Monday With Willingham

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, October 8, 2006

Tyrone Willingham had his weekly Monday meeting with the media and as expected (and probably a bit to his chagrin), much of the discussion centered around Saturday’s final play, or non-play.

Ultimately, Willingham took responsibility for the breakdown, saying it was his job to get his team in place to get the snap off and said he failed to do that. But he also seemed to feel that the discussion over how much time should be left (it should have been, upon re-watching the end of the game this afternoon, five seconds) led to the confusion. He said he didn’t have a problem with the timing of when the ball was set and when the clock started. Watching the ending again today, it looks as though the umpire – who sets the ball – is trying to get center Juan Garcia’s attention briefly (but fails) and then backs away, signalling the start to the play.

I write more about what Willingham had to say in Tuesday’s paper, but it’s along Willingham’s line that he would take responsibility for the situation, and a credit to him. Of course, it is his job to take any heat away from his team, and Willingham is not one to blame the officials, at least publicly.

Willingham also said upon reviewing the fake field goal that turned into a touchdown, it was legal and that USC had seven players on the line. He said simply it was a good call by USC.

Jason Wells and Dashon Goldson have concussions but Willingham said he thinks they will both play this weekend, and the same is the case for E.J. Savannah, who has been out with a broken thumb.

The California game in two weeks has been picked up by Fox Sports Northwest but will still kick off at 12:30 p.m. That gives the UW at least seven games on TV, and it seems likely that the Oregon game will also be picked up assuming the Huskies continue to win games.

The players of the week from last week were Sonny Shackelford, Dashon Goldson, Michael Braunstein, Matt Houston, Shelton Sampson and Donald Butler.