Steady QB has sharps eyeing Huskies
Andrew Folkes
Coach Tyrone Willingham has shut the revolving door at the Washington Huskies quarterback position, which has sharp bettors taking a long look at the club’s 4-win total on the regular season.
“We’re always interested in teams that have struggled [due to these types of situations] because they tend to get undervalued,” says Steve Merril. “A [4-win total] jumps out at me as pretty low. I just don’t see them [winning less than four games] this year.”
With quarterbacks Casey Paus, Carl Bonnell, and Isaiah Stanback all sharing time under center in 2004, the Huskies managed a Pac-10 worst 14 points per game and finished the season with just one win.
But that was under Keith Gilbertson’s system. Willingham, a firm believer in consistently fielding one quarterback, has selected Stanback as his primary QB.
“If you want to think about last year – I try not to – it was kind of a week-to-week kind of thing,” Stanback told the Tacoma News Tribune “This is more solidified.”
Willingham also realizes it’ll take time for Stanback to develop in the starter role, and says he’ll grant his quarterback some leeway - at least for the first couple of games.
“That helps a lot, to know that he’s going to stick with you and give you a chance to make mistakes and learn,” Stanback said. “That’s how you learn. You’re going to make mistakes, and for your coach to have that confidence that you’re going to bounce back, that makes you feel good.”
It’s encouraging for bettors backing the Huskies at over four wins that they’ll have a consistent starter in Stanback. However, his self-professed learning curve and Willingham’ s willingness to deal with it could have others shying from Washington at -3 for Saturday’s contest with Air Force. But as Merril suggests, Washington would actually be a riskier wager if Stanback was fighting for his job.
“The bottom line is that you never like a guy going into a football game feeling timid,” he explains. “That’ll usually end up hurting you. He’s going to have a lot of pressure on him anyway and he is making his first start on the road, but he does have some experience as a starter and he is going to have a lot of help.
“Of the 11 offensive starters, 10 are returning. That includes the receivers, the five offensive lineman and the top three running backs. So although he’s inexperienced, he’ll have a veteran O-line and a solid running game backing him up.”
Stanback’s teammates tend to agree.
“He knows the offense a lot better this year than last year,” said senior center Brad Vanneman. “I have full confidence he can get the job done.”
Oddsmakers have set the total on Saturday’s game at 52 ½ points.
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Rams, Buffaloes still striving for a rivalry
Associated Press
BOULDER, Colo. -- It doesn`t make or break anybody`s season, and certainly the mood of the entire state doesn`t hinge on the outcome.
But to say the traditional season-opening meeting between Colorado and Colorado State is just another game - well, that wouldn`t be quite right, either.
This rivalry, the 76th version of which will be played Saturday, has instigated a near-riot among fans, generated some decent trash talk between players and has often set the tone for the season to come for both programs.
``I don`t think jobs are at stake for this ballgame,`` CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. ``But if you lose it three, four, five times in a row, I`m sure there could be problems for you.``
Gary Barnett knows.
The Colorado coach is more or less expected to win this game every year.
CU is, after all, the bigger school (approximately 29,000 to CSU`s 25,000), in a bigger conference (Big 12 vs. Mountain West) and supposedly gets first pick when it comes to the top players in the region. But when the Buffs lost three of four between 1999 and 2002, suddenly Barnett realized what a big deal the game could be.
When the next schedule came out, he put ``Colorado State`` in red letters, the same way he and his predecessors had long done with Nebraska.
``If we lose, there`s a little bit of moaning, a little bit of `Woe is me` around campus for a few days and it`s not a good feeling,`` Barnett said. ``If we win, it`s `That`s great, now what are we going to do next week?```
As a sign of just where this rivalry stands, the biggest issues this week have had little to do with quarterbacks and receivers, much more to do with the future of the series - as in, will they play once the current contract is over in 2006?
Colorado wants all its home games at Folsom Field. Colorado State would like to see all the games played on neutral turf in Denver or, as a backup plan, would want to play every other year in Fort Collins, where the stadium only holds 34,400.
