We have eleven hours to go until kickoff so here is a little reading material to peruse while you are getting your game faces on. As you can probably tell there isn't anyone in the national or local media who feels the Huskies have a shot in this one.
The predictions of impending doom is not keeping Washington from having one of the largest and earliest recruiting weekends in its history. Sarkisian thinks the excitement generated by a full house at night with the game being televised on national TV is a recruiting opportunity he can't pass up.
Top recruits from California who are expected to be here are as follows:
OL Nick Rowland
RB Jordon James
CB Demetrius Wright
RB Deontae Cooper
OT Kody Innes
MLB Victor Burnett
WR Tyler Slavin
Local Husky 2010 verbals OT Ben Riva, LB Darius Waters, WR Jamal Kearse, DT Sione Potoae and LB Chris Young are also expected to be on hand. In addition to that Scott Eklund over at Dawgman says there could be as many as 70 invited high school football players on campus this weekend.
The spread is 17-and-a-half, and I think the Huskies will cover. But in the end, I see it LSU 35, UW 20.
"Just more confidence really as a whole team," safety Nate Williams said of the difference from last season to this one. "Even if a couple players don't feel confident, the coaches have that extra confidence and we kind of get that from them. If we had just got beat up top, and we might be down a little bit, our coach will be there, 'Come one Nate! Come on Nate!' He gives me that confidence back. I think that's the key thing that's not the same as last year, this whole confidence thing."
"I kind of got the chuckle because, for me, coming from 'SC, there was always banter among the fans about 'SC and LSU should've been playing, (from) years ago when we kind of split the national title," Sarkisian said.
"I thought to myself, 'Well, I'm getting my chance now.'"
Huskies lift veil on Sarkisian era
Thousands of men before him have debuted in coaching. Today, the 35-year-old Sarkisian adds his name to that long list when he takes charge of the Washington Huskies in their nationally-televised, season-opening showdown against No. 11 Louisiana State at Husky Stadium.
A creative campaign using the slogan "Have You Seen Our Lost Dawgs?" is taking aim at th e countless UW alumni who have lost touch with the football program.
So where have they gone?
It’s a safe bet that many of them will be holed up, in taverns or in front of family television sets, from Seattle to Snohomish County to places like New York and Florida, watching tonight’s nationally-televised game against 11th-ranked LSU with a curious eye.
Husky Nation hopes 0-12 will soon be a memory
There was Stephanie Richardson, a program specialist at Renton Technical College.
She's not only a University of Washington grad and a fan but her son, Quinton Richardson, 20, a redshirt sophomore, is a starting cornerback.
It's just been the two of them as he grew up and played football since age 7, the mom running up and down the sidelines.
Steve Sarkisian "anxious, excited" for first game as Washington's head coach
"Sometimes some of the players just gave up on us, and whenever you have that, you are not going to win ballgames," said linebacker Donald Butler. "Whenever there is friction between the coaching staff and players, [you are not going to win ballgames]. But again, I put it more on the players. We weren't getting it done on the field last year. And that's the difference between last year and this year."
We are going to be opening up the game thread at around noon PDT so that we can get an early start on the day as we watch other conference games that will be in action.