WEEK 10

Washington vs Arizona

The big factor with Washington right now is dealing with the horrid injury to Curtis Williams. If the team channels this emotion into their play then I think they're a dead lock to finish the year unbeaten. If the end of the Stanford game is any indication then I'd say that's exactly what they intend to do.

Arizona is just a couple of plays away from being a top-15 team. Narrow losses to Oregon and to UCLA set them back, but those are two decent teams. OK one very good team and one dangerous team. Personally I think Arizona would have beaten Oregon were the game in Tucson, but that's me. What I'm getting at is Arizona's a good team. Still, their 4-game winning streak came against some weaker opponents (SDSU, USC, WSU, plus Stanford, a good team). Then came Oregon, and UCLA took advantage of a letdown.

Washington's offense is without Paul Arnold, but tailback Willie Hurst is back and eager to prove himself. His running against Stanford was his best performance as a Husky earning him player of the game honors. The score doesn't indicate it but Washington dominated Stanford for most of the game Saturday, running the ball at will. Wilber Hooks is back and Eltrom, Stevens and now Robbins are producing. Pat Conniff, arguably the best fullback in the Pac-10 is back -- good news for UW. Combine that with the amount of time Tui had to find receivers and he was dead-on accurate in the 4th quarter. It's about time the UW offense had a good game.

UW's defense is still one of the best in the conference, giving up more than 28 points only twice this year, to Miami and Oregon State.

Arizona's defense has been even stingier. If you don't count the WSU overtime game Arizona gives up an average of 10.8 points per contest. I expect they will try to stop UW the same way everybody else has tried - get pressure on Tuiososopo and make sure the option doesn't work.

Arizona's offense has not been the most productive squad in the Pac-10 and OJ's level of play has been questioned many times that I have seen.

I think the deciding factors will be the Husky crowd getting behind this emotionally upset team and the Washington players letting some frustration out on the Wildcats. I honestly can't see a let-down by this team with Curtis Williams in the hospital and the team coming home after that rainy, miserable day in Palo Alto. My guess is the defense will attack like crazy and Arizona won't know what hit them.

UW 30, Arizona 17.

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