Have the Washington Huskies emerged as the favorite to take on Placer defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes? The long-time USC Trojans verbal has decommitted and has schools like UCLA and Notre Dame on the short list as well. But it looks as if Washington and USC might be the main teams to beat here.

Source: Eddie Vanderdoes down to #Washington #Cal #Alabama #USC with Cal now out w/Dykes in. Believed to be 2-horse race between UW and USC

— lars hanson (@LarsHanson) December 28, 2012

This is why Steve Sarkisian lured Tosh Lupoi away from Cal to Washington to begin with: His ability to convince big-time prospects to sign up for a program that struggled to show even the slightest upward momentum. Lupoi's ability to sell young recruits on a school and build top-25 recruiting classes at Cal during down seasons helped establish his rep as a top recruiter, and Lupoi would eventully help lure in former Cal commit Shaq Thompson to Washington.

Of course, there are plenty of other schools that are in the running. Like UCLA, the cross-town rival that is coming off a strong year and seems to be set to be a force in the Pac-12 South year after year. Or Notre Dame and Alabama, two teams that pedigreed championship defense in their run-up to Miami this January. Even Cal might get some pub as the local team.

But right now consider USC and Washington the favorites here.