So since it is the beginning of the off season I started looking at next year and obviously the first thing I wanted to look at was the current two deeps of teams and who is coming back next year.
Here are some of the more interesting developments for 2019.
1. Stanford may be in seriously trouble. I’ve talked about how Stanford this year was a very heavy senior laden team and looking at their two deep you can see a lot of players leaving.
https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/stanford/91901
Tons of guys leaving due to graduation. but an even bigger blow may be the people who are also declaring early for the draft from Stanford and surprisingly there are quite a few.
Arcega-Whiteside (starting WR)
Kaden Smith RS Soph (starting TE)
Nate Herbig JR (starting OG)
Have all declared for the draft.
Meaning 14 of their starting 22 are gone.
About 20 of their two deep including special teams are leaving so Stanford may be taking a massive hit. I honestly will be surprised if they make a bowl game next year given their schedule.
Notre Dame, Northwestern, And UCF are their OOC next year. Given that kind of schedule they very well could be 0-3 in OOC.
In the 9 other games they play
In Pullman (probably a loss) 0-4
@ USC - USC is still USC and probably will be better on offense with Kingsbury.
And still have to play Oregon, Cal, UW, UCLA etc.
It will not shock me if they lose 7 games making them 5-7 next year and missing a bowl game.
So I think it is pretty safe to say that Stanford is not a real threat to win the North next year.
So what about the Mutts?
Similar story to Stanford, but with Eason as heir apparent at QB they won’t be hurting as bad as Stanford but they too probably will take a step back.
https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/washington/92453
As you can see the Mutts are losing a whole lot.
13 of their starting 22 are leaving including JR Taylor Rapp who has declared for the NFL.
Gaskin may be the most significant loss, and in the two deep just a couple are leaving to be 15 of 44 players. So about 1/3 of their two deep mostly in starters. Significant but not as bad as Stanford losing almost half.
How they do really depends on if their defense can keep performing and season, but more than likely it will be a step back year. Probably an 8 win year with maybe a 9th win if Petersen can make it Redbox, Chez-it (you know his bowl level) and squeak a 9th win.
Cal / Oregon State - both of these lose some guys but also have quite a bit coming back. They will be better but maybe not by much and will be the trap teams for next year getting teams that don’t take them seriously.
Cal may sneak up and bite a few teams as well as Oregon State. Definitely teams like UW/Stanford may be vulnerable to them. This also includes us who have to go on the road and play Cal. Fortunately we get Oregon State in Pullman but still we can’t underestimate either of these teams.
One will make a bowl - Cal more than likely
But don’t be surprised if Oregon State squeaks to a 6 win season like we did in year 2 with Leach.
So that leaves Oregon. Oregon has a lot of players returning including Herbert, and is the major threat to win the conference. We also play them in eugene so everything is lining up for them next year, but it will be interesting to see if they go the route of Stanford or UW this past year and under perform with a senior heavy team. I don’t think they make the playoffs, but they seem to be the major division title contender... at least on paper.
And finally there is us. We have lots of people returning including a vast majority of our skill players and many on defense as well.
The major question is at QB for us and fortunately we have one of the best in the business in developing QBs as our HC.
So really I see us and Oregon as the major contenders in the North next year.
We play @ Oregon in October in the middle of the seasons, and that game more than likely will be the cross roads game for the North next year. If we win I like our chances. If they win we may never hear the end of how “Oregon is back”.
I look forward to crushing their dreams and beating them for the 5th year in a row.
Here are some of the more interesting developments for 2019.
1. Stanford may be in seriously trouble. I’ve talked about how Stanford this year was a very heavy senior laden team and looking at their two deep you can see a lot of players leaving.
https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/stanford/91901
Tons of guys leaving due to graduation. but an even bigger blow may be the people who are also declaring early for the draft from Stanford and surprisingly there are quite a few.
Arcega-Whiteside (starting WR)
Kaden Smith RS Soph (starting TE)
Nate Herbig JR (starting OG)
Have all declared for the draft.
Meaning 14 of their starting 22 are gone.
About 20 of their two deep including special teams are leaving so Stanford may be taking a massive hit. I honestly will be surprised if they make a bowl game next year given their schedule.
Notre Dame, Northwestern, And UCF are their OOC next year. Given that kind of schedule they very well could be 0-3 in OOC.
In the 9 other games they play
In Pullman (probably a loss) 0-4
@ USC - USC is still USC and probably will be better on offense with Kingsbury.
And still have to play Oregon, Cal, UW, UCLA etc.
It will not shock me if they lose 7 games making them 5-7 next year and missing a bowl game.
So I think it is pretty safe to say that Stanford is not a real threat to win the North next year.
So what about the Mutts?
Similar story to Stanford, but with Eason as heir apparent at QB they won’t be hurting as bad as Stanford but they too probably will take a step back.
https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/washington/92453
As you can see the Mutts are losing a whole lot.
13 of their starting 22 are leaving including JR Taylor Rapp who has declared for the NFL.
Gaskin may be the most significant loss, and in the two deep just a couple are leaving to be 15 of 44 players. So about 1/3 of their two deep mostly in starters. Significant but not as bad as Stanford losing almost half.
How they do really depends on if their defense can keep performing and season, but more than likely it will be a step back year. Probably an 8 win year with maybe a 9th win if Petersen can make it Redbox, Chez-it (you know his bowl level) and squeak a 9th win.
Cal / Oregon State - both of these lose some guys but also have quite a bit coming back. They will be better but maybe not by much and will be the trap teams for next year getting teams that don’t take them seriously.
Cal may sneak up and bite a few teams as well as Oregon State. Definitely teams like UW/Stanford may be vulnerable to them. This also includes us who have to go on the road and play Cal. Fortunately we get Oregon State in Pullman but still we can’t underestimate either of these teams.
One will make a bowl - Cal more than likely
But don’t be surprised if Oregon State squeaks to a 6 win season like we did in year 2 with Leach.
So that leaves Oregon. Oregon has a lot of players returning including Herbert, and is the major threat to win the conference. We also play them in eugene so everything is lining up for them next year, but it will be interesting to see if they go the route of Stanford or UW this past year and under perform with a senior heavy team. I don’t think they make the playoffs, but they seem to be the major division title contender... at least on paper.
And finally there is us. We have lots of people returning including a vast majority of our skill players and many on defense as well.
The major question is at QB for us and fortunately we have one of the best in the business in developing QBs as our HC.
So really I see us and Oregon as the major contenders in the North next year.
We play @ Oregon in October in the middle of the seasons, and that game more than likely will be the cross roads game for the North next year. If we win I like our chances. If they win we may never hear the end of how “Oregon is back”.
I look forward to crushing their dreams and beating them for the 5th year in a row.