Both schools want to be sure they make money on the game and neither, at this point, seems to be willing to ensure the future. Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn seems much more enthusiastic about a 2009 meeting with Wyoming and the possibility of getting another in-state foe, Air Force, back on the schedule than renewing with CSU.
``If we`re going to play this game, we both ought to make as much money as we can out of the deal,`` Barnett said.
These aren`t exactly the conversations they have at Florida and Florida State or South Carolina and Clemson, but then again, those in-state rivalries have a much deeper tradition.
CU and CSU didn`t play between 1959 and 1982 and have only returned to annual meetings since 1995.
Perhaps the apex of the renewed rivalry came from 1998-2004, when the teams played six straight games in Denver. Unfortunately, with the renewed interest came problems. In 1999, Colorado State snapped an eight-game losing streak in the series and police in riot gear had to rush into the stands to quell a melee in the section filled with CSU students.
``I remember in the early 80s, we played CU once or twice and we didn`t even have full houses,`` Lubick said. ``It was just another game. Now, it`s brought a lot more excitement. From that standpoint, it`s good.``
Neither coach thinks a win in this big game can change recruiting, the way, say, the result of the Auburn-Alabama game can.
Nor do the coaches believe it has an effect on booster donations or the amount of love and hate mail either of them receives.
In fact, not either is even sold on the other being the top rival on the schedule.
``That`s a loaded question,`` Lubick said.
Colorado has Nebraska, which, at least in Boulder, is viewed as the game of the year.
CSU has conference rivals Air Force and Wyoming. Each year, CSU and Wyoming, located less than an hour apart, play for the venerable bronze boot, a Vietnam-era heirloom that has been passed between the schools since 1968.
Colorado and Colorado State, meanwhile, play for ... the Centennial Cup, a silver goblet that dates all the way back to the `80s.
And for bragging rights.
``I`m not going to downplay it,`` Lubick said. ``That`s a huge day. I`ll tell you this: There`s no better feeling than to be driving home in your car with a win on that day.``
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Utah sophomore taking over for Smith
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- Alex Smith was only a sophomore when he made his first start, too.
Brian Johnson opens his career as Utah`s starting quarterback in the season opener against Arizona on Friday night, taking over for the Utes` only Heisman Trophy finalist and first overall pick in the NFL draft.
Utah`s 16-game winning streak is in the hands of an 18-year old who has thrown just 21 passes in college.
``Once I get out there and show people on Friday night, we`ll see what can happen,`` said Johnson, whose only game experience came at the end of some very one-sided games in Utah`s 12-0 season.
Johnson spent his freshman year backing up Smith, the gangly quarterback who became the poster boy of Utah`s perfect season. Johnson learned mostly from practice and walking the sideline as he watched Smith. He played in 10 games and completed 14 passes for 142 yards, mostly against reserves after Smith and Utah`s other starters had already put away another opponent.
That`s actually more experience than Smith had before making his starting debut against California in 2003. In two games as a freshman and one appearance as a sophomore, Smith was 7-for-11 for 90 yards.
First-year coach Kyle Whittingham hopes Johnson is nearly as successful.
``Every situation that he has been in, he has done well,`` Whittingham said.
Johnson, a 6-foot-1, 203-pound sophomore from Baytown, Texas, is faster than Smith, but how he throws under pressure won`t be known until after Friday.
``All the games that he entered last year, we were up 20 to 30 points. He did a lot of handing the ball off, didn`t make a lot of throws. The throws he did make, however, were good throws,`` said Whittingham, who was promoted from defensive coordinator after Urban Meyer left for Florida. ``The poise and just the way he carries himself and the way he handles himself, you would never believe he`s an 18-year old kid that should have been in high school last year.``
Utah has three starters back on the offensive line and senior running back Quinton Ganther, so the Utes won`t be totally dependent on Johnson. But fans who watched Smith pass for 5,199 yards and 47 touchdowns over the last two seasons will be expecting a lot.
