Crowd Count

We know Cal and Oregon will be tough games, but there seems to be a "sleeper-game" every year. I think this Washington game could be that game, especially with rain forecast for tomorrow (or is that a running fall Seattle forecast that never changes?)

Lawyer John, you have a good point.
And, yes, as a former 2-year resident of soggy city, it is nearly always the daily weather forecast. And the stadium crowd noise reminds one of Autzen in Eugene.

I think it's a little early in the schedule for a letdown.

The games to worry about are the "sandwich" games, e.g. a supposed weaker opponent between two tough ones. Looking at the schedule, two games jump out: OSU, after Oregon and before Cal; and ASU, after Cal, and before UCLA.

Sandwich Games are a media created term. Oregon St. was sandwich between who?

It is all about match-ups and intensity.

Fight on, Yes, match-ups and intensity. That's why the media coined the term sandwich games, because teams often overlook certain opponents (and play without intensity) when they are coming off a big game and looking forward to another. Regarding your inane comment about OSU not being a sandwich game, no one ever said that was the only time teams come out flat.

I don't see a let up in intensity for Oregon State after last year and there is a score to settle this year. Things are actually playing out well for SC this and they should have no problem getting up for Oregon or Cal. They seem to always win the games against the top teams, but it is those "sandwich" type games that seem to cause the most trouble. I don't know if we will really see any of those unless someone like Arizona sneaks up on them. Arizona State probably already has their attention with Dennis Erickson at the helm and the Sun Devils could have a significant record by the time that game rolls around.