January 31, 2012
Who has the #1 Recruiting Class in College Football???
January 30, 2012
Huskies nip Wildcats…grab 1st Place in Pac-12
Tony Wroten scored 17 points and blocked Josiah Turner’s layup at the buzzer to help Washington hold off Arizona for a 69-67 win on Saturday night.
Washington (14-7, 7-2 Pac-12) led by 11 with just under 6 minutes left before Arizona charged back. The Wildcats tied it at 67-all on Solomon Hill’s 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds left, but Turner was called for a blocking foul.
After C.J. Wilcox hit both free throws, Turner appeared to have an open lane to the basket, but Wroten tracked him down and swatted the ball off the backboard from behind.
Terrence Ross had 16 points and Wilcox finished with 15 in his second game back from a hip injury for the Huskies.
Hill had 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Jesse Perry added 13 points and 12 rebounds for Arizona (14-8, 5-4).
January 3, 2012
Huskies look to the SEC for new Defense
Tennessee defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox and linebackers coach Peter Sirmon have accepted jobs on Washington coach Steve Sarkisian’s staff, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.
The person told The Associated Press about the departures on condition of anonymity because the moves have not been announced by either school. The moves come two days after Sarkisian fired defensive coordinator Nick Holt, linebackers coach Mike Cox and safeties coach Jeff Mills…Wilcox is expected to replace Holt, who was fired on Saturday, just two days after Washington gave up 777 total yards and 67 points against Baylor in the Alamo Bowl. It was the most yards allowed in school history and second-most points surrendered.
Washington officials had no comment on Monday morning.
Wilcox and Sirmon are the latest in a string of departures from Tennessee, which is still struggling to rebuild after back-to-back coaching turnovers following the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Wide receivers coach Charlie Baggett and tight ends and special teams coach Eric Russell also have left the staff of Volunteers coach Derek Dooley.
Wilcox’s defense was one of the bright spots in a disappointing 5-7 season for Tennessee. The Vols allowed 340.5 yards and 22.6 points per game, ranking them among the top 35 teams in the nation in both categories.
Wilcox, 35, was set to earn $700,000 at Tennessee in 2012. He and Sirmon were teammates and roommates Oregon, though Wilcox first made a name for himself in four seasons as defensive coordinator at Boise State, where his players lead the Western Athletic Conference in total defense and scoring defense from 2006-2009 and compiled a 49-4 overall record.
Sirmon, 34, a veteran NFL linebacker, spent the 2010 season as a graduate assistant for the Vols and was promoted to linebackers coach for 2011. He was set to earn $175,000 in 2012.
The pair will be stepping in to lead a defense with ongoing troubles. The Huskies gave up 65 points, 446 yards rushing and 615 total yards to Stanford this season, then another 40 points and 426 yards to Southern California. Even when the Huskies held Oregon to under 400 total yards, it came in a 34-17 defeat….Only four times in 13 games this season did Washington hold an opponent under 400 total yards, and just 11 times in Holt’s 38 games in charge of the Huskies defense. Washington’s 2011 defense set school records for most points allowed, total touchdowns, yards passing allowed and total yards allowed.
Holt’s firing came almost three years to the day after he was introduced as the defensive answer to Washington’s woes. He was wooed from Southern California by a contract that trumped that of some other head coaches in the conference and the autonomy to run the defense as he wanted.
January 3, 2012
Chris Polk to enter NFL Draft
Chris Polk wanted to own all of Washington’s records for running backs by the time he left school.
He doesn’t have every one, but he’s got plenty of accolades to put on his resume for NFL teams…Washington made the expected announcement on Monday that Polk will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft, leaving the Huskies as the No. 2 rusher all-time in school history trailing only Napoleon Kaufman.
Polk’s career ended last Thursday night in the Alamo Bowl when he posted his 21st 100-yard rushing game, one of his many school records. Polk ran for 147 yards on 30 carries and one touchdown in the Huskies’ 67-56 loss to Baylor.
”Chris had a terrific career at Washington and deserves the opportunity to move on to the next level,” Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said in a statement. ”We wish him nothing but the best in what I’m sure will be a great professional career.”
