FanHouse JakeLocker

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend during this pivotal season in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches from South Bend.

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Update: I think we've found Notre Dame's best unit: Its red-zone defense.

When does giving up 3 points in the final five minutes of a game feel like a victory? You just saw it.

I've only seen the replay of the "roughing the snapper" drive once, but that's the most egregious call I've yet seen this season. Someone, please explain. U-Dub's drive, by the way, clocked in at 9:31.

A dude is holding up a sign to the press box that reads, "Now under review, the integrity of the Pac-10 and Big Ten refs."

Except I think these are Big East refs.

It is still early August, and optimism usually runs high early in training camp. But UW fans have reason to fret over breaking news this afternoon, as super-soph QB Jake Locker has suffered a hamstring injury. Details are still sketchy, as Tyrone Willingham has initially termed the injury as a strain of the left hamstring. The injury occurred during practice Thursday afternoon. An MRI was taken on Locker's hammy Friday morning, but the results are not yet known.

As usual, Willingham was less-than-direct in regards to the injury, offering vague answers to the severity of the injury or a timetable on Locker's return. But to be fair, it is hard to know what to say right now, other than the kid is injured and we will know more once the MRI results are back. But the good news for Husky fans is that while Willingham was a bit reserved in his answers, he did let on that he wasn't all that worried about the injury. Per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times:

"I'm not that concerned about the results [of the MRI]," he said. "I saw the injury when it happened. Obviously everybody responds differently, so his body's response will be a little bit different from another's. But one thing I think and believe is he's a pretty quick healer."

Despite a Pac-10 cellar finish for the Washington Huskies, despite an underwhelming 11-25 record over the last three seasons, and despite a ton of fan angst openly wishing for former Atlanta coach Jim Mora, it appears Tyrone Willingham has survived. Washington has announced a 2 PM PST press conference today to confirm that Tyrone Willingham will in fact remain as the head coach of the Huskies.

While there is no immediate word, there is speculation that UW will "clean house" in regards to the defensive coaching staff. That would include the ouster of longtime Willingham defensive coordinator Kent Baer among others. The Husky defense was not only one of the worst in the conference and the nation in 2007, but it was the worst in school history in terms of yards allowed.

Why keep a coach who has gone 11-25 and finished at the bottom of the conference? Why not make a change when you've just seen Willingham become the first coach in school history to roll out three consecutive losing seasons? There are a few reasons. Mainly three million of them, as in the amount of money it would take to buy out Willingham's remaining two years on his original five-year contract. There's Jake Locker, the redshirt frosh who burst onto the scene to become the conference's Freshman of the Year, a rising star in the Tim Tebow mold. The idea to shake things up at this point might hurt Locker's development. And, on the plus side of the ledger, Willingham has really done well this year in recruiting, especially the last few weeks. Washington has been securing some of the top recruits in the state, and currently project to have the 18th ranked class in the nation this year. Even better, there are more verbal commitments rumored to be on the way over the next few days. So in the end, UW President Mark Emmert and athletic director Todd Turner decided to keep things as they are. Will it pay off as UW tries to return to national relevance? Much to the chagrin of many Husky fans, we'll have to wait at least through the 2008 season to know the answer.

"Our review of the game included study of the game tape by Coordinator of Football Officiating Dave Cutaia, Director of Instant Replay Verle Sorgen, football administrator Jim Muldoon and me, review of game reports from the officiating crew and instant replay officials, communications with the two institutions and follow-up communications with the referee of the game.

"We regret that there was flagrant misconduct on the part of some players which led to four ejections from the game, that there was an injury to Washington quarterback Jake Locker which increased the emotions of the players and that the instant replay crew failed to stop the game to review the play at the goal line with just under three minutes to play. On the play, it was ruled Oregon State's Yvenson Bernard fumbled. However, it appeared his knee had touched the ground before he lost the ball...

"We do believe the instant replay officials did not perform properly on the Bernard fumble play. There was human error in that while reviewing the available replays the crew failed to notify the game officials to stop play before the ball was snapped for the next play. It was not the fault of the equipment. The game should have been stopped and the play reviewed. The members of the IR crew have been reprimanded."

At first glance, one might think that Oregon visiting Washington tomorrow could be a big-time offensive shootout with the athletic QB duo of Dennis Dixon and Jake Locker. Everyone knows about Dixon's fine season, and if Oregon keeps winning while Dixon racks up the numbers, he'll continue to rise on the Heisman lists. And Locker gets a lot of hype for being the dual-threat QB with rushing skills of quickness and power that are rarely seen at his position.

But never let the facts get in the way of a story is the best way to put it. Right now, UW is last in the Pac-10 in total offense. That's right, 10th out of 10 teams in total offense. What happened? Where is the offense that carved up Syracuse in the first game of the year in a 42-12 blowout, and had their way with Boise State for at least half of the second game of the year? The Huskies average only 325 yards per game on offense, which is 31 yards less per game than 9th-place Stanford.

The biggest problem with UW's offense right now is the lack of help for the young QB. Louis Rankin was fabulous back in week one, and it seemed like a lead-pipe cinch that he would be the first 1,000 yard running back for UW since Rashaan Shehee in 1995. But Rankin has totaled only 395 rushing yards through six games, not a terrible total but certainly not what you'd want out of your feature back. Then factor in that out of those 395 yards, 147 of them came against Syracuse in the first game, you start to see the full picture. The good news for UW is that Rankin did contribute more last week vs. ASU, getting 80 yards rushing in by far his best game since the opener. But it still wasn't nearly enough as UW was crushed in Tempe.