Another rough night for the Huskies

Published 11:15 pm Saturday, September 13, 2008

Not much went well for the Huskies in this one, a 55-14 beating.

Oklahoma out-gained Washington 591-336, won the turnover battle 3-0, and just showed that it was a far better team.

Despite being overmatched, the Huskies could have kept the game close early if not for those three turnovers. It was only 7-0 when Jake Locker fumbled in the first quarter, and Oklahoma made the Huskies pay with a touchdown. After punting on their first three possessions, the Huskies’ next five looked like this: fumble, missed field goal, fumble, fumble, missed field goal. Oklahoma scored after all three touchdowns and the first missed field goal (the second miss was at the end of the half).

Here’s what Willingham and a few players had to say about the loss:

Willingham

“Tonight, I think it’s obvious we played one of the best football teams that we’ve played since I’ve been here. They were good in all aspects of the game, running it, throwing it, defending it, and I thought all around it was probably as strong of a football team as I’ve seen.”

“I still liked, though, some of the things that I saw from our football team. I thought they continued to fight and continued to battle until the end, and that’s something we can take and go forward as we head into our bye week and try to get ready for the Pac-10 schedule.”

On the fumbles:

“We didn’t start the game very well, we had too many three-and-outs to start the ballgame, then when we did move it, you can’t turn it over to a good football team, so at that point we became our own worst enemy and we can’t do that.”

What do you say to fans who were booing and leaving early?

“I didn’t give them anything to get excited about. We didn’t do that, and that’s the honest truth. That is a fact, but I do believe that this football team has faced one of the most difficult stretches that any team has had so far this season, and I do think we are a better football team, and now we’ve got to build on it and show it when we get this next portion of our season started.”

Is there more distance between programs now than when the two teams played in 2006?

“I think they’re good, and I think we’re making some progress. Obviously we didn’t play to the level that they did tonight, but I think our football team is going to be all right, and you’ll be able to see it before the year is over.”

Thoughts on the missed field goals:

“It’s very concerning, because that’s an area that you’ve got to count on for points in modern-day football, and we didn’t have either one of the guys give us what we needed there.”

Any chance you guys would have both Locker and Ronnie Fouch on the field together?

“We’ll look at that and see. For me it’s a little early to say we will or we won’t, but we’ll look at that and see.”

Jake Locker

Thoughts on Oklahoma:

“It’s a good football team, might be the best I’ve played.”

What now?

“That was a tough three game stretch for us, and we’ve got to figure out where we want this season to go. There are only two ways that it can go, and the leaders on this team need to step up and show these young guys which way we’re going to go. For me there’s only one choice, and for a lot of the guys there is only one choice. We’re going to take these two weeks to work and we’re going to get better.”

What was the message in the locker room after the game?

“We’ve got to step up our level of play. We’ve got to bring more to the table on Saturday, and we have the talent to win games. We just can’t make mistakes like we did today and we’ve got to play harder.”

Mason Foster

Thoughts on Oklahoma’s offense:

“They’re a great offense, they execute well, great backs, great O-line, great coaching, great scheme, but we’ve got to do better than that. No matter how good the offense is, we’ve got to be a lot better.”

Thoughts on fans leaving early and booing”

“I love the Husky fans and they’ve always been there. To have them walk out just shows you that we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do. We’ve got to do better. If Husky fans of all fans are leaving the game early, it just shows that they’re fed up with the losing. We’ve just got to do better.”