would have been voted the national champions before the BCS title game vs. Florida last year? The outrage would flourish from sea to shining sea. Back then, the bowls were seen as more of a reward for the season and viewed basically as exhibition games, and/or a boost for tourism in the cities where the bowls were played. Minnesota was crowned the national champions by the AP and UPI, among other polls, after the 1960 season was in the books. Washington would lose just one game that season, but they still finished sixth in the major polls heading into the 1961 Rose Bowl. UW would then beat top-ranked Minnesota 17-7 in that Rose Bowl, so in doing the math, they figured they were the champions.

I know it's trite to say something was in the air. Of course there was smoke (from barbecues...yeah, just barbecues), cheers (from fans) and beer (beer bongs gone all wrong). But there wasn't a metaphorical "something" in the air. That's just crap.

But there was a feeling. Before the game. During it. After... This was not Husky football circa 2002-2006. The feeling of Rose Bowls, National Championships and All-Americans was back again Saturday.

Thing is, most people -- about 60,000 happy UW fans -- walked out of Husky Stadium Saturday after the Huskies' 24-10 win over Boise State with the kind of pompous stride that you don't see after an upset, but rather after an expected win on what was a surprisingly sunny, warm day in the Emerald City.

After a slow start and a quick 3-0 Syracuse lead, you had to wonder what all the fuss was about in regards to phenom QB Jake Locker. But after a scoreless first quarter, Locker got rolling in the 2nd by using his feet as much as his arm, sparking the Huskies to a lead they would never relinquish as UW ran away from Syracuse, 42-12.

Locker was off his game early, starting only 1-for-4 for seven yards, before settling into a nice rhythm to finish the game at 14-for-19 with 143 yards through the air. Locker would hit on 13 of his final 15 passing attempts as his confidence seemed to grow with every tick of the clock.

The most impressive aspect of Locker's game was his ability to run the ball and make something out of nothing. Sean McDonough was doing the play-by-play on ESPN and mentioned that UW coaches had watched some film on Pat White and West Virginia this offseason, trying to add in some extra wrinkles to the offense to get the most out of Locker's athleticism. No doubt that film work showed tonight. There were some of those read-option plays, but Locker's ability really showed when he would tuck it and run on plays where there didn't seem to be anything there. His 25-yard second quarter run when it was still a tight game seemed to lift the entire football team, and really, UW didn't look back from that point on. Locker finished with 83 yards on nine carries, while sitting out the entire fourth quarter. It's easy to envision him going over 100 yards if he would have played another couple of series tonight, as Syracuse just had no answer for Locker.

Washington's secondary is already a spot where the Huskies are relatively light on experience. They were counting on several new faces to be in the mix for playing time this season, so the last thing UW needs right now is to lose some talent in the secondary, but that's exactly what happened yesterday. Senior Jordan Murchison, a 6-0, 185 lb. defensive back who is contending for a starting corner spot, was arrested and booked in King County jail for failing to appear in court on a felony charge.

Ty Willingham wasn't talking yesterday, refusing comment until more information becomes available. Bob Condotta at the Seattle Times says that the the charge stems for an incident back on March 31st. Seattle Police reports say Murchison beat another man who was showing interest in his girlfriend. The man suffered damage to several teeth, reportedly losing one. Ouch.

However this isn't Murchison's first brush with the law. In fact this is his second stint in jail in three months, as he was arrested in June for domestic violence assault and harassment charges. This doesn't exactly bode well with the coach's image, wouldn't you say? It's all speculation, but it's easy to see a suspension on the horizon for what appears to be a young man with anger issues.

Washington added a new recruit yesterday, gaining an oral pledge from versatile running back Demetrius Bronson from Kentwood high school in Kent, WA. Not closing the door on other opportunities, Bronson is "95% committed to UW" per the article in the Seattle Times. Bronson is a 5-10, 200lb running back with a reported 4.47 40-yard time, and Scout.com has him rated as a 3-star player.

Why is getting a 3-star player significant? Because it highlights something that has been happening on the recruiting trail after the 2007 class put pen to paper in February. UW is building some serious recruiting momentum up in the northwest, and it's obvious the Huskies are on to something big on their road back to contention.

Everything was great back on Signing Day 2007. UW had it's best class in years, and certainly Ty Willingham's best class at UW. Many services had UW ranked in the top-30 in the country, including 29th at Scout.com and 4th out of 10 in the conference. But that was back in February. It's a whole different story in July.

UW is on the brink of losing two WR recruits for the 2007 season in Devin Aguilar and Anthony Boyles. Both players came in under the minimum requirement on their last round of ACT test scores, so they are likely out for this fall. Likely is the key word here, as both players are planning on retaking the test in mid-September, and should either player achieve a passing score, they could still enroll at UW.

