Washington will be better, way better, than Colorado

Is it possible for a 6 1/2-point favorite, playing at home, to hide in the weeds?

It seems like Washington is doing a good job of sneaking up on Hawaii — from in front, not behind.

Someone in the office (and, let me be clear, not someone from the sports department) offered a pizza lunch bet with me, giving me the Huskies … and 13 points.

That green Kool-Aid can be mighty potent after a 17point win against a BCS conference foe to start the season. I felt sorry for the man, so if Hawaii does cover I’ll give him a steak dinner instead of pizza (that salisbury in the freezer’s growing icicles on its icicles anyway).

Yes, Hawaii did beat a big-name school by more than two touchdowns last weekend. But Colorado isn’t very good at all right now … there are folks in the know who say the Buffs will have a difficult time winning even one game in their first goround in the Pac-12. Meanwhile, Hawaii is favored to win the WAC.

THE HAWAII DEFENSE and special teams were even better than advertised last week. But the Huskies are better in all phases than Colorado, and the UH offense — other than quarterback Bryant Moniz remains a work in progress. And progress has been slow, partly due to injuries and suspensions. Two players counted on as starters were out because they broke rules, and another, right guard Chauncy WinchesterMakainai, got hurt early in the opener.

Moniz had difficulties passing against Colorado. The risky but brilliant coaching move of letting him loose as a runner negated that, but you know Washington will be ready for it.

The UH quarterback was like a pitcher without his good stuff finding a way to win. He’ll need more than that to have a chance against Washington.

SOME OF THE OPTIMISM from Warrior world and wariness from Washington fans stems from the Huskies barely escaping 30-27 against their little brothers from Eastern Washington in their opener. But it wasn’t as bad a win as it seems. Eastern Washington won the 2010 Division I-AA tournament … a college football national championship actually decided on a playing field, imagine that.

At this time last week, Colorado coach Jon Embree had unwittingly fired up the Warriors with a rookie head coach mistake: talking about physicality and saying his team would “throw the first punch.”

When UH coach Greg McMackin isn’t doubling his displeasure with timeouts he’s great at motivating his guys with that kind of thing, whether a slight was intended or not. Remember Mack telling his boys what Craig James and Mel Kiper thought of them in 2007?

So far there’s been little for the Warriors to build a chip for their collective shoulder emanating from Seattle. McMackin might have to resort to playing the “Pac-12 is inviting everyone including Linfield to join but doesn’t think we’re good enough” card.

Washington coach Steve Sarkisian sounded like a genuine Hawaii fan on Bobby Curran’s radio show Thursday morning.

Who said you have to be favored for it to be a trap game?