Washington Huskies Links: College Football (Preview) Season Arrives

NFL.com — Top 10 defensive backs to watch

Lance Zierlein identifies two Huskies, No. 8 Taylor Rapp and No. 2 Byron Murphy, among his top-10 draft-eligible defensive back prospects for the 2019 class. As Zierlein alludes, Murphy’s ranking is mostly a projection of what he can do with a full season under his belt—after all, the redshirt sophomore has played in only six career college football games—but based on his production last year, Washington fans ought to be licking their chops at the prospect of what the Arizona native might be able to accomplish over the course of an entire healthy season.

USA Today — The best running backs in college football for 2018

Paul Myerberg names Myles Gaskin the nation’s seventh-best running back, saying that “no back in the country can match Gaskins’ consistency.” By Myerberg’s judgement, however, Gaskin isn’t even the best running back in the Pac-12 North, as that honorific is reserved for No. 1 Bryce Love of Stanford.

Dawgman — Preseason Magazines Hyping Up the 2018 Huskies

Chris Fetters perused this year’s editions of the various college football preview magazines, and found that the Dawgs are expected to reach great heights in virtually all of them. Among the standouts are that Phil Steele, Athlon, and Lindy’s all expect the Huskies to win the Pac-12 North division in 2018.

247 Sports — Phil Steele releases college football preseason Top 25

At No. 4, Washington paces the Pac-12 ahead of No. 15 Stanford, No. 16 USC, No. 22 Utah and No. 24 Oregon. Also of note is UW’s season-opening opponent Auburn, whom Steele declares his No. 19 team.

The Daily — Washington men shatter record at historic Henley Royal Regatta weekend

Washington’s rowing program continues to display its prominence on the world stage, most recently on Sunday when the men’s team set an event record at the Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames west of London. The Dawgs took their revenge against Yale, who had bested the Huskies last month to earn the national championship.

The Athletic — Georgia and SEC hesitate on in-stadium alcohol sales while others in college football embrace it

As athletic departments across the country continue to battle the quality and convenience of the home theater experience, many universities see the sale of alcohol in general concession areas as a potential benefit to entice fans away from their living rooms and into the stadium. However, while some programs have seen the benefits of the approach — most notably Texas, which began selling booze three years ago — Seth Emerson details the University of Georgia’s reluctance to embrace the idea, with UGA reportedly being the driving force behind the SEC’s continued prohibition.

The Athletic — Bruce Feldman’s 2018 college football Freaks List

No Dawgs appeared in today’s 41 to 50 rankings of Feldman’s annual list, but this series is one to keep an eye on as it rolls out between now and the end of the week.

Sports Illustrated — The Chaos and Consequences of the BCS, 20 Years After Its Inaugural Season

Love it or hate it, it’s impossible to deny the momentous effect that the BCS had upon the landscape of college football. Andy Staples examines how the sport has evolved since the sport first mandated that its Nos. 1 and 2-ranked teams face off in the postseason, and what benefits and drawbacks the sport has experienced in the years since.

Everything Else You Need to Know

• It’s been five years since the NCAA 14 video game was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and now I’ve made myself sad. Don’t get me wrong — Madden is great and all, but it’s just not the same. Mostly, I’m just bitter that we never got a game with a remodeled Husky Stadium.