Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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University of Washington head coach Ty Willingham makes a lot of money ($1.5 million per season, plus up to $400K available in incentives) for a guy with only one double-digit win season on his career resume. In fact, during fiscal year 2007, he was also paid more money by Notre Dame NOT to coach the Irish than Charlie Weis was paid TO coach them. But, I digress...
It's clear that Willingham is in a "make or break" season with the Huskies, and it's becoming increasingly evident that the coach is feeling the heat of that hot seat. Check out this Seattle Times column by Bud Withers for indications that the coming few months have the potential to get very unpleasant (at least for Willingham and perhaps the press) in Seattle.
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As I researched the Cougars' season opener with Northern Iowa over the summer, I could not find any UNI players who might have crossed paths with BYU before, until the Panthers updated their roster to reflect a transfer from a prominent FBS school.
That player is WR D.J. Hord, who transferred to UNI after playing for three years at Notre Dame (he missed the 2006 season due to injury). He made his Irish debut in 2005... against BYU, in Bronco Mendenhall's rookie season as head coach. In that 2005 game, Hord returned two kickoffs for 24 yards, and took snaps as a reserve wideout. BYU lost that game in South Bend by a score of 49-23.
Hord, by the way, had only two receptions for Notre Dame last season--one v. Georgia Tech, and one at UCLA.
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Of ESPN.com's 12 college football experts, 9 pick BYU to win the Mountain West Conference championship. The other three pick UNLV.
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Just checking to see if you're paying attention. They picked Utah.
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