Huskies must ignore distractions

Published 11:16 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

SEATTLE — With fall ready to send the region into its annual six — Ok, eight-month gray period, now would be the perfect time for a sunny getaway for just about any Northwesterner.

Somewhere, say, like Tucson, Ariz. would do the trick, yes?

Well for a reeling University of Washington football team, a getaway to the desert, while no vacation, is also coming at a perfect time.

The Huskies have been home for over a month since their season-opening loss to Oregon, and a chance to escape Seattle is just what the team needs.

As Washington coach Tyrone Willingham put it after his team’s latest loss Saturday, “There is enough stuff going around out there to probably cure our national debt right now.”

Um … I guess if the national debt can be cured by negativity, fans calling for a coach’s job and angry message-board users, then yes, consider our economy woes over.

But Willingham’s point, however oddly illustrated, is that a lot of bad things are swirling around the Husky football program, and no matter how much players try to tune the negativity out, some of it gets to them.

We’re talking about, in a lot of cases with this young team, teenagers who on a daily basis are hearing that their coach needs to be fired. That Husky football is a mess. That they might not win a game all season.

That has to be weighing on at least some of these players, which is why this trip to the desert couldn’t come soon enough.

The Huskies can get to a hotel Friday, shut out all of the rumors and the bad press, and rally around each other. This is Washington’s chance to tune out the doubters, ignore the elephant in the room (Willingham’s coaching status) and focus on doing something it hasn’t done since Nov. 17 last year: win.

The boos that come from Arizona fans will sting a lot less than those that have come from Washington fans in the past two losses.

Willingham doesn’t ask his team to win for him, nor should he, but everyone on the roster knows what’s at stake from here on out.

“I don’t have them rallying to win one for coach Willingham,” Willingham said. “We win for the Huskies. That’s what we go out and do, we work and we prepare ourselves to do that. That is what I expect from our young men as they approach this week and next week. The difficult thing for them when they have all this noise around them, is to block them out. There’s constant noise around our young men. It’s different this week because it is about my tenure, my situation. But we have to get them to do what players must do in all situations, which is focus on the football game, focus on being the best player they can be and go out and do that.”

Focusing on the football game should be considerably easier away from home right now than it is in Seattle.

Back home, the players hear about their coach losing his job, they hear about their 0-4 start, and this week they’ve heard about the latest controversy: should Jake Locker return early from his injury at another position?

Saving Willingham’s job is a long shot at best for the Huskies given the hole they’re in, but this game is still a chance for players to show that they haven’t given up on their coach and their season.

“The whole team, we know we can still get what we want,” said defensive end Darrion Jones “We still know we can play. Even if we’ve been knocked down four times, we’ve still got to get back up and fight. None of us are willing to give up. We’re going to go into each game and keep fighting hard until the whistle sounds and it’s 0:00 on the scoreboard. We’re going to keep fighting no matter who we play. We’re going to keep fighting the rest of the season, we’re not going to let this get us down.”

If the Huskies are, as Jones stated, not giving up, they need to show it this weekend. That will be easier away from home than at Husky Stadium.

While teams generally benefit from being at home, a change of scenery can help in some instances. This is one of them.

Arizona faced a similar situation to the Huskies last year when it came to Seattle. The Wildcats were 2-6 and fans were calling for coach Mike Stoops’ head. But on the road, facing a hostile environment, the Wildcats dug out of a fourth-quarter hole and escaped with a win. The team went on to win three games in a row, likely the reason Stoops is still on the Arizona sideline.

“Sundays and Mondays are tough,” Stoops said when asked about handling last season’s losses. “But when you start focusing on what you’ve got to do, it’s amazing what the mind can do. And being on the road can help you.”

Willingham and his Huskies can only hope the road will be as kind to them starting Saturday.

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