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Michigan and Washington played at their peaks. In this rematch, they’re rebuilding

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2 hours ago

October 2, 2024

Michigan and Washington played at their peaks. In this rematch, they’re rebuilding

Michigan and Washington were two of the oldest teams in college football when they met in the College Football Playoff championship game nine months ago in Houston. Saturday, they will meet again as Big Ten opponents in what might be called the Before and After Bowl.

Both head coaches from Michigan’s championship game victory, Jim Harbaugh and Kalen DeBoer, are gone to other jobs. Both starting quarterbacks: gone. Every offensive line starter: gone. Defensive coordinators, strength coaches, support staffers: gone, gone and gone.

At this point in the comparison, Washington coach Jedd Fisch has a few points of clarification to make. Yes, Fisch and Michigan coach Sherrone Moore have navigated some of the same challenges since taking over for DeBoer and Harbaugh. Yes, both programs lost coaches, NFL Draft picks and multiyear starters. But no, these two rebuilds are not the same.

“I think their situation is very different,” Fisch said. “Sherrone was on the staff for six years. Everybody remained on the team that was recruited to be on that team. They kept half of their coaching staff. There’s been a lot of, let’s call it, continuity.”

If life after the national championship game has felt disorienting for Michigan, imagine how it feels for Washington. The Huskies played 71 offensive snaps in the CFP championship game, which adds up to 781 when multiplied by 11 players. Of those 781 snaps, four came from players currently on the roster: three from wide receiver Giles Jackson, who started his career at Michigan, and one from tight end Quentin Moore.

“The fact of the matter is our team is completely different,” Fisch said. “The only thing that’s the same is the logo.”

Jedd Fisch brought former Mississippi State QB Will Rogers to Washington this season as one of many transfer portal additions. (Joe Nicholson / Imagn Images)

Adjusting to this new reality has been a challenge for both programs. Michigan is 4-1 and ranked No. 10, but instability at quarterback and turnover on the offensive line have made every game a struggle. Washington is 3-2 and lost to Rutgers and Washington State despite outgaining both opponents. It speaks to the perception of both teams that ESPN’s “College GameDay” bypassed the national championship rematch and will set up shop a few hundred miles south as Cal hosts No. 8 Miami.

For Fisch and Moore, last year’s run to the CFP championship game is proof of what’s possible but also a tall standard to be judged by. Moore is 8-1 as Michigan’s head coach, counting four games last season when he filled in for Harbaugh. The Wolverines have found ways to win, but as the reigning national champions, they’re under a microscope that magnifies their flaws.

“When you’re at Michigan you want to represent this place in a fashion like none other,” Moore said. “For me, regardless of if we won it or not — I’m obviously happy we did — there’s a standard that I want us to keep, on and off the field.”

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Michigan still has Will Johnson, Donovan Edwards, Colston Loveland and other key contributors from last year. Washington had 44 scholarship players when Fisch was hired from Arizona to replace DeBoer. The Huskies added 15 players from the transfer portal, including quarterback Will Rogers, running back Jonah Coleman and cornerback Ephesians Prysock, and have one returning starter from the national championship game, linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala.

“The two programs, the two scenarios, are completely unique and different,” Fisch said.

Fisch and Moore have taken different approaches in trying to recreate last season’s success, too. Michigan has tried to deviate as little as possible from Harbaugh’s way of doing things. The Wolverines run a lot of the same schemes, use a lot of the same mantras and point to last year’s success as proof that their methods work.

Fisch, on the other hand, isn’t trying to follow a blueprint left by DeBoer. Many of the players from last year’s CFP team were recruited by former head coaches Chris Petersen and Jimmy Lake. DeBoer took over a talented team, supplemented it with players from the portal and helped the Huskies regain their winning edge. DeBoer’s run at Washington was a two-year success story that helped him land one of the most coveted jobs in coaching as Nick Saban’s successor, but it’s not something Fisch is actively trying to emulate.

“It’s a completely different mentality, a different philosophy on how we want to recruit,” Fisch said. “We’re much more high school-oriented, most similar to the way coach Petersen was. Our goal is to try to create it with freshmen and sophomores and let the program take on the personality of the coaching staff.”

