Football Friday: Three-Ring Circus Edition
It's getting ugly out there.
With the Seahawks offense nursing injuries, and Cougars and Huskies' offenses being relatively young and inexperienced, all three teams pinned their 2008 success on their defense boosting the respective teams to competitiveness.
It hasn't been the case at all.
The Seahawks defense has slipped to 27th of 32 teams in the NFL in total yards, down dramatically from 15th last season. The Hawks are giving up over 30 points this season. While many are quick to blame the offensive struggles as contributing to the defense wearing down for being on the field too long, actually the Seahawks defense has yielded more points in the first half of games (83) than in the second half (65). Slow starts on the defensive side of the ball are killing this team, not the offense.
The Huskies and Cougs are simply incompetent defensively. The Cougs appear to be playing with only 10 men most times. WSU has given up 316 points in their first seven games, for an average of over 45 points per game. The Cougs have played some pretty bad competition. (See: Portland State)
The Huskies on-field defensive play has been much better than the Cougs, but in most cases the D-line is undersized and the backs are a step slow. (Granted, few teams have the speed to match the Buckeyes or Sooners,) The Huskies have given up 42 points per game.
(schedules and picks after the jump)
Saturday
USC at WSU (12:15 FSN, 1090)
The Cougs offense may be without five starters, and Trojans have given up less than 10 points a game this season. The Cougs are 40-point underdogs and we still don't think that's enough.
Prediction: Trojans 55, Cougs 3
Oregon State at UW (4:00 p.m.,Versus Network, 710)
Starting quarterback Jake Locker is out for the season. No, Jake is coming back next month. No, he's going to play safety. Whatever. It's the other injuries that are the problem on this team. The team has really missed a full-strength Kavario Middleton as short threat at TE.
Prediction: Beavs 42, Huskies 24
Sunday
Seahawks at Tampa Bay (5 p.m., NBC, 710 KIRO)
It's a road game. Matt Hasselbeck is still out. It's a nationally televised game. Former Hawks TE Jerramy Stevens, WR Joey Galloway and special teams coach Bob Casullo are waiting in the bushes. Nothing good can come of this, can it? The betting line is 10.5 points, and that's a bunch in the NFL.
Prediction: Buccaneers 34, Seahawks 13
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