SEATTLE — Win or lose Saturday, the Huskies can show us something against Oregon State.
Coming into the game with an 0-5 record and a coach who is almost certain to be fired at some point in the next two months, this team can show that it hasn’t given up on the 2008 season.
Already fans fear that Tyrone Willingham has lost this team. They think that a 48-14 loss to Arizona was a sign that the players are giving up. That they’re quitting. Arizona tailback Nic Grigsby even said after that game that he thought the UW defense quit before the first half was over.
The Huskies all say that wasn’t the case, that they’re still fighting, but on Saturday afternoon, they need to prove it.
Maybe beating Oregon State is too much to ask for — and that’s a sad indictment of the program if they really don’t have a realistic shot at beating Oregon State at home — but Washington at least has to show up. The Huskies had better come out and play with passion. They need to do something to fire up what will likely be the smallest crowd of the season.
Word this week is that quarterback Jake Locker could be done for the season. Senior guard Casey Buylca, an emotional leader of the offense, had knee surgery Tuesday and is likely out for the season. And even though the math says the Huskies are still bowl eligible, their performances so far this season say they aren’t.
So now would be about the time when a team might start going through the motions. Now is when a player might question giving maximum effort when there is seemingly nothing left to play for.
A blowout loss at home Saturday could be the final nail in the coffin for Willingham’s job at Washington, though perhaps that nail was already driven in two weeks ago in Tucson.
Saturday could be Willingham’s last stand. If the team plays hard, win or lose, athletic director Scott Woodward will have no problem sticking with his plan to let Willingham finish the season before a decision is made. Lose by 30 or 40 points, however, and Woodward will be faced with another round of questions about Willingham’s future.
For their part, the players all say that the past two weeks of practice have been positive, but a season like this is certainly taking a toll on people.
“I don’t think any of us expected that we would be 0-5, but it’s just one of those things that we have to be able to put in our past and look ahead of us and know that we can still win a couple more games or whatever,” sophomore safety Nate Williams said. “But it is tough to face the fact that we’re 0-5 right now. I don’t think any of us like that, and it definitely doesn’t make practice fun and it doesn’t make having to come at 6:30 for workouts fun, but once we change everything around, it’ll be all right.”
At this point in the season, it seems highly unlikely that a bunch of wins are on the horizon. The true test is whether or not the team plays like they think that on Saturday. If they lose a sixth straight game, the Huskies had better go down fighting. More players need to hustle like Daniel Te’o-Nesheim did even as the defense around him was falling apart in the desert two weeks ago. The junior defensive end had three sacks last week — the only three of the season for Washington — and on one play chased down Arizona’s Grigsby at the 4-yard line, 35 yards from the line of scrimmage. And this was after Grigsby had already gotten past both of Washington’s safeties.
The players are still saying the right things, and now, coming off a bye week, they need to back it up on the field.
“It’s definitely tough, but I’m still confident in my teammates, I love playing with those guys,” said linebacker Mason Foster. “O and five or not, they’re like my brothers, so I just look at it as a challenge. I still think we can turn things around.”
Turnaround or not, the Huskies had better show up Saturday. It’s their last chance to show fans they haven’t quit. To prove to their coach that they still are playing for him and his job. There may be seven games left on the schedule, but another blowout loss could be a sign that the season is already over.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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