Washington Huskies Links: Ranking UW’s Season Openers

The Athletic — Huskies have played memorable openers, but Auburn could be their most meaningful

After a yearlong sabbatical away from covering the Huskies, Christian Caple announced last night that he has joined The Athletic as the publication’s University of Washington football beat writer. Today, he examines the biggest season-opening games in the football program’s history — including Michigan in 2001, Ohio State in 1986 and Boise State in 2013 — and ponders where the 2018 Auburn game might eventually fit into the ranking of such contests.

USA Today — The 10 best tight ends in college football

Hunter Bryant checks in at No. 5 in Paul Myerberg’s ranking, as last year’s freshman All American figures to be one of Jake Browning’s favorite targets in 2018 — assuming that he is healthy enough to play.

The Athletic — An oral history of 2004-05 Washington basketball

Jayson Jenks takes a deep dive into what he calls “maybe the best University of Washington​ basketball team​ ever ... certainly the most entertaining” by speaking with figures such as Lorenzo Romar, Nate Robinson, Will Conroy and Tre Simmons, among others, about the magical season that delivered the Huskies their first championship in the Pac-10 conference tournament. One of the best nuggets comes from Nate Rob:

“Larry Bird was like, If Nate Robinson goes back to school, I’m picking Washington to win the national championship. That was all I needed. Larry Bird saying something like that about me? I was just like, Wow, I didn’t even think Larry Bird knew who I was. Those were powerful words.”

CBS Sports — These are the 10 best quarterbacks entering the 2018 college football season

Dennis Dodd isn’t convinced that there’s a single obvious preseason consensus first-team All American quarterback prospect this year, and instead compiles a list of 10 whom he deems worthy of consideration. Washington’s Jake Browning makes the cut, as do Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham, Arizona’s Khalil Tate and Georgia’s Jake Fromm.

Dots

• The Wazzu athletic department published footage of the 1916 Rose Bowl all the way back in 2012, but I just came across it this morning courtesy of Reddit’s r/CFB poster ShadowCougs. It’s a very cool look into the time capsule of an era of college football when forward passes were considered unsportsmanlike.

• It’s officially Preseason Award Watch List Season, and Jake Browning, Myles Gaskin, Taylor Rapp and Greg Gaines are the first Huskies to be so named.