SEATTLE — It was supposed to be the beginning of something beautiful.
When the University of Washington football team played host to previously nationally ranked Cal on Nov. 17, 2007, and knocked off the Bears 37-23, it looked like the turning point of Husky football.
That was almost 22 months, and 15 losses, ago. Since that afternoon, the only notable thing that has happened to Husky football is The Streak.
UW is mired in the nation’s longest losing streak and, with a loss today, would set a Pac-10 record for consecutive defeats.
While the Huskies’ new coaching staff has preached to the players to forget the past, The Streak definitely weighs on some of UW’s older players.
“It does,” junior linebacker Mason Foster said this week. “Even though people say they don’t think about it, it definitely does. I never thought we’d lose like that. It just fuels me to work harder and focus that much more.”
Fifteen losses ago, when senior running back Louis Rankin ran for 224 yards in the Huskies’ upset of Cal, the current drought seemed impossible.
“That was definitely a big game,” offensive lineman Cody Habben said. “We were on a big high. Then we ended up losing two straight (at the end of the 2007 season). I don’t know how that happened, but we ended up doing it.”
Said Foster: “After that (Cal) win, I thought that was just the start of it. I thought, OK, we’re getting ready for next year. We may not make it to a bowl, but we’re getting ready for next year. I never pictured (losing 15 consecutive games).”
The Streak undoubtedly will end at some point. And today’s game against Idaho looks like a perfect opportunity. The Huskies are 21-point favorites against an Idaho team that beat New Mexico State in last Saturday’s opener.
First-year UW coach Steve Sarkisian has spent a good part of this week reminding his players that they need to play well to beat the Vandals.
He’s also tried to pick up his players’ confidence by erasing The Streak from their memories. Sarkisian’s pat line for the week has been, “I only have a one-game losing streak,” but he also conceded that a victory would be especially sweet for his long-suffering program.
“There’s no doubt,” he said. “This team has worked so hard for so long to battle, and we’re just trying to get a win for these guys.”
As losing streaks go, Sarkisian wouldn’t appear to be much of an expert. In seven years as a USC assistant, he lost a total of 15 games and went six consecutive years at the school without losing back-to-back games.
But Sarkisian has not been immune to prolonged losing. During what would be his last season as a quarterback, his Saskatchewan Roughriders lost their final nine games of the 1999 Canadian Football League season.
“We weren’t a very good team that year,” Sarkisian said, shaking his head. “We weren’t very good in Oakland when I was there (as an assistant coach during a 5-11 season in 2004), either.
“Losing streaks are hard on everybody involved. They’re grinding, and they’re tough. It’s not fun for anybody. But if you talk to any of our players, they don’t know how that was before. They just know that they lost last week, and we’re going to do everything in our power to get one this week.”
Most of the Huskies are claiming to have short memories, saying the 15-game losing streak is not a part of their current mindset.
But if The Streak gets snapped today? It’s safe to say that, for many players, almost 22 months of emotion will be unleashed at Husky Stadium.
“The first win’s going to be big,” Foster said. “It’s going to be important.”
Whether it’s the beginning of something beautiful is another story — especially with USC coming to town next week and back-to-back road games after that.
“Even when you win, you’ve got to focus on the next week,” Habben said. “First, we’ve got to get one.”
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