If you just listened to Slate, you might expect to see a lot of plays end like this in 2012.

​The great thing about sports is that no matter how good or bad you feel about your team's current prospects, there's always a chance to feel better, or worse, just by looking forward.

Take Washington football, for example. Right now, Husky fans are over the moon for the return of stud quarterback Jake Locker. What was a zero win team last year now has a legitimate shot at a bowl game next year, Locker's last. Maybe even one that's Rose-colored.

But if you're a fan of the purple-and-gold, Slate senior sports editor Josh Levin says that's about as far into the future as you should gaze.

Because according to Levin, Washington has the toughest one-month run in college football in 2012. Here's how that brutal stretch plays out:

Sept. 22 at California
Sept. 29 at LSU
Oct. 6 at USC
Oct. 13 Oregon State
Oct. 20 at Oregon

Pretty rough. But in reality, there's not much variation between that line-up and the 2009 schedule ranked 16th-toughest in the nation.

Both feature Pac-10 regulars and LSU. The mitigating factor, it seems, is that Washington will play the majority of these games (including the back-end of a home-and-home with the SEC's Tigers) away from the friendly confines of Montlake.

Of course, the other thing Levin failed to account for in his assessment was the strength of UW's future recruits. Including Nick Montana, son of NFL Hall of Famer Joe, who, technically speaking, is composed of 70% water just like the rest of us. Except that his 70% is 100% ice cold. (Oh yeah! Eat it Slate!)