So far in my experiences with NCAA 2008, I've found that there's plenty of realism to be enjoyed.  I couldn't help but notice that the first two games of the Washington Huskies' real-life season has been very similar to the same two games in the first year of my UW Huskies dynasty.  It will be interesting to see if the rest of their season plays out similarly as well.

The "real" Huskies came out and dominated against the Syracuse Orangemen to start the season.  My team won pretty easily, although the real Dawgs were aided by a third quarter in which the Orange run defense completely collapsed. 

What really hurt the real-life Orangemen is that their number one running back is on the shelf, and backup Curtis Brinkley (#22 in my game, since I don't have the rosters) is still recovering from off-season knee surgery.  The Orangemen gained only 8 net rushing yards on the day, contributing to the ineffectiveness of their defense.  In my version, Brinkley was hurt midway through the second quarter and we were able to completely stop them after that.

{mosimage}Jake Locker gained 83 yards on 10 carries, with two scores against the Orange.  Locker was effective on the ground in our win too, gaining 57 yards on 5 carries, with a scintillating 31-yard touchdown run in which he looked just like the Jake Locker I see on television.

The Huskies have a pretty stiff schedule this year, facing ranked teams in Boise State, Ohio State, and USC in the next three games, along with another good team that will probably be ranked when the Huskies visit the Rose Bowl, UCLA.  Therefore, we knew we had to steal a win from one of those teams.  Boise State seemed a good place to start. 

We hosted Boise State in week 2.  We prevailed with a final score of 21-7.  For the second straight week, the game's MVP was Jake Locker.  The living, breathing Jake Locker threw his first collegiate touchdown pass and ran for 84 yards and a touchdown against physically overmatched Boise State as the Huskies won 24-10.

Just like in the real game, the teams were pretty similar in terms of overall production, as Boise State produced more first downs than we did.  However, they threw four interceptions (three during the actual game) and allowed UW to chalk up a much-needed win before heading off to the Horseshoe in Columbus for what will be a very stiff challenge.

So, how will the rest of the Huskies' season turn out?  It wouldn't be surprising if the Huskies season ends up deviating significantly from mine, but we lost a close one in Columbus the following week, 27-23.  We should have been beaten more badly, but the Buckeyes were stopped short on a couple of first-half drives.  Locker struggled for the first time, completing just nine of his 21 attempts, and didn't throw a touchdown. 

The Buckeyes have a history of playing down to the level their early-season fodder, and that's pretty much what happened for us.  I wouldn't be surprised if the game were quite close this upcoming Saturday.

Unfortunately for my Huskies, that loss in Columbus kicked off a string of four straight losses.  We lost a close one to UCLA, got destroyed by USC 38-7, and seemed to experience a bit of a hangover the next week against a surprisingly good Arizona State team, falling 27-17.

However, we rebounded with a surprising 30-27 overtime win against a more talented Oregon team.  After losing 34-18 to Mike Stoops' Arizona Wildcats, we came out on top in three of the last four games of the year, including a barn burner in the Apple Cup, to finish 6-6 on the season and get invited to a lower-tier bowl game.  Look for the Washington Huskies to experience a pretty similar fate this year. 

We managed to defeat the UNLV Rebels 31-14 in the Armed Forces bowl in Fort Worth, TX.  If Willingham and the Huskies can finish with a bowl win and Jake Locker throws more touchdowns than interceptions, they will be well positioned for Locker's junior and senior seasons.