Huskies’ D has issues

SEATTLE — For the second consecutive weekend, the University of Washington football team faces a quarterback who ranks among the nation’s best and is likely to be an NFL draft pick in April.

You’ll have to forgive Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian if that’s not his only worry heading into Saturd

ay’s game against Arizona.

“In all the years I’ve been preparing for Arizona, this is the best they’ve run the football,” Sarkisian said, when asked about Arizona quarterback Nick Foles and the pass-happy Wildcats.

As the Stanford Cardinal showed four days ago, even a team that feature

s a strong-armed, accurate quarterback might run all over the UW defense. Stanford turned Heisman Trophy favorite Andrew Luck into a handoff machine on Saturday, allowing the Cardinal to rush for a school-record 446 yards while their star quarterback mostly watched from the Stanford backfield.

Under new coach Tim Kish, Arizona piled up 254 rushing yards to compliment a 291-yard, three-touchdown passing performance from Foles in Saturday’s win over UCLA.

That performance leads to an obvious question about which way the Wildcats plan to poison UW’s struggling defense on Saturday night.

All defensive coordinator Nick Holt knows is that the Huskies have to be ready for another big challenge this week.

“We’ve got to get back, and we’ve got to get ready for Arizona because they’re a good offense too — just in a different way,” he said. “We just need to compete.”

The UW defense was at a severe competitive disadvantage the last time out, and on Tuesday Holt found himself in the media’s crosshairs. He had very few answers during a 10-minute session with reporters, but he never flinched while standing in the pocket like a blitzed quarterback.

Holt admitted that he’s heard some of the outside criticism, but said that he doesn’t let it get to him.

“You’ve got to have thick skin,” UW’s defensive coordinator said. “And I know you (fans) love us and want to us to do well; I really do. And we want to do well. We are more disappointed than you guys, trust me. Trust me, we get really (ticked) off.”

Holt also said that he believes UW’s defense has shown improvement in his two-and-a-half seasons, despite statistics that seem to disprove that. He said the Huskies “absolutely” have a better defense now than they did when he arrived in 2009.

“Wait until the end of the year, and then let’s look at the numbers,” Holt said. “We are 5-2, and we haven’t been 5-2 in three years — and playing some good offenses. The wins and losses are the most important.”

Holt’s defense hit another low during Saturday’s game, when Stanford outmuscled the Huskies and did whatever it wanted offensively. Holt described that game as “painful” and added that the film session wasn’t much better.

“I didn’t really need to watch the film because that just made it painful twice,” he said. “It was kind of what it looked like out there.”

Junior cornerback Desmond Trufant said the film session after the Stanford game was not an easy one for the players, either.

“The coaches were on us,” he said, “and for good reason. We didn’t play well. We have high expectations around here, and we just want to continue to get better.”

Despite an improved Arizona ground game and UW’s struggles against the run, the Huskies seem likely to see a more pass-oriented offense this week. The Wildcats (2-5 overall, 1-4 in the Pacific-12 Conference) rank sixth in the nation in passing yards per game, while Foles ranks fourth among quarterbacks at 363.7 passing yards per game and second at 32.4 completions per game.

Arizona has averaged 308.5 passing yards in its past two games against UW, and 6-foot-4 wide receiver Juron Criner is one of the most physical receivers the Huskies will face this season.

It sets up for a much different game than Saturday’s groundfest at Stanford.

“That’s the beauty of this conference,” Holt said. “That makes it fun. It’s good. It keeps you up at night. And then the next week you have a whole different set of problems.”

The Huskies faced similar offenses in their first two games this season, giving them valuable experience against spread passing attacks. But those two games saw Eastern Washington and Hawaii combine for 806 passing yards against UW.

“They run a lot of similar formations, a lot of spread offense and four- or five-receiver sets,” Trufant said. “We’ve just got to be prepared for that.”

The Huskies (5-2, 3-1) might have to be prepared for just about anything this Saturday.

They just don’t expect another Stanford-like performance against their defense.

“After a hard loss like that, there’s going to be a lot of criticism, there’s going to be a lot of negative things surrounding you,” Trufant said. “But you’ve just got to stay focused, keep working, and get better.”

Notable

Saturday’s game will be especially significant for UW backup linebacker Thomas Tutogi. The junior from Chula Vista, Calif., has an older brother, Taimi, who plays running back at Arizona. “To the whole family, it’s a big thing,” he said Tuesday. “My whole life, me and my brother have been on the same team. It’s a little different now because he has a different jersey and is on the other side of the ball.” The Tutogis will be well represented by family members at the game, albeit with split allegiances. The Tutogi family plans on wearing T-shirts with the words “Family Always” across the front — with an A in Arizona colors and the W in Washington purple. … Safety Justin Glenn (foot) sat out Tuesday’s practice, opening the door for Will Shamburger to take most of the first-team snaps at free safety.