Wow, this could be an entirely Jake Locker-playing-baseball-free post as we look at a few other happenings concerning UW football and the Pac-10.

--- First is this story from Vancouver on former Huskies Caesar Rayford and Brandon Ala, now playing for the B.C. Lions. Rayford is trying to make the team as a rookie free agent, and it sounds as if he's on his way, drawing raves from coaches --- a development likely drawing a few sighs of what-might-have-been from a lot of you who are well aware the Huskies could really use a fifth-year DE right about now. Rayford discusses the redshirt issue in the story, saying again that he was fully on board to play in 2004. Just think how bad that team would have been if he hadn't played.

--- Here's another of what figure to be about 1,890 listings of Tyrone Willingham having the hottest coaching seat in the country, this one from The Tennessean. Nothing new said here about Willingham, but interesting to see the rest of the names on the list. We remain on red alert for the first such list that doesn't lead off with Willingham.

--- Jon Wilner presents this overview of the Pac-10's non-conference schedules this season, praising the conference for again scheduling tough. That may not mean much, however, come November when every team other than USC has four losses and the conference is taking its annual slings from the rest of the country. Interesting to see he rates UCLA as having the toughest schedule in the Pac-10 --- I had it USC, UW then UCLA when I did rankings a while ago. But he's got a good point when you consider how good Fresno State may be (and the fact that it will be easy for a lot of Bulldog fans to get to the Rose Bowl for that one).

--- Pete Fiutak of CollegeFootballNews.com answers his mail, and in one question states that "Washington will never win another national title in our lifetime.'' Of course Fiutak doesn't say how old "we'' all are. If "we'' are all 98, then this isn't really bad news for the Huskies. If "we'' are all 3, then this may indeed be ominous. But without stating any reasons for his, uh, reasoning, this statement has about as much meaning as the lyrics to "Tequila.'' Later, Fiutak says that Don James and Steve Emtman are the coach and player who best symbolize the face of UW football. Hard to argue with that, though I still think no Husky player was ever as popular in his time as Sonny Sixkiller (though Locker could give him a run for the money eventually).

--- Cal coach Jeff Tedford is starting up his own blog. Hey coach, we don't need any more competition.

All for now.