2011 Washington Huskies Football Predictions, Odds, Picks and Schedule – 2011 Washington NCAA Football Preview

2011 Washington Huskies College Football Expert Predictions, Picks, Vegas Odds and Schedule – Washington NCAA Football Preview: With superstar quarterback Jake Locker under center, the 2010-11 season was supposed to be an exciting one for the Huskies. Instead, Locker battled nagging injuries, and the passing offense was next to nonexistent. On the bright side, Washington did manage to make it to the Holiday Bowl and upset the Nebraska Cornhuskers 19-7. Still, Steve Sarkisian will have his work cut out for him in his third year as coach. The Huskies must break in a new quarterback while trying to rebuild the program’s reputation as one of the powerhouses in the PAC-12.

Sophomore quarterback Keith Price will get the first crack at replacing Locker. He hasn’t seen much playing time, although he did throw the game-winning pass against USC last season on relief of an injured Locker. That being said, he doesn’t have the ability to make plays with his legs like Locker did, and the offense is coming off a season when it averaged just under 22 points a game. It is hard to imagine an inexperienced Price performing any better than the veteran Locker did last season.

Locker’s struggles last season did pave the way for running back Chris Polk to emerge as a star for the team’s ground game. He finished last year with more than 1,400 rushing yards and found the end zone nine times. Behind an offensive line that returns three starters this season, Polk’s role should only increase. He is going to be the centerpiece of everything the Huskies do this year on the offensive side of the ball. A 1,500 yard season is certainly within reach, and he could be mentioned in the Doak Walker conversation when all is said and done.

While the passing game will definitely take a backseat in this offense, the Huskies do have one excellent weapon in their receiving core. Jermaine Kearse returns for his senior season, coming off a 1,000 yard, 12 touchdown season. Washington also welcomes several highly-regarded receiving prospects, but it will be at least a year before any player other than Kearse is making consistent plays in the passing game.

Defensively, middle linebacker Cort Dennison will lead an inexperienced front seven that already struggled stopping the run. The Huskies gave up nearly 200 yards per game on the ground to opponents last season and nearly 30 points per game. Six starters are back overall, but outside of Dennison and defensive lineman Alameda Ta’amu, there aren’t a lot of playmakers for this year’s unit. On paper, the defense doesn’t appear to be any better than it was a year ago. And that spells trouble for Washington.

The schedule gets tougher as the season progresses for the Huskies, starting with a road game rematch against the Cornhuskers. Road games against conference newcomer Utah and national title hopeful Stanford follow shortly after. Washington does get to come home for two tough games against Arizona and Oregon, before heading back on the road to play USC and Oregon State. The year wraps up with a home game against rival Washington State in a showdown for the Apple Cup. For a team that was mediocre last season, there aren’t many games on the schedule that can be penciled in as definite victories.

It is hard to imagine that the Huskies are suddenly going to develop a passing attack when they couldn’t do so with a quarterback that was just selected in the first round of the NFL draft. The running game should be strong once again, but against the better teams in the conference, a one-dimensional offense can only so much damage. Throw in the fact that there is no guarantee that the horrendous rush defense the Huskies played last season will improve this year, and the 2011-12 season is shaping up to be a rough one. There are more questions than weapons for this team.

2011 Washington Huskies College Football Predictions: 4-8 Record

Preseason 2011 Washington Huskies NCAA Football Odds:
Odds to Win 2012 BCS Championship: +15000
Odds to Win 2011 PAC 12 Championship: +1000
You can BET on these lines or any other College Football Odds and Lines daily at SBG Global Sportsbook(upto 265% in Bonuses!)

2011 Washington Huskies College Football Schedule
Sat, Sep 3 Eastern Washington 7:00 pm —
Sat, Sep 10 Hawaii 3:30 pm —
Sat, Sep 17 at Nebraska 3:30 pm —
Sat, Sep 24 California TBA —
Sat, Oct 1 at Utah TBA —
Sat, Oct 15 Colorado TBA —
Sat, Oct 22 at Stanford 8:00 pm —
Sat, Oct 29 Arizona TBA —
Sat, Nov 5 Oregon TBA —
Sat, Nov 12 at USC 3:30 pm —
Sat, Nov 19 at Oregon State TBA —
Sat, Nov 26 Washington State TBA —

Check out NSAwins.com’s official 2011 College Football Over Under Team Wins Odds and Predictions and 2011 PAC 12 Football Odds and Predictions articles.

Need Expert Winning College Football Picks? Be sure to check out NSAwins.com’s award-winning College Football Season Picks Packages for expert winners against the vegas spreads and totals in College Football this season including 2011 College Football Picks and Predictions to beat the vegas point spreads and totals!