{"id":2484,"date":"2016-10-25T02:37:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T02:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2484"},"modified":"2016-10-25T02:37:33","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T02:37:33","slug":"former-husky-qb-gets-ready-to-battle-his-old-team-and-graham-returns-to-new-orleans-with-the-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2484","title":{"rendered":"Former Husky QB gets ready to battle his old team and Graham returns to New Orleans with the Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

TERRY MOSHER<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a couple subplots at work for games involving this region\u2019s top two football teams this coming weekend. One involves No. 4 ranked Washington\u2019s crucial showdown Saturday in Salt Lake against No. 17 Utah. It\u2019s the biggest show in America apparently because ESPN\u2019s highly-rated College Game Day show will be hosting shows there Friday and Saturday mornings.<\/p>\n

The other is the Seattle Seahawks visit to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday to meet the slumping, but high-scoring, New Orleans Saints that are led by Drew Brees. Jimmy Graham, the Seahawks talented tight end, used to be Brees favorite target before being traded to the Seahawks in 2015 for Pro Bowl center Max Unger.<\/p>\n

The Utah Utes, 7-1 (4-1 in Pac-12 South), are being led by Troy Williams, a quarterback who started out at Washington before transferring to a junior college in 2015 after one year with third-year Husky coach Chris Peterson.<\/p>\n

Williams has thrown for 1,725 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. He has also run for 145 yards and five more scores and says he can\u2019t wait to play against his former team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them, \u2018give me a year or two, and I\u2019ll be back,\u201d Williams told the Salt Lake Tribune. \u201cI kept my promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are two Williams that the Huskies must confront, however. The other Williams goes by the name of Joe and he has rushed for a team-leading 586 yards and five TDS. He got an FBS-best 332 of those yards last Saturday in a shootout win over UCLA.<\/p>\n

Joe Williams is one heck of a story. He quit the Utes after two weeks this season. He had struggled and had trouble with fumbles. So he bagged it. But two weeks ago he came back and after his big day against UCLA, the whole country is wondering how good this guy is. He runs a 4.35 in the 40 and packs a wallop on his six-foot-two, 200-pound frame. So we will soon all find out just how good he is.<\/p>\n

But even without the back story on the two Williams, this is not going to be an easy chore for Washington. Last year the Utes came into Husky Stadium and emerged with a 34-23 victory after recovering three UW fumbles and picking off Husky quarterback Jake Browning once on a rainy day (so what else is new?).<\/p>\n

So this battle, which will be watched closely by a nation that has yet to know a lot about the Huskies, is crucial to not just the Huskies but the Utes. If the playoffs were to be held today, the Huskies would be in the four-team mix for a national championship and the Utes are just starting to dream about being in that mix.<\/p>\n

Troy Williams can\u2019t wait for the game to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just imagined myself against that defense, against that team,\u201d Troy Williams told the Salt Lake Tribune. \u201cSo my dreams are coming true. I\u2019m just blessed to be in this position and I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there is the Seahawks. They struggled offensively big-time against Arizona in a 6-6 tie Sunday night that will be talked about for years because kickers on both teams missed chip-shot field goals that would have won the game for either one.<\/p>\n

Now the Seahawks go up against a Brees-led Saints team that is scoring 29.3 points a game while also giving up 32.5 points per game. Brees has already thrown for 2101 yards with 17 touchdowns. His favorite target is Brandin Cooks, the third-year pro from Oregon State that has caught 32 passes for 486 yards and four TDs.<\/p>\n

Unger anchors an offensive line that will be tested with a Seahawks\u2019 defensive front that gets after people. This is Unger\u2019s eighth year \u2013 third with New Orleans \u2013 and he has not missed a start in that time. He has started 89 games.<\/p>\n

Graham, meanwhile, is in his 7th year from Miami and is just now settling into a prime role with the Seahawks. He has over the last four weeks been a favorite target of Russell Wilson and will again be a favorite target in this game.<\/p>\n

Bottom line is that this weekend will go a long way toward determining just how good the Huskies are and will give us all a good picture of just how good this Seahawk defense is, which the last four years has been the best in the NFL.<\/p>\n

So settle in and we\u2019ll all see together.<\/p>\n

Be well pal.<\/p>\n

Be careful out there.<\/p>\n

Have a great day.<\/p>\n

You are loved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TERRY MOSHER   There is a couple subplots at work for games involving this region\u2019s top two football teams this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-column","category-mosher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2485,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484\/revisions\/2485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}