``I wouldn`t want it any other way. Pressure situations are what a quarterback is supposed to thrive on,`` Johnson said.
The Utes not only have a new quarterback, they have a new offense. Former Oregon assistant Andy Ludwig is the new offensive coordinator and Whittingham said the Utes will feature a more traditional offense than the spread formations used by Meyer.
Arizona played both Utah and Oregon last year, losing to both in a 3-8 season under first-year coach Mike Stoops.
``Utah`s offense will be a mix of what they did last year and what Coach Ludwig did at Oregon. So we`re fully aware of what we`re going to see,`` Stoops said. ``You`ve just got to use your common sense and see where they`ll try to exploit you.``
The Wildcats hold the distinction of keeping Utah to its lowest point total of last season in a 23-6 loss at Arizona. It was the second-closest margin of the year for the Utes, who scored at least 41 points in nine games.
But Whittingham noted the Wildcats finished the season by upsetting rival Arizona State 34-27. And Arizona was in just its second game under Stoops the last time the Wildcats played the Utes.
``They`re a Pac-10 football team,`` Whittingham said. ``They have Pac-10 facilities. They have a Pac-10 budget, there`s no reason why they shouldn`t be a very good football team. And I think they`re going to be.``
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Blood money: Underdog ‘Cats want revenge on Utes
Andrew Folkes
The sharps say that revenge will only take the Arizona Wildcats so far when they visit the Utah Utes tonight.
“Revenge isn’t quite as much a factor in college football as it is in college basketball,” says Steve Merril. “The reason being that you rarely see teams play each other twice in a season.”
That may be true of most cases, but the Wildcats seem to have a long memory when it comes to Utah. Besides, they believe they’ll have a lot more than payback going for them when they try to get a payout against the Utes as 7-point underdogs.
“We played extremely poor against them last year,” Arizona safety Darrell Brooks told ArizonaCentral.com. “This is going to set the bar of where we need to be... We need to be ready to go out there and perform."
Arizona won just three games and cashed in only four times during the 2004 season including a 23-6 blowout loss to Utah as 13 ½-point dogs in Week 3. But because they were able to notch a pair of `Ws` in their last three contests, the Wildcats believe they’ll be a vastly improved squad this year. AU’s season finale was especially impressive, a 34-27 victory over No. 18 Arizona State as a big 14-point underdog.
"I was happy with some of the improvements we made as a football program," ," coach Mike Stoops told the DeseretNews.com."We showed some good improvement throughout the year."
The Wildcats even have some positives to take from the beating they suffered at the hands of their Pac-10 rivals. Utah’s 17-point win turned out to be its smallest margin of victory throughout the season while its 23 points and 326 total yards marked its worst offensive production of the campaign.
"Our kids gained a lot of confidence in playing Utah last year. I thought we did some decent things," Stoops said. "We could have played a whole lot better and I`m sure Utah feels like they could have done some things better."
Stoops also insists that his Wildcats are hungry to improve on last year’s record, pointing to 100 percent participation in the team’s voluntary offseason conditioning program as evidence.
"Our kids know they can match up and play with anybody. We`re not intimidated by going to Utah and playing," he said. "Our kids are looking to play well and they`re looking forward to a great challenge."
The revenge factor can’t be lightly dismissed here either, especially for tailback Mike Bell. The 22-year-old senior lost a fumble on his own 23-yard line during the opening play of last year’s contest. That resulted in a Utes’ field goal, paving the way for a Utah rout.
"As well as the team battle, I have a personal battle against them," Bell said. "This is my year against them. I kick myself for that fumble. I was a pretty big role player. I felt I let my team down. If I didn`t fumble we might have had a good chance at beating Utah.
“I take those kinds of things personal. It is time to start again."
So far, the betting public seems to like Arizona’s odds. Early lines that favored Utah by as much as 10 (some books had them out in early August) have been gradually reduced to –7 at most books. The total is set at 42 ½.
JT
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