The nation knows we should have won, Polk says

SEATTLE — In the moments following the University of Washington’s 37-30 overtime loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night, Huskies quarterback Jake Locker opted out of a post-game interview so that he could cool off and not say something he might regret.

Running back Chris Polk might have been wise to use the same strategy on Monday.

Two days after the heartbreaking loss, Polk calmly told reporters that the Huskies actually beat the Fighting Irish.

“I’m at peace with (the game) because the nation knows we should have won, and they (the Notre Dame players) know we should have won,” he said. “As long as they know that, I’m OK with it.”

When asked why he felt that way, Polk went one step further. He claimed that two goal-line calls — a two-point conversion by Notre Dame’s Robert Hughes and a Polk run that was initially ruled a touchdown but later reversed — were the reason for the loss.

“Everyone knows,” he said. “If they watch the replays, they know that on (Notre Dame’s) two-point conversion, his knee was down. And they know that when I scored, it was a touchdown. They didn’t beat us; the refs beat us, in a sense.”

Polk was the only UW player or coach publicly criticizing the officiating on Monday. Head coach Steve Sarkisian, tight end Kavario Middleton and Locker all went the diplomatic route by saying that the Huskies (2-3) had plenty of opportunities to win the game but came up short.

“Regardless of those two things,” Sarkisian said of the controversial calls, “we had an opportunity to win the ball game, and we weren’t able to do it.”

Locker, who rarely — if ever — says anything controversial in interviews, was echoing his head coach’s sentiment Monday.

“It’s just like any other loss,” the junior quarterback said. “There were a lot of things we couldn’t control; there were a lot of things we could control. Neither of them you can go back and change.”

Two days earlier, after his final pass was jarred from teammate D’Andre Goodwin’s grasp in overtime, Locker skipped out on a post-game interview for the first time in his three years as the Huskies’ starting quarterback. He admitted Monday to being frustrated by the loss, but Locker appeared more disappointed with the missed opportunities than the officiating.

“It was difficult after the game; I’m not going to lie to you,” he told reporters on Monday afternoon. “I hung onto it a little bit (Sunday). But I’m excited for another week of preparation and getting ready for another conference game against Arizona (this weekend).”

Both Locker and Sarkisian admitted Monday that the quarterback was not in the right frame of mind to face the media Saturday night.

“He was emotional,” Sarkisian said. “I don’t blame him for not wanting to talk, because when you are emotional, you can say things sometimes that you might regret later. And some things are better left unsaid. … He deserved this night off.”

Locker, who watched a replay of the Notre Dame game in its entirety Sunday, felt that he did the right thing by not talking immediately after the loss.

“I didn’t feel like I was in the best emotional state to answer questions,” he said on Monday. “I didn’t want to have to sit up here (in front of the media Monday afternoon) and explain anything. I felt like it was in my best interest and the team’s best interest to take some time to cool down. That’s what I thought after the game.”

The general consensus was that the Huskies have moved on and turned their focus to the Arizona game. Even Polk was able to shrug off what happened on Saturday night.

“I’ve seen the replay, and I thought I was in, but I guess they saw it differently,” the redshirt freshman said Monday afternoon. “There’s no use crying over spoiled milk. There’s nothing you can do about it.”