UW

Hoping Sarkisian’s Huskies stay mired in mediocrity

Aug 27, 2013, 10:06 AM | Updated: 10:12 am

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The Huskies enter the 2013 season with three consecutive 7-6 finishes under coach Steve Sarkisian. (AP)

By Jim Moore

As you probably know, I never root for the Husky football team.

But this year I’ll be perfectly fine with a 7-6 season. I won’t root for the Dawgs to win seven games, but if it happens, that’ll work for me.

Why? Because it will be the fourth straight season with a 7-6 record for coach Steve Sarkisian.

If 7-6 isn’t the definition of mediocre, I don’t know what is. The best part about 7-6 will be the fallout once the season ends at the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl or whatever other lower-tier bowl the Dawgs play in this year. Washington athletic director Scott Woodward will be all stern-faced at a news conference and say that he continues to support Coach Sark but that improvement will be expected in 2014.

If the Huskies go 8-4 or 9-3 or heaven forbid, 10-2, those are all worst-case scenarios. Dawg fans will be so excited that they’ll start talking about potential Pac-12 and national championships in the years ahead.

If the Huskies go 5-7 or 4-8 or 3-9, I’d love it in the short term but would be worried about the long term. If that happens, there’s a chance that Sark might be fired, and I wouldn’t want him to leave because as long as he stays, the Dawgs will be a .500 team. If a new guy comes in, there’s a chance that the Huskies might actually improve, so 7-6 would be ideal because Sark would more than likely stay.

I admit that I’d love to see the Cougs go 7-6. If we’re 7-6, that means we played in a bowl game, which would be our first since 2003 when we beat Texas in the Holiday Bowl.

While 7-6 would represent tremendous progress for us, it would be a huge disappointment for Husky fans, who think that Don James and the ’90s can somehow return again.

I love those ads that the Huskies have on the radio with the big rough-and-tough guy talking about the Dawgs and how they’re going to “Re-take Montlake.” This spiffy new ad campaign follows the always memorable “Husky Lives Here” and the award-winning “Go Purple, Be Gold” campaigns.

I’m such a sick Coug that I want Boise State to beat the Dawgs as much as I want Washington State to beat Auburn on Saturday. We’re 16-point underdogs, so chances are – if Vegas is correct – we’ll probably lose. And if we lose, no one will be surprised.

But if the Huskies lose? And if quarterback Keith Price has a bad game? At the re-opening of Husky Stadium? So much for re-taking Montlake. If anything re-takes Montlake at that point, it will be a whole lot of angst.

I get a kick out of Coach Sark. He wants his team to play at a break-neck pace. I’m looking forward to three-and-outs occurring faster than ever before. You can’t be Oregon just by imitating Oregon.

And how about the way he’s mishandled Austin Seferian-Jenkins. The tight end pleaded guilty to DUI this summer. Coach Sark continues to say that everything is being handled internally. And at Monday’s news conference, he bristled when asked about Seferian-Jenkins from the Associated Press’ Tim Booth, who simply wanted to know what everyone else wants to know:

Will Seferian-Jenkins be suspended for the Boise State game as punishment?

Coach Sark hid behind the lame reasoning that Seferian-Jenkins hasn’t been cleared to play as yet because of a broken finger. But here’s the thing: on the depth chart, Seferian-Jenkins is listed as the starting tight end.

You’d have to guess that he’ll play. And at this point, I’m hoping he will. I’d rather see the Huskies lose with Seferian-Jenkins playing than to have a built-in excuse if he’s on the sideline.

The Go 2 Guy also writes for his website, jimmoorethego2guy.com, and kitsapsun.com. You can reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo. He will be at Magnolia Village Pub for a 710 ESPN Seattle viewing party of the WSU-Auburn game Saturday at 4 p.m.

Wyman & Bob

UW

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Hoping Sarkisian’s Huskies stay mired in mediocrity