15 Things That Could Go Wrong for Washington in 2008

I have been trying to approach the 2008 season with the glass half full method as far as Husky football is concerned.

On offense, I've written about how Jake Locker walks on water, how the veteran offensive line will blast holes for inexperienced running backs, and why I think the current group of inexperienced wide receivers are better than the experienced ones that graduated.

On defense, I have made the case that Washington has one of the best sets of LBs in the Pac Ten, and the defensive backfield finally has enough depth and talent to compete.

I have also talked about how much I like DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and what a great year I anticipate him having.  The interior of the defensive line is a concern, but we have some very large young guys that have the potential to come in and play right away.

If you ask the coaches, the word is they feel they have the talent to win eight games this year, which would be a great improvement.

If you ask me, I feel the same way, but the coaches and I felt that way the last two seasons and watched it go up in smoke when Isaiah Stanback was injured in 2006.  It happened again in 2007 when the defense couldn't stop anyone.

Add to that the inability to pick up crucial yards to keep possession in the fourth quarter to put games away during both of those years.

Let's talk about what can go wrong in 2008.  Plenty of things can go wrong, and we're setting down the half full glass and picking up the half empty one to talk about it.

1. We all have a big man crush on Jake Locker, but what if he gets injured?  Behind him is RS Ronnie Fouch, who has never taken a snap in a game and is pretty green, and behind him is one true frosh who may not ever end up playing QB at UW once everything shakes out.

For Washington to do well, Locker needs to be around for all 12 games.  If he is injured, the wheels are going to come off pretty quickly.  If you lose Locker and Fouch, it will get 2007 UCLA ugly.

2. The schedule is rated as the toughest in the country.  Washington starts off against Oregon, and then they get BYU and Oklahoma at home before they take their first bye week.  What if they start off 0-3?

Once again, even with Jake Locker the wheels can come off pretty quickly for a program that hasn't had a winning season in four years.  Instead of handing out just chocolate milk after practice, Coach Ty Willingham may have to lace it with Zoloft.

Washington needs to beat BYU if they have any hope in 2008, and that won't be easy.

3. D'Andre Goodwin looked like the only receiver on the team ready for Pac-10 play this spring.  What happens if that continues to be the case this fall?  What if none of the highly touted frosh and redshirts are ready to play?

What it means is Jake is going to be putting a lot more on his shoulders than he has to, and that can mean the risk of serious injury when he is forced to run the ball more than he should.  We are all counting on Jake to improve his passing percentage this season, but it won't happen if guys don't get open, and when they do, end up dropping the ball.

4. The offensive line is labeled as the strength, but what if injuries happen at the tackle position?  If that happens, Washington would have to rely on two redshirts who haven't played a snap yet.  That is never good, even though Ben Ossai and Cody Habben earned starting time as redshirts the previous two years.

UW could always move a veteran from the interior to the outside, but veteran depth at tackle is a concern.  Juan Garcia is progressing ahead of schedule, but how big of a talent drop-off will it be if he is re-injured?

5. We all expect improvement at TE with RS Chris Izbicki and freshman Kavario Middleton being added to the mix to help out senior Mike Gottlieb.  What if they aren't ready to contribute?  You get a replay of last season with Gottlieb and Walt Winter acting mostly as blockers while the TE still goes missing from the Husky offense in 2008.

Kavario is going to be more of a receiver than a blocker this year.  Rarely does a true frosh have the muscle and technique to come through in the first year.

6. Brandon Johnson's claim to fame was the second half of the California game last season.  Other than that he didn't pick up any significant playing time.  What if Washington can't establish a go-to running back in 2008?  What if for some reason Johnson doesn't come back 100 percent from his knee surgery?

Well, this would be quite serious because Willie Griffin and Brandon Yakaboski aren't in the same league as Johnson at this point.  Curtis Shaw could be the answer, along with Chris Polk, but who would pick up those long 3rd-and-2s?

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