A smorgasboard of notes for lunchtime. ...

--- UW received nine votes in the coaches poll this week but none in the AP poll. The coaches don't make their ballots public so no way to know who voted for UW. The coaches seemed more impressed overall with the UW-BYU game, however, as BYU is No. 24 in the coaches poll but not in the AP Top 25.

--- I'm the AP voter in the state this year, so here's my ballot:
1, Alabama
2, Ohio State
3, Boise State
4, Texas
5, TCU
6, Oregon
7, Oklahoma
8, Nebraska
9, Virginia Tech
10, Florida
11, Wisconsin
12, Auburn
13, Iowa
14, Arkansas
15, Miami
16, Utah
17, USC
18, Florida State
19, Georgia Tech
20, West Virginia
21, Houston
22, LSU
23, Pitt
24, Arizona
25, Oregon State

SARKISIAN CONFERENCE CALL NOTES

Also, UW coach Steve Sarkisian was just on the Pac-10 Coaches conference call. Here's some of what he said:

--- He said that if the play-calling looked a little conservative at times it was in part due to the poor field position the team had throughout --- UW had an average drive start of its own 16. "Naturally, when you are backed up in your own end that conversative nature can kick in to a degree,'' he said.

--- Sarkisian overall said nothing had happened in the game to really shake his faith in the team, noting at one point as he had on Monday that UW "had almost 407 yards of offense'' if you take out the bad punt snap. "So we just have to keep hitting the stride for consistency.''

--- He was asked what he told some of the players who make mistakes in the game such as Chris Polk and Greg Ducre and said that "I just want them to know that, one, that believe I in him and if I didn't I woudn't have them out there. We just have to continue to coach the situations they got put in in those games. But I believe in those guys and that's why they were out theree.''

--- Sarkisian said that many of UW's mistakes in the game were correctable and noted that he felt BYU played just about a perfect game in terms of not turning the ball over, things like that.

--- Asked what the team needs to do better on defense, he said "I'd like us to be more stout against the run.'' He noted that UW was facing a little bit of an unknown offense due to BYU's two QBs and not knowing which would play when. But he said that "I'd like us to be dialed in that when it's a run play the run, when it's a pass, convert to the pass and get after the QB.''

--- Asked about Jake Locker's performance, he said "there were some big plays that were made, but I thought his play was kind of indicative of our entire offense in that there were some big plays there but the overall consistency wasn't where we need it. We're going to try to get that consistency back to where we need it, get him more consistent. Get him some more completions to where he feels good about what we are doing.''

--- He was also asked about the news today that Reggie Bush's Heisman will likely be taken away. He said that "I'm disappointed about the whole situation. Whatever Reggie did, he did. Make up your minds --- are you going to punish the kid or punish the team? Which one is it?''

--- Asked about Syracuse, Sarkisian said that "they are an extremely well-coached football team'' and that they are very similar to UW in terms of offensive scheme. "They have a nice mix of two-back and one-back stuff, their play-action is deadly and defensively they are an active, fast-playing football team. They get after the QB. They are immensely improved on both sides of the ball from last year to this year. I was really, really impressed looking at the Akron game.''

--- Sarkisian also said that UW will have a tribute to police and firemen on Saturday, which is Sept. 11.

All for now.