Under Pressure, The Theme Song for the Huskies

Everything in the Husky nation is good, as of right now we are still undefeated and in the running for the National Title.  However as September 5^th gets ever closer, the pressure of living up to the expectations set for this years football team continue to increase. 

Will the pressure eventually crush the team or will it turn our team into a diamond? That is yet to be seen. 

However, here is a list of the five people under the most pressure coming into this season.

1. Steve Sarkisian, Head Coach

The new head coach of the Dawgs will be under more pressure than anyone else on the field this year.  Whether the pressure is more intense from the media, fans, or himself is yet to be seen. 

Steve has known nothing but winning for the past four years in USC.  He has come to a school that is thirsty for some success in its football program. 

Ever since the unjustified firing of Rick Neuheisel, our team has been in a nose dive; everyone is looking to Caoch Sark to pull it out and return us to the heights that UDub football traditionally has had.  Can the fans and reports have the patience and understanding to give it a few years? 

Can he?  His ability to go out and get top talent, not just from home but other states as well has gone a long way for this fan. 

Bottom line, it will take a few years to get the team where Coach Sark and the fans want it to be. Constant improvement needs to be seen until then.

2.  Jake Locker, QB

Jake is the leader of our offense on and off the field.  After a record breaking freshman year, his sophomore outing was short lived due to injury. 

Expectations for Jake are very high.  Can he return to his freshman form while improving his numbers? 

In his 16 game Husky career he has 15 TDs and 15 INTs, these need to improve.  It may be a daunting task with his young core of wide outs, though the coaching staff is bringing in some very good talent. 

The verbal commitment of Nick Montana may also have him looking over his shoulder if things get off to a rocky start.  The bottom line is he is the leader of the offense and our offensive production will be directly linked to his ability to understand and operate in this new offensive scheme.

3. D’Andre Goodwin,  WR

D’Andre had good stats last year.  He ranked in the top 100 nation wide in receptions and receiving yards (58, 93). 

With a new look offense and a healthy Jake Locker those numbers will hopefully continue to improve.  He will need to also be a star off the field and help get the rest of the wide outs up to speed. 

There was a 40 reception disparity between the number two receiver and himself.  Bottom line, with better performance from the rest of the receiving core his numbers should improve which will help our offense.

4. Offensive Line

The Huskies will not improve upon their performance last year unless the O line improves drastically.  An offense’s success starts and ends with its offensive line and our overall offense last year ranked 116^th.  

We ranked 106^th last year in rushing, due in large part to the fact that we lost 396 of our 1588 total yards.  That’s nearly 25% and our opponent average was 8%. 

Last years O line gave up 31 sacks for 257 yards which ranked 104^th.  Bottom line is that if our offense is going to have success, our offensive line has to play much better.

5. Mason Foster, LB.

Mason was the stud of last year’s defense that ranked 110^th.  The expectations are that our defense will improve, so the pressure is on him to improve on some already impressive stats.

He led the team with 105 tackles, which ranked 41^st in the nation.  He was 74^th in the nation for tackles for a loss. 

Those are great individual stats, but as a team they gave up an average 38.6 points per game.  With the return of Trenton Tuiasosopo and better effort from the D line, can Mason improve his stats?

Bottom line, if he can lead this defense by example and bring other guys around; can the defense hold opposing out of the end zone?

The expectations for our Huskies are high, but should not be unrealistic.  Improvement is the key, and unfortunately the bar was not set high last year.  I expect the Sark led Huskies should be able to put together a handful of wins and most importantly an Apple Cup win!