SEATTLE – Is it too early to say that Washington football is back?
Probably.
Is it too early to say things are different this year?
Not according to the people inside the program.
So just what is different about this team? The obvious answer, of course, would be the new players, quarterback Jake Locker in particular. But there’s something else at work here besides new personnel. It was evident in early August, as players talked about contending for a Pac-10 title, seemingly unaware that the Huskies had won eight games in the last three seasons. It was evident after Saturday’s 24-10 victory over Boise State when players were thoroughly unimpressed with the program’s first win over ranked team since 2003.
We don’t know yet just how good this team is or can be, but it’s obvious a shift in attitude has occurred in the third year of the Tyrone Willingham era.
“We’re walking with our heads up,” said senior receiver Marcel Reece. “We’re walking with a lot of confidence, paying attention to detail. We’re a lot closer as a team in general. We’re having fun.”
That shift may have been the key in during Saturday’s tense second half, when both teams went scoreless.
“We would have lost that game the last couple of years,” said offensive coordinator Tim Lappano. “We would have found a way. When we were stalling on offense and couldn’t seem to find any rhythm and couldn’t get anything going, we would have found a way to lose it. We would have thrown a pick deep down in our own area, we would have fumbled it.”
And for fans weary after years of losing, the scenario Lappano laid out couldn’t have been too hard to imagine during Saturday’s second half. Plenty of Husky fans had to fear they would see a big first-half lead turn into a frustrating loss. That would have inevitably been followed by a here-we-go-again mentality as the Huskies head into the toughest three-week stretch of their season.
Instead, the players believed they were the better team Saturday. They knew they would win. Instead of saying, “we had this game and we let it slip away,” the Huskies held on for the biggest win of Willingham’s tenure at Washington. They guaranteed a week of Husky hype unseen in the northwest in years.
Lappano said the difference between this team and recent squads is as much mental as it is physical.
“I think attitude wise, these guys believed they were going to win that game,” he said.
During a half of football in which plenty went wrong, the Huskies never stopped believing. They avoided many of the costly mistakes that would have led to a disappointing loss in recent years, and the mistakes they did make were often times followed by big plays, such as the pair of fourth-quarter interceptions that help preserve a two-touchdown lead.
“We’re starting to bond,” said cornerback Roy Lewis, who had one of those two interceptions. “This is the closest team that I’ve been on since I’ve been here by far. We’ve shed so many tears together, so much hurt. I’m just happy to be a part of this turnaround.”
There is plenty we still don’t know about the Huskies after their first 2-0 start since 2001. Can their offense put up points and yards against the bigger and faster defenses they will see in upcoming weeks? Can an inexperienced secondary avoid big plays and big numbers against upcoming pass-happy offenses?
We’ll see.
But while fans will have to wait to see just how good these Huskies can be, they can take comfort for now knowing that the team’s mindset, if nothing else, is better than it has been in years.
“We have our swagger back,” said Reece. “The Huskies are back.”
John Boyle is The Herald’s college football writer
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