The Brigham Young Cougars will kick off the much anticipated 2010 season Saturday against the Washington Huskies in Provo, Utah. This game has many sub plots that will impact what will happen on the field. (NOTE: This is a BYU site.)

Returning for the Huskies on offense are Jake Locker - QB - #10, Jermaine Kearse - WR - #15 and Chris Polk - RB - #1. These three accounted for 2/3 of the Huskie's TDs last year. Jake Locker is, in many people's eyes, capable of winning the Heisman Trophy this year. Chris Polk rushed for over 1,100 yards last year as a sophomore. I would expect this offense to test our Cougar defense.

Speaking of the Cougar defense, these guys come into the season with a lot of question marks in terms of proof, but if they translate what they have been doing on the practice field to the game field, then BYU fans need not worry. Up front we have increased our size and speed in our front 3. The Linebackers will most likely be by committee other than Jordan Pendleton's SOLB spot. The secondary is veteran, smart and very athletic.

I would expect Washington to come out and try to establish the run game right away. If they can start to get the secondary to commit to run support then the play action game will be huge for the Huskies.

...
Bottom Line:

Last year improvement was obvious, given a healthy Jake Locker and the total outlier season that 2008 was. In 2010, though, further improvement will be difficult. This team should be better than they were last year, but their schedule will be tougher, and there’s no guarantee that Locker will have another full season of health. If everything breaks right, this could be an 8-9 win team, but if things break wrong, their record could actually take a step back. The guess here is six wins, but I wouldn’t be surprised by anything between four and eight wins.

...and the cougs as #2?

Burnt Orange Nation recruiting writer calls ASJ to... Washington.

I have to agree with John - Sark's done a terrific job closing on this kid.

In the current issue of Men's Health Jake Locker has a big spread with discussion of his workouts and comments from him and strength coach Ivan Lewis.

I'm usually aware of these things before they come out, but missed this I guess. Anyone else know this was coming out?

*OK - not really, but how else am I going to get you to look at a fanshot?

Shaq Richardson transfers to UA and not a peep out of those guys from Bruin Nation. Serious? They went off on the Shirley deal as if Sark had personally sodomized the Bruin Bear. The news on Shaq is now a couple of days old and what do we have? Crickets.

Bruin Nation - where is the rage? We want some damn rage!

Don't worry, we won't ban you over here at the UW Dawg Pound.