The era of the four-team Playoff was dominated by three programs — Alabama, Clemson and Georgia — that could play for a national championship, reload with five-star recruits and contend again the following year. Michigan and Washington broke that mold by assembling championship rosters over a period of years and building to a crescendo in 2023.

For programs that build their rosters that way, the crescendo is often followed by a dip. Michigan and Washington are experiencing that this season as they integrate transfers, young players and first-time starters at key positions.

Edwards was the star of Michigan’s CFP championship victory with touchdown runs of 41 and 46 yards. He returned for his senior season to be part of the transition to a new era, but the transition hasn’t been easy. Aside from Kalel Mullings, who emerged as Michigan’s No. 1 running back with three consecutive 100-yard rushing yard performances, the offense hasn’t found much it can rely on.

“This offense, we’re only returning one starter, and that’s Colston,” Edwards said. “A lot of guys have been asked to be put in a position that they have never been put in. That’s something I had to come to the realization of: This isn’t last year’s team. This is team 145, not team 144.”

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Fisch’s program-building philosophy was shaped by two years he spent on Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan. Fisch experienced some of the heartbreaks that made Michigan’s national championship victory even sweeter, including the “Trouble with the Snap” game against Michigan State in 2015 and the double-overtime loss to Ohio State in 2016. He eventually moved on to Arizona, where he went 1-11 and 5-7 before a 10-win season in 2023.

The lesson is that building the kinds of teams Michigan and Washington had last season isn’t something that happens overnight. Player retention is a big part of the strategy for both programs, which means committing to young players and sticking with them as they mature.

“That, to me, is really what that model is for how we like to do it,” Fisch said. “Our goal is to be able to retain players, not buy players. To retain them, it’s going to take a huge investment in freshmen, an investment in watching the team get better.”

That can be tough to swallow for fans who just watched their team play for a national championship. The road back looks arduous for both programs, and both coaches will be held to higher standards thanks to the success of their predecessors. But if the alternative is coaching a team with no expectations, Fisch would choose this option every time.

“I would always choose this situation where you have the potential,” Fisch said. “The upside, and the ceiling at Washington, is elite.”

(Top photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)

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Washington

Washington visitor dead after being found in Kauai waters

Published

13 hours ago

October 1, 2024

Press Room

Washington visitor dead after being found in Kauai waters

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – An unattended death investigation has been opened following the passing of a visitor on Kauai’s east side.

Kauai police said around 5:15 a.m. Sunday, first responders were dispatched to a report of an unresponsive swimmer near Wailua Beach.

Police reported that the victim was a found in the water and brought to shore by fishermen.

She was identified as a female visitor from Washington, however her name was not publicly released.

The incident remains under investigation and an autopsy has been scheduled. Authorities say at this point, foul play is not suspected.

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Washington airman receives award after carrying injured 79-year-old hiker down trail

Published

21 hours ago

October 1, 2024

Press Room

Washington airman receives award after carrying injured 79-year-old hiker down trail

A Washington-based Airman received an award for rescuing a woman who had a hiking accident in late August, the U.S. Air Force announced.

Airman 1st Class Troy May made the rescue on Aug. 28 near Ashford, Washington, while hiking to High Rock Lookout. He received an achievement medal on Sept. 9.

“One of the Air Force’s core values is service before self, and Airman 1st Class May clearly exemplified that core value with his actions,” Lt. Col. Joshua Clifford, 62d AMXS commander, said in the news release. “While our team of Airmen showcase amazing accomplishments every day, we relish the opportunity to focus on one Airman’s courage and recognize them for truly living the Air Force’s core values.”

The woman he rescued, 79-year-old Ursula Bannister, takes a trip every year to High Rock Lookout and this year, she went to spread her late mother’s ashes.

“I know the trail very well, and there are always many people there,” Bannister said in the news release. “When I couldn’t find anyone to accompany me on this outing, I just went by myself.”

She had finished lunch and had begun hiking down when she felt her leg give out, according to the Air Force. She stepped into a hole, causing a shock to travel up her body.

She called for help, and that’s when some hikers found her. As hikers called emergency responders and tried to help her as best as they could, then came May and his friend.

“My first thought was if I could carry her down, I should carry her down and get her there as quickly as I can,” May said in the news release.

