Every week, SB Nation Seattle will be compiling predictions from the local blogosphere that follows Husky and Cougar football. We'll include score predictions with a short explanation on each.
John Berkowitz (UW Dawg Pound)
Washington 38, Eastern Washington 17
Washington St. 45, Idaho State 3
The Cougars will roll in the first of a series of five very winnable games.
Kevin Cacabelos (SB Nation Seattle)
Washington 31, Eastern Washington 10
With or without Chris Polk, I think this game is going to be a UW blowout. Anybody that thinks UW is underestimating their FCS opponent is out of their mind. Keith Price will surprise people with his pocket passing ability and the Huskies will start their season off perfectly.
Washington St. 42, Idaho St. 13
Jeff Tuel is going to have a field day against this FCS defense. For a team that's picked to finish last in the Big Sky conference, there is no way they even stay within three touchdowns of the Cougars, even if it's the Cougars. This is like LeBron James going against a 3rd grader that can't dribble. It's just not fair.
Brian Elsner (Wait For It Seattle)
Erik Kariya (SeaTown Sports)
Washington 41, Eastern Washington 27
Overlooked fact: Quinton Richardson's injury means a whole heck of a lot more than Chris Polk's, especially in this game against an inferior team. Bo Levi Mitchell is no joke, and the Huskies' second-team corners are. But the Dawgs will dominate the line on both sides of the ball.
Washington St. 49, Idaho St. 12
Washington State's passing attack is really quite good. Idaho state is, by contrast, really quite not good.
Jeff Nusser (CougCenter)
Washington 24, Eastern Washington 17
EWU is pretty darn good - much, much better than Idaho State, and won't be a patsy for Washington. Here's to betting the Huskies are overlooking the Eagles a little bit and get a scare put in them.
WSU 41, Idaho State 7
ISU was one of the worst teams in FCS a year ago. I look for the Cougs to be up big at halftime, but to stall out a bit in running up the score as the backups see time. The talent drops off quite a bit when the starters leave the field.
Craig Powers (CougCenter)
Washington 38, Eastern Washington 14
Regardless of the running back situation, UW will still have the advantage on the line and all over the rest of the field.
Washington St. 31, Idaho St. 7
Idaho State is a really bad FCS team. Even terrible WSU teams can beat bad FCS teams.
James Satterberg (SeaTown Sports)
Washington 35, Eastern Washington 14
Eastern Washington is no ordinary FCS cupcake team: they're the defending national champions. And they'll be pumped to take on UW. That's why I think this will be a fairly close game...until about the third quarter, when the difference between UW's athletes and Eastern's will become abundantly clear. Expect a 150 yard game from whoever is in UW's backfield.
Washington St. 42, Idaho St. 7
Is this the year WSU finally makes a bowl game? If it is, it will be in large part to a very favorable nonconference schedule. Idaho State won a single game last year, and this improved Cougar team should have no problem smacking them around. Expect a 100 yard game from Marquess Wilson as the Cougars use thier improved passing game to make a statement against ISU.
For more information on the Huskies check out UW Dawg Pound, to catch up on the latest Cougar news leading up to Saturday's opener check out CougCenter.