SEATTLE – They are teams both desperately looking for wins, for different reasons.
The Washington Huskies (0-4 Pacific-10, 1-6 overall) need to find something positive over the final four weeks of the season to give them hope that they are headed in the right direction. Last week’s loss to USC means that Washington will suffer its second-straight losing season, was its 16th loss in 18 games and its 12th conference loss in a row.
Arizona State (1-3, 3-4), which came into the season with hopes of potentially challenging for a BCS bowl game and after a strong start, has completely fallen apart. The Sun Devils have lost three in a row, two at home. The Sun Devils need a win to keep hopes of reaching any bowl game alive, and coach Dirk Koetter needs a win to take heat off of speculation over his job security.
The teams will try to turn their seasons around when they meet at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Sun Devils Stadium in Tempe. It will be the first meeting between the teams since 2002, but will be the fourth-straight time the matchup will be played in Arizona.
Koetter said he has no doubt this season is salvageable, and the fact that his team will not likely play in a major bowl game doesn’t mean there is nothing to play for.
“We can’t let outside forces determine what happens with our season,” said Koetter, who is 29-27 in five years at ASU. “That’s on us. We have to have enough fortitude from our own players and coaches that we determine what’s going to happen with this season.”
Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said he is still encouraged by the fact that his team is playing with good effort and he knows they recognize there is an opportunity in front of them to get on a streak. Washington has played one of the nation’s toughest schedules, and Arizona State will be the first unranked team the Huskies play after four-straight ranked teams with a combined 26-3 record. The final four teams on the UW schedule are a combined 11-17 and none is higher than sixth in the Pac-10 standings.
“Our kids recognize that there are still four great opportunities out there,” Willingham said. “They will be very difficult. You can’t sit here and say they’ll be easy.”
“We know we’ve played tough teams but it doesn’t make it any easier that we’ve lost,” running back James Sims said. “But we’ve got four more games and we think we can win all of them.”
Both coaches say that their opponent is better than it has shown. The Sun Devils’ slide started after they blew a 21-3 halftime lead to USC and culminated with a surprisingly one-sided loss to Stanford Saturday.
“We haven’t played like we should be playing,” Koetter said. “We started off the season playing very well for the first five games but we’ve definitely hit a lull the last two (games) where we haven’t played the way we want to or the way we’re capable of. Anytime you’re in that position it’s frustrating and you’re looking for answers. … I would imagine Washington feels the same way.”
Willingham said motivating his team despite the fact that a winning season and bowl game are now impossible still should not be difficult.
“Your motivation should be just to play well, period,” Willingham said. “That’s what you start every season and every game with. ‘I want to go out, I want to play well. As a teammate, I want my team to play well.’ Then we want to accomplish all the other things.”
“Of course we’re frustrated, but we’re not giving up on the season,” linebacker Joe Lobendahn said. “No one is happy with how the season has gone. But we can turn it around with a few wins. We’re still confident in what we’re doing. We’ve played good in every game, we just need to play good for a whole game. When we do that, we’ll start winning games.”
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