Huskies embrace Sooner challenge

Published 11:42 pm Friday, September 12, 2008

SEATTLE — Now comes the hard part.

Playing at No. 21 Oregon? Yeah, that was pretty difficult. And hosting No. 15 BYU? A challenge to be sure. But in Washington’s gauntlet of a 2008 schedule, the hits keep on coming, and when third-ranked Oklahoma takes the field at Husky Stadium today, the Sooners will represent the biggest hurdle Washington has faced so far.

Yet instead of complaining about what’s being called the nation’s toughest schedule, the Huskies are — publicly anyway — embracing the challenge.

“That’s why guys come to the University of Washington,” junior linebacker Donald Butler said. “We know every year that our schedule is going to be one of the toughest in the nation, and why not? Why wouldn’t you want to play against the best talent in the nation?”

Not only are the Huskies embracing a seemingly endless run of ranked teams, they remain confident despite bringing an 0-2 record into a showdown with a legitimate national title contender.

“We’re 0-2, and we can’t wait to get a win,” sophomore safety Nate Williams said. “If we just go out there and play our game, we feel like we can play with any team in the nation.”

Williams went on to point out that last year’s New York Giants started the season 0-2 on the way to a Super Bowl title.

The Huskies are confident, but they’re not delusional. They know most — OK, pretty much all — of the country expects them to lose. Even most Husky fans have a hard time talking themselves into believing the Huskies have a shot.

“No one’s going to give our guys a chance,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “Right now, our backs are up against the wall. It’s an us-against-them mentality that we’ve got to adhere to right off the bat. There will be very few segments, places, corners, closets in this country that we’re going to be given a chance. We’ve got to understand that. Then understand that when we do what we do well, we’re a pretty good football team.”

Washington’s players and coaches hear the doubters, they just choose to ignore them.

“We’ve just got to not listen to it,” senior cornerback Mesphin Forrester said. “I’m sure we’re the underdogs in this game and we know it. We’ve just got to continue to fight. We started the season 0-2. We didn’t plan on starting 0-2, but by the end of Saturday we want to be 1-2, so we’ve just got to keep fighting and working hard.”

It’s impossible for the Huskies not to notice the attention surrounding today’s game. An ESPN crew has been on campus for the past few days. Oklahoma comes in as a heavy 201/2 favorite, and as a program loaded with talent as well as tradition.

Just as the Huskies are trying to ignore the doubters, they also have to avoid getting caught up in the Oklahoma mystique.

“It’s just another game for us,” Williams said. “We just have to go out there and play our game how we know how to. A lot of the younger guys are like, ‘Oh my God, Oklahoma is coming, they’re ranked third in the nation.’ But you can’t really think like that when you’re playing them and preparing for the game, because if you do, you’ll go into the game a little timid or a little scared.”

Oklahoma is the first non-conference top-five team to play at Washington since No. 4 Miami came to Seattle in September of 2000. The Huskies knocked off a juggernaut that day, though that wasa much better Washington team than the 2008 version.

Still, even though the matchups, the experts, and even the Husky fans say Washington can’t win, the Huskies refuse to listen.

“The positive is, you can’t play the game on paper,” Willingham said. “That’s the positive. They got to line up and play. We got to line up and play. And when you do that, no one knows what’s going to happen… You got to play the game. That’s what you do. That’s what so much fun about athletics, about football. You got to play the game.”

The odds are long, but the Huskies keep believing.

It’s the only choice they have.

“You’ve got to believe you can win every game you play,” offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said. “And I really think really deep down every kid believes. That’s why you play them. You’ve got to believe you can win, that’s where it all starts, you’ve got to believe that.”

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW athletics, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog.