BearTalk

In the coming days I will be providing tidbits from each team’s appearance at last week’s Pac-10 media day.

Much of the discourse about Washington was about its schedule. Many have the Huskies’ schedule rated as the toughest in the country. They open at Syracuse, then come home to face Boise State and Ohio State. Their Pac-10 opener is at UCLA. And a season-ending road contest at Hawaii won’t be easy.

“The conference plays one of the most demanding schedules, and I think we have all of them on our schedule,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “The challenge for us is to be prepared to play probably one of the toughest, if not the toughest, schedule in the country. We don’t think there is anyone that has a tougher start. We also think our conference schedule is pretty difficult.”

This season also will mark the beginning of the Jake Locker era. Locker was a highly regarded recruit coming out of Ferndale, WA and big things are expected of him now that Isaiah Stanback has moved on to the NFL.