Polk finished with 4,049 yards rushing, barely behind Kaufman’s 4,106 set in the 1990s. Polk also holds the career school records for carries (799) and average per game (101.2). He had the second-best rushing game in school history in the 2010 Apple Cup against Washington State when he ran for 284 yards.
Polk had said last week before the Alamo Bowl that he was still trying to decide to return for a fifth year at Washington – he received a medical redshirt after a shoulder injury in his freshman year. But Polk already has turned 22 and earned his bachelor’s degree in American ethnic studies.
He ran for 1,488 yards as a junior, the second-best single-season in Washington history. He went for 1,415 yards as a sophomore and 1,113 as a redshirt freshman in 2009.
The decision to come out early might also have to do with a thin draft class at running back. Polk is considered among the top tier of running back potentially available in the draft, and is projected to likely be selected on the second day in the second or third rounds.
The departure of Polk means Washington will turn to either Jesse Callier or freshman Bishop Sankey as its main ball carrier next season. Callier ran for 260 yards and averaged 5.5 yards per carry this season, while Sankey in spot duty ran for 187 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per rush. The Huskies also may get back Johri Fogerson, who missed most of this season with a knee injury and Deontae Cooper, a highly regarded recruit who has yet to play in two seasons on campus due to a pair of knee injuries.
December 30, 2011
Alamo Bowl turns into a point Expolosion 67-56 Baylor
If that really was Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III’s final college game, what an incredible way to go out.
Just ask him.
”We went out in style!” Griffin shouted to his teammates.
It was amazing the Baylor quarterback had any breath left at all. Not after a record-shattering Alamo Bowl that might not only be remembered as the highest-scoring regulation bowl game in history, but also possibly as Griffin’s last addition to his legacy in Waco.
The AP Player of the Year wasn’t dazzling Thursday night, but he didn’t need to be as No. 15 Baylor still pulled out an incredible 67-56 victory over Washington.
If it was RG3′s final showcase before jumping to the NFL, it was a gripping goodbye to watch. One of the nation’s most electrifying players was upstaged by an even more exciting nail-biter that shattered the previous record for points in regulation set in the 2001 GMAC Bowl.
Fans showered Griffin with chants of ”One more year! One more year!” as he paraded the Alamo Bowl trophy around the field. He stopped at the front-row stands and showed off his prize to his mother, who has already been looking at her son’s NFL draft prospects.
Griffin said he’ll start looking, too, soon enough.
For now, there was still the craziness of this game to sort through.
”I want Baylor nation to enjoy this,” Griffin said. ”It’s not about me. I’ve got about two weeks. I’ll enjoy this the next day, and then the next day, and then I’ll make it.”
The previous bowl record for a regulation game was 102 points in the 2001 GMAC Bowl between Marshall and East Carolina. That game went to double overtime and ended with a combined 125 points, which still stands as the overall bowl record.
Baylor, which a bowl game for the first time since 1992, and Washington (7-6) also set a bowl record for total offense with 1,397 yards…”We just knew we needed to score,” Washington quarterback Keith Price said. ”We needed to score fast, just to give our defense a boost.”….Blown out in four other games against ranked opponents this season, the Huskies finally made one interesting. Not that it started that way after Baylor ran up 245 yards of offense alone in the first quarter – awful even by the standards of Washington’s defense, which is among the nation’s worst.
Price, a sophomore who threw a school-record 29 touchdown passes in his first year as the starter, began cutting into a 21-7 deficit with a 12-yard scoring strike to James Johnson. Seven minutes later, Washington tied it when Devin Aguilar somersaulted over the goal line after catching a 1-yard lob.
The overwhelming crowd of Baylor fans – decked in green-and-gold Heisman shirts and armed with signs such as ”Superman wears RG3 socks” – stood in stunned silenced. That gave way to disbelieving gasps on the next series, when the typically sure-handed Griffin fumbled after getting popped by Andrew Hudson.
After that, it was practically a free-for-all of big plays.
A 56-yard touchdown dash by Chris Polk. An 80-yard touchdown catch by Washington’s Jermaine Kearse two plays into the second half. An 89-yard scoring rumble Ganaway. Kearse again, catching and darting for 60 yards before getting dragged down, setting up Price’s fourth touchdown toss the next play.
Back and forth, back and forth. One after another. In all, five plays covered 50 or more yards, three of them for scores.
