College Football: Washington Huskies, Pac-10's Darkest Dark Horse

Prior to every college football season, hordes of analysts set out to predict the entire season, conference by conference, game by game. At these heavily-secured prognosticating round tables, teams and players are dissected down to the most minute details.

The smartest sports fans in the world—Vegas oddsmakers—choose the most likely teams to win their respective conferences and set gambling lines based on these evaluations.

The media has their picks, usually based off of Vegas' odds, and these usually end up being the teams talked about all year until Saban, Tressel, et al fulfill the conference championship expectations set forth by about 30 percent of America's armchair quarterbacks.

Well, I'm going to go against the grain.

I'm offering predictions for the winners of each BCS conference should all hell break loose, and Tim Tebow is nowhere around to save the children.

These aren't the teams that will be whipping posts week-in and week-out (read: Washington St.). These are the teams that, if they play their hearts out on the right Saturdays this season, might just stumble upon a conference championship.

Now: The Pac-10.

Washington Huskies

In a conference where perennial powerhouse (USC) has been banned from postseason play for two seasons, there must be some sense of urgency among the other teams to make a name for themselves by representing the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl.

Though Washington is just two years removed from a winless season, it is a team that has the potential to be the best in the West, thanks mostly to a quarterback who many thought would be preparing for his first season in the NFL right now.

Jake Locker (pictured) is the headlining talent of head coach Steve Sarkisian's squad, which went 5-7 in Sarkisian's first season in 2009. Locker has an arm that will make him millions of dollars some day very soon, and also has the mobility to get out of the pocket and find a linebacker as a target for a lowered shoulder.

He has a trio of receivers who he should be able to spread the ball around to nicely, as long as the offensive line can give him enough time.

Junior Jermaine Kearse was second-team All-Pac-10 last season and is a threat to go deep on any play, while junior Devin Aguilar and sophomore James Johnson should make any defense think twice about double-teaming the electrifying Kearse.

In the backfield, the Huskies have a star in the making in Chris Polk.

The sophomore tailback became the first player in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards as a freshman last season, and he should benefit greatly from defensive backs having to respect Locker and his receivers.

On defense, the Huskies will certainly miss linebacker Donald Butler and defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, who were both drafted into the NFL last spring.

However, thanks to a boost in recruiting since their winless 2008, Washington has depth among its linebackers and secondary. While coaches usually like to have more experience out on the field, there is certainly potential for the Huskies' defense to be one of the strongest in the conference.

The biggest concern for Washington this season is its lines...both offensive and defensive.

The offensive line returns a lot of experience, as it will feature two seniors, a junior, and two sophomores who have seen significant action, though it is believed to be one of the weaker units on the team. That's what happens when you've got players playing in unfamiliar positions, as some of the lineman have had to make up for a lack of depth.

The defensive line also has experience, but some of its veterans have experienced injuries.

Two potential starting defensive ends missed all of spring practice with injuries—Everrette Thompson hurting his Achilles' tendon and Kalani Aldrich going on a bum knee. The rest these guys got over the course of the spring and summer was certainly good for their injuries, though conditioning and preparedness could be a cause for concern, as well as the omnipresent risk of re-injuring the same body part.

One way that defensive coordinator Nick Holt will address the potential lack of depth and talent on the defensive line is to convert to the 3-4 defense, which the Huskies began practicing more often during the spring.

Usually a defensive tackle, like senior Cameron Elisara, would move to the end position, allowing another one of Washington's young linebackers to get on the field.

The play of the two lines will ultimately determine how many games Washington is able to win this season, as its O-line needs to provide Locker with the time he needs, and the D-line must disrupt opponents in the backfield more often to improve last year's 79th-ranked defense.

As has been a theme throughout our glimpses into the upcoming seasons of the Darkest Dark Horses, the Huskies have a schedule that they could ride to the top of the conference standings...that is, if their out-of-conference doesn't leave the team demoralized.

Washington opens the season at BYU, then hosts Syracuse and Nebraska.

While Syracuse should be a winnable game, expect the Huskies to drop one of, if not both of, the other games as both the Cougars and the Cornhuskers have formidable teams that the Huskies just may not be ready for, given the question marks along both lines.

Their conference schedule, which will determine whether or not they contend for the title, tilts in their favor about as much as possible considering that all Pac-10 teams face each other every season.

The Huskies open the conference slate at USC which, though they defeated the Trojans last season, is not a game they will be expecting to win. They will host Arizona St., Oregon St., Stanford, and UCLA, while traveling to Arizona, Oregon, California, and Washington St.

Playing Wazzu, California, and Arizona on the road should be winnable games, as each of these teams are not on par with Washington this season.

Stanford, Arizona St., and UCLA are all home games that the Huskies should win, leaving the Oregon, Oregon St., and the aforementioned USC games as ones that should make the difference between Washington being at the top of the standings or finding themselves middling away in search of a bowl bid.

If Locker is able to carry the Huskies through the brutal first four games of the season without the team losing too much confidence, Washington fans should be able to rally around their gunslinger and root hard for perhaps the best Huskies team of this millennium (however young it may be).

A split with the two Oregon teams would be great, and if one loss there is coupled with a likely loss at USC, Washington could find themselves at 7-2 in the Pac-10. While this record could prove to be enough to win the conference, if they are trailing only the Trojans in the standings, Washington would wind up playing in the Rose Bowl.

Regardless of all the crazy projections this author has, well, projected, the Washington Huskies definitely seem poised to make their first bowl game since 2002.

And hey, maybe they'll win the whole darned conference.

Up next: The Big East.