However, as Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times reports, both players will likely redshirt, even if they do achieve their qualifying test score.

Another spring session has wrapped up at Montlake, and as is the norm about this time of year, some questions were answered, and some are going to linger well into fall camp. Might as well revisit the Spring Practice Questions: UW Husky Edition post to review the biggest issues heading into spring ball and take inventory of where things are now that it's over.

• Who's the starting QB?

While a few eyebrows were raised because Jake Locker didn't exactly torch the UW secondary in front of media and fans, Carl Bonnell will not be the starting QB when the Huskies open at Syracuse at the end of August. At least that's what Ty Willingham, offensive coordinator Tim Lappano, and every media outlet will tell you. No UW QB controversy here, per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. Jake Locker is the starting QB, the guy with the upside coaches dream of, the leadership, the intangibles, the "IT" made so famous on E-Bay. Was the gap closed? Sure. Bonnell had a very strong spring, his best in his career at UW, and showed that he wasn't going to lay down just because the staff anointed Locker the starter even before the first practice of the spring. And, the Husky coaches can know in the back of their minds that if things really get ugly when bodies start flying for real this fall, they've now got a 5th-year senior QB that will be ready to go at a moment's notice. A nice luxury to have, just in case the kid QB needs to get a break every now and then.

On a day that many anticipated when you consider Tyrone Willingham went exclusively with the starters against backups on both sides of the ball, the purple crushed the gold 44-7 as spring ball wrapped up at Washington.

The QB situation is the one everyone is focused on, and once again, it appears Carl Bonnell has made up more ground on "Montlake Jake" Locker. Bonnell didn't exactly put on an aerial circus, throwing for 127 yards against the backups, but he did toss three TD's as the purple rolled to a 28-0 first half lead. Locker was an ordinary four-for-eight passing and netted just 38 yards, with one TD and one interception.

So is UW's soap opera QB drama, one that was thought to be canceled even before spring began, suddenly back on? Even though it's closer than ever, according to offensive coordinator Tim Lappano in today's Times, Locker is still the starter:

Washington offensive coordinator Tim Lappano, however, said "the gap has closed. I think everybody can see that. How much is between us [UW's coaches]. But Carl has kept this thing very competitive."

While Husky Nation continues to anticipate the dawn of the Jake Locker era, there is one player lost in all the hype. Senior QB Carl Bonnell is still around, in case anyone forgot, and per the Seattle P-I's Jim Moore, Bonnell has shown some fight this spring. While many might think he would simply lay down following the news that Locker was going to be the starter and anticipated savior of the Husky football program, well, Bonnell had other ideas, turning in a relatively strong performance this spring despite recovering from a gruesome non-throwing shoulder injury. Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano sure sees good things out of Bonnell this spring:

"He has closed the gap," Lappano said. "I'm not trying to start a quarterback controversy, but I'm really pleased with the way Carl is throwing the football.

"He could have thrown in the towel and complained and moped around, but this is the strongest he's played since I've been here. He's made this thing a race."

Bonnell came off the bench last year in place of the injured Isaiah Stanback, and had some real up and down moments. Some games were exciting, including the O.T. loss at Cal where he threw for 284 yards, but it's hard to overlook that Bonnell also threw a season-high five interceptions in that game. But there were some real lowlights as well, as Bonnell also struggled mightily against the Stanford Cardinal, a game UW lost despite being a 19-point favorite and could generate only three points for the game, a game many pegged as one of the lowest points in the modern history of the program. However even though he took a beating that week, he still scraped himself together and rallied the following week by throwing for 271 yards in the Huskies 35-32 win over in-state rival WSU in the Apple Cup.

With Husky spring practice coming down the stretch, the defensive buzz has been all about the line. A lot of talent and experience could see at least eight different players in the regular rotation, and the defensive front is clearly a strength of the UW defense.

The secondary, well, not so much. In fact, things are so thin back there that several walk-ons have been getting extended looks this spring. Only eight defensive backs are participating in spring practice as the Husky secondary has been depleted due to graduation, transfer or injury along the way. To only have six scholarship players in the secondary is a pretty big concern.

One key player should be safety Mesphin Forrester (pictured). Forrester was second on the team with two interceptions in 2006, and logged 30 tackles along the way as a sophomore. He'll be expected to be a front-line player in 2007, one with experience that will be looked upon for leadership for a young unit that needs to grow up fast in the pass-happy PAC-10.

At least they appear to be getting coached up. Per Molly Yanity of the P-I, secondary coach J.D. Williams is going the extra mile in teaching technique to the backs, but as senior corner Roy Lewis says, it's still a work in progress:

"He teaches us fundamentals, but it's the concepts he stresses, and we need to be smarter football players," said Lewis, a senior. "It's really just a matter of getting smart and getting our hands on some footballs."