”That was crazy,” Baylor coach Art Briles said.
For an Alamo Bowl short on drama and light on matchups in recent years, it was a thrilling scoring spree that overshadowed the mere novelty of featuring the Heisman winner. And that in itself was a rarity for a bowl of this stature. Not since Ty Detmer took BYU to the Holiday Bowl in 1990, had a Heisman winner played in a bowl before New Year’s Day.
December 29, 2011
Alamo Bowl …..Huskies vs. Bears
Robert Griffin III has one year of eligibility remaining, but it’s quite possible the Alamo Bowl will be the final celebration of a brilliant collegiate career.
Baylor also hopes it will be the school’s first bowl victory in nearly 20 years.
The star quarterback – fresh off winning the program’s first Heisman Trophy – seems likely to summon one final prolific performance as the 15th-ranked Bears play a virtual home game Thursday night in San Antonio against Washington.
The man known as “RG3″ has carried Baylor back to college football relevance, setting 46 school records in the process, and he was rewarded with one of the most recognizable trophies in sports earlier this month.
“This is unbelievably believable,” Griffin said in his Heisman acceptance speech. “It’s unbelievable because in the moment we’re all amazed when great things happen. But it’s believable because great things don’t happen without hard work.
“Everybody associated with Baylor has a reason to celebrate,” he added.
Griffin put up a dizzying array of statistics with his arm and his legs. He led the nation with a 192.3 passer rating, throwing 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions – and added 644 rushing yards and nine more TDs on the ground.
His first three passing yards against the Huskies will put him over 4,000, and he already surpassed 10,000 for his career during a 48-24 rout of Texas on Dec. 3.
Griffin is only a junior in terms of eligibility, but he’s already earned his degree in political science. Although Heisman runner-up Andrew Luck is projected by most as the top overall pick, Griffin’s NFL stock has been rising and he may not be far behind should he choose to enter the draft.
He said he’ll wait until after the Alamo Bowl to announce his plans.
Keith Price and Chris Polk will try to help the Huskies keep up, and they could turn this game into a shootout against Baylor’s 114th-ranked overall defense.
Price has already set a single-season school record with 29 touchdown passes, including three in a 38-21 Apple Cup win over Washington State on Nov. 26.
“He’s an absolute stud,” Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He’s a warrior, an amazing competitor. He wasn’t healthy, and you could probably see that watching the game. … It was an amazing season for a young man for whom there were so many expectations of ‘Who’s going to replace Jake (Locker)’ and all of that pressure.”
Polk, a junior running back, caught four of Price’s TD tosses and also scored 11 times on the ground, ranking third in the Pac-12 with 1,341 rushing yards. He needs 75 to surpass his career high from last season.
Polk was a major factor in Washington’s bowl victory last year, running for 177 yards and a touchdown in a 19-7 win over then-No. 17 Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.
This is the first meeting between these programs since 1965, when Baylor improved to 3-1 against Washington with a 17-14 win in Waco.
December 13, 2011
Updated Sweet 16 Power Rankings Updated
Click here to see who is #1 in this week’s College Basketball Power Rankings
December 7, 2011
Huskies drop another close one….
Most road trips for college basketball teams involve a quick in and out of a city unless they are playing in a tournament.
The Washington Huskies will face two ranked teams in a span of five days at Madison Square Garden, about as far as they can get from campus.
From a basketball perspective, the trip didn’t start well with a 79-77 loss to No. 11 Marquette in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night. Next up is No. 7 Duke on Saturday.
”We went to the 9-11 Memorial the first day we were here and I think our guys enjoyed that,” Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said. ”We played a game in Madison Square Garden tonight and I think they enjoyed that, although we would have loved to win. Now we’ll see a TV show taped and a couple of Broadway shows, all in conjunction with classes they are taking. We are definitely trying to maximize the trip we end with Duke on Saturday.”
The Huskies didn’t sound like a team that had just lost a tough one, their third defeat in four games.
”I feel like the team is making a lot of progress,” forward Darnell Gant said. ”We’re moving in the right direction rather than moving the other way – then we would have things to work on. I feel like the team doesn’t have anything to worry about right now. We just have to keep being together.”
Jae Crowder hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 6.3 seconds to play to give the Golden Eagles the lead for good.
December 5, 2011
