Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

Will the Washington Huskies win a football game this season?

Are there too many football bowl games during the Christmas holidays?

Why is there so much parity in college football these days?

Those are three questions sports fans ponder around the breakfast table or at the latte stand or at the barbershop, so let's look at all three today.

Huskies

The Dawgs are 0-for-the season and the outlook for a win is bleak at best. The Huskies will be at USC this Saturday, then host Arizona State and UCLA before going to Pullman on Nov. 22 to battle the WSU Cougars.

After another bye week, it's finish at California.

The Huskies are young and younger; they lost their top quarterback during the Stanford loss and they can't play defense. They will lose to USC, then will fall to the Sun Devils and Bruins at home to complete a winless home season for the first time since time began.

Still, the Huskies might be able to beat the Cougars, but then that date with California looms.

It was really tough last Saturday as Husky fans moaned the big loss to Notre Dame, 33-7. It was a miserable showing for Washington as they turned in one of their worst offensive performances in many moons, getting 38 total yards and three first downs in falling behind 17-0. Until a last-quarter drive against the Irish reserves, Washington did not have a play longer than eight yards and had gained only 55 yards for the game.

I don't think it's going to be much better. Washington is 0-7 with five games left and assured their fifth straight losing season and fourth with coach Ty Willingham. He was hired after the 2004 season after being fired in controversial fashion at Notre Dame. On Monday, we learned Willingham will step down at season's end.

Notre Dame wasn't that good last Saturday and I hope I never see a visiting team get ahead 27-0 at the end of the third period and play everybody but the team managers in the last quarter, still keeping the Dawgs at bay.

Bowl games

There are too many bowl games, fans, way too many, and the Pac-10 has agreements with an all-time-high seven bowl partners, led by the Rose Bowl, which is the destination for the league champion unless that team is ranked one or two for the Bowl Championship Series.

A Pac-10 team will be in the Pacific Life Holiday, Brut Sun, Pioneer Las Vegas, Emerald, Sheraton Hawaii and San Diego's Poinsettia.

I am still of the opinion that a seventh-place team in a conference has no business going to any kind of bowl game.

Parity

USC gets knocked off by Oregon State, Texas beats Oklahoma ... well, you get my drift. Parity has hit the college football ranks and it's getting so hard to pick a team as No. 1 or No. 2 these days.

Is it a good thing? I think so. When Ball State can make it into the top 25 list of teams, everybody has a chance every Saturday.

Wednesday Whirl

Congratulations to Sequim and Port Angeles cross country teams for great efforts in the Olympic League meet last week at The Cedars at Dungeness. A great, well-run meet and the Sequim girls and boys fared very well with some great runners.

Port Angeles placed second to N.K. in the 3A wars and only two teams advanced to the West Central District, which is this Saturday at Westside Classic meet at American Lake in Lakewood, south of Tacoma.

The Sequim girls go at 11:30 a.m., the boys at 2 p.m. Both are nine-team races with the top three off to state along with the top 15 individuals. The 3A races for P.A. girls commences at 1 p.m., the 3A boys at 2:30 p.m. and both are 16-team races with top seven teams and top 40 runners going on to Pasco's state meet.

Sequim's football team isn't fancy, but they get the job done and are assured a playoff berth with two games left. Go Wolves.

How about those Seahawks? A big win at San Francisco and the Hawks are a couple of wins away from getting back in the NFC West race. Philadelphia at home this Sunday will be a tough test.

Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.