Washington, Baylor share dynamic offenses
SEATTLE – Steve Sarkisian said the similarities are remarkable.
The team his University of Washington football team faces in the Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl has a lot that reminds him of his Huskies.
Both programs are on the rise after years of frustration. They both have accurate quarterbacks and plenty of weapons in the passing game. Their offenses can pile up points in bunches.
When Sarkisian watches tape of the Baylor Bears, he’s reminded a little bit of his Huskies.
“The parallels start with the (gold) helmets, quite honestly,” Sarkisian said during a Thursday conference call to promote the upcoming game in San Antonio. “It kind of jumps out at you.”
While Baylor’s ascension toward national prominence has taken a higher grade this season, thanks in large part to Heisman Trophy candidate Robert Griffin III, both the Bears and Huskies have certainly taken large steps forward in the past 24 months.
Both schools are making second consecutive bowl appearances after years of postseason inactivity – Baylor went 16 years before last year’s bowl game, and the Huskies had a seven-year draught. They’re both led by experienced offenses that can pile up points and are capable of hitting big plays at anytime.
The 15th-ranked Bears (9-3) have the sixth-highest points-per-game total in the country, at 43.5, while UW (7-5) ranks 36th at 31.5. Add in a pair of defenses that rank in the bottom 20 nationally in points allowed, with a combined 16 opponents hitting the 30-point mark against them, and the game has all the makings of a track meet.
It’s one of the first things one will notice about the matchup, prompting Alamo Bowl president and CEO Derrick Fox to say: “Two very, very dynamic offenses. To put it in perspective, the two teams combined for 75 points a game, almost 600 yards passing and nearly 1,000 yards of total offense.”
Baylor coach Art Briles said the numbers don’t always bear out on game day.
“On paper, you’d think it would be a high-scoring game,” he said during Thursday’s conference call. “But the crazy thing about football is, that’s why they blow the whistle and throw their arm down – because you never really know what’s going to happen the next 60 minutes.
“We’re just going to go out there and do what we do. If it ends up being a 7-3 ballgame, that’s what it is. We certainly can’t predict what’s going to happen. That’s why people up in the stands holler and scream, because you never really know what’s going to happen.”
Despite the similarities, the programs have little crossover. They’ve played against each other four times, the latest meeting coming in 1965 – nine years before Sarkisian’s birth year.
And the programs have such vastly different recruiting circles. Almost 90 percent of Baylor’s roster is from the state of Texas, while the Huskies rely mostly on in-state recruits and those from Southern California. The oft-converging paths of college football have rarely met for the coaches and players from UW and Baylor.
Sarkisian accentuated that point by telling the story of his days as a junior-college quarterback in the early 1990s, when a Baylor coach showed some interest in him as a player.
“I sat down with him for 15 minutes, so that’s as close as I’ve been to Baylor in recruiting, quite honestly,” he said. “And that was quite some time ago.”
Briles said the only known player he’s tried to recruit against UW was a current high school quarterback, presumably Denver prep star Cyler Miles, who ended up signing with the Huskies.