Injured hiker was in a lot of pain as Airman carried her to safety

Donning cowboy boots, May put Bannister on his back and started to carry her down the trail. The boots made carrying her down the trail very painful though as gravity pulled her off of him, the Air Force said. He had to use his legs to stop at some points.

He carried her most of 1.6 miles down the hiking trail. His friend, Layton Allen, also carried Bannister some of the way.

“Once we got down, we loaded her into her car, elevated her foot and started driving to the hospital,” May said. “We met search and rescue about 30 minutes down the road, put ice on her foot, drove the rest of the way to the hospital and waited for her son to get there.”

A few days later, Bannister called May and Allen to thank them for helping her. She had surgery and was recovering, she told them.

“I truly felt that these two guys were meant to be there to save me, and that sort of swam in my subconscious at the time,” Bannister said in the news release. “I considered them my angels.”

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

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Should the Washington Nationals Trade for St. Louis Cardinals Star Pitcher?

Published

1 day ago

October 1, 2024

Press Room

Should the Washington Nationals Trade for St. Louis Cardinals Star Pitcher?

The Washington Nationals are on the right track when it comes to their current rebuild.

After the Nationals won the World Series in 2019, a big contract for their MVP, Stephen Strasburg, did not work out due to a bizarre injury that ultimately ended his career. This failed contract and the questions surrounding the organization’s future ownership forced the front office to move on from their biggest star, Juan Soto.

The organization has had some great luck with the pieces they’ve added during the rebuild and the minor league development has also excelled. After a 71-91 season, 18 games out of the playoff picture, the team is ready to take the next step.

One way to do that would be to dive right back in to the phones, but instead of selling off players as they have for the past few seasons, they buy.

On Monday, The St. Louis Cardinals announced that President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak would be turning over to Chain Bloom at the end of 2025. As they prepare to transition after the following season, significant changes to the roster also seem to be looming.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Cardinals will reduce payroll in 2025 and look to move on from some of their higher-paid players. The news comes from Mozeliak, who set the tone for the upcoming offseason for St. Louis. Some names that Nightengale included third baseman Nolan Arenado, catcher Willson Contreras, and starting pitcher Sonny Gray.

Although not all of those veterans would make sense for the current construction of the Nationals roster, adding a top starter like Sonny Gray would make a lot of sense.

With the team building an impressive young core, including names like Mackenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker, and DJ Herz, Gray could lead the rotation as the Nationals would look to take the next step in their rebuilding plans. Add in the likely return of Nationals eighth ranked prospect Cade Cavalli, who is recovering from Tommy John Surgery, and you have a solid pitching staff to battle against the toughest division in baseball, the NL East.

It would be a bold move by general manager Mike Rizzo and the rest of the Nationals front office if they went out and made a move for Gray, but it could have an immediate impact for the good of the club. The 34-year-old finished as the runner up in 2023 for the American League Cy Young Award with a 2.79 ERA. He also led the league with a 2.83 FIP.

Gray signed a three year, $75 million deal this past offseason with the Cardinals but only made $10 million in 2024. If the Nationals were to acquire the right hander they would be on the hook for $25M in 2025 and $35M in 2026. They also would have the choice of a $30M team option in 2027, his age 37 season.

Gray went 13-9 with a 3.84 ERA and a 3.12 FIP, recording 203 strikeouts over 166.1 innings of work. His 11 K/9 on the year was a career high for the 12-year pro. If he is traded this offseason, he could be joining his sixth team since making his MLB debut in 2013.

Although Gray’s numbers on the year were the worst since his final season as a member of the New York Yankees in 2018, he still would have outpitched the entire Nationals starting rotation. His ERA would have been the best on the roster, with the exception of Trevor Williams (2.03) – when healthy, of course.

The Cardinals would be taking a major hit if they decide to move on from Gray. Since the contract they signed him to in the offseason surpassed $60 million, they were forced to forfeit their second round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft to his former team, the Minnesota Twins as compensation.

However, if they are set on moving on from the salary concerns and looking to bolster their farm system, one that is currently ranked 19th according to MLB Pipeline, plenty of suitors should be calling for a top of the rotation type of talent.

Washington should definitely be one of them.

With the in-season injury to Josiah Gray, who is likely out for the majority, if not all of 2025, adding the three time All-Star to lead the rotation would send a bold message to the rest of the National League and instantly make the Nationals a contender for at least a wild card spot next season.

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