2009 Washington Huskies Betting Recap
The Huskies were big online betting underdogs in their first game of the 2009 campaign as they hosted then-No.11 LSU, but they put in a good effort and lost 31-23. Washington rebounded for a 19-point win over Idaho, and pulled out a major upset by beating then-No.3 USC 16-13 at home. You would think that would have sparked the Huskies, but they dropped six of their last seven to take them out of contention in the Pac-10. The Huskies lost back-to-back road games at Stanford and Notre Dame before recovering to edge Arizona at home, then Washington fell at Arizona, UCLA and then-No.23 Oregon State, along with a 43-19 loss at home to then-No.11 Oregon in there as well. The Huskies romped to a 30-0 shutout of Washington State, and then ended the year with a 42-10 thumping of then-No.19 California.
Washington’s offense was powered by Jake Locker, the quarterback who probably could entered the draft and been a top-10 pick, but he returns for another season with the Huskies after putting up the third-best season in school history. Chris Polk ran for over 1,100 yards, which made the Washington offense unpredictable. But the defense is what the let those who bet on the Huskies down, specifically, the pass defense as Washington was 93rd in that category. In the pass-happy Pac-10, you’re not going to go very far without a good secondary, and the Huskies’ secondary was awful in 2009.
2010 Preview To Bet Washington Huskies
Locker heads into the 2010 season as one of the NCAA football betting favorites to win the Heisman award, and his top three receivers from last year are back, led by Jermaine Kearse. Polk is also in the backfield again with Locker, and teams won’t know who to key on, which should mean another effective season for the Washington offense. It doesn’t hurt that they’ll have four starters from 2009 back up front. The problem is a defense that has gone through a lot of changes, players are moving around to different positions, and that’s going to make them unsettled. The biggest thing will be to replace Donald Butler in the middle of the front seven, and at end, and if the Huskies are going to improve defensively, they need a better pass rush. However, keep an eye on Sean Parker, who should step in right away at safety.
The Huskies aren’t doing themselves any favors with their non-conference schedule as they’ll open the season up at BYU, then they welcome Syracuse before Nebraska comes to town. The Pac-10 schedule starts at USC before the Huskies host Arizona State and Oregon State, then Washington will travel to Arizona. A matchup of the conference’s best quarterbacks is up next as Locker and the Huskies welcome Andrew Luck and Stanford, then the Huskies will end the season with three road games in their last four overall, heading to Oregon and Cal, with a home game with UCLA in between, and they’ll wrap up the season at rival Washington State.
If you’re going to bet on Washington, you have to take the good with the bad, and the bad is definitely the defense. Locker and his group of skill players will keep the Huskies in many games this year, but with everyone switching defensive positions, how much continuity is there going to be in the team? A leader needs to step up on that side of the ball, or the Huskies are going to be running in quicksand in 2010. Their shoddy defense is the reason why we wouldn’t lay a sports betting wager on Washington this season.