SEATTLE – In the continuing, spectacular development of Isaiah Stanback as an NCAA Division I quarterback, we will see the status of his leadership skills in the days ahead.
The Huskies have two weeks to put Saturday’s crushing loss to UCLA behind them. They may need all that time, but if Stanback is the type of leader I believe he is, and if he has the players’ respect I believe he has, Oregon may be in a tad more trouble Oct. 15 than the Ducks originally thought.
That’s even taking into account that the game’s at Autzen Stadium, college football’s answer to Hades.
Conventional wisdom allows two days for wound-licking. But given how close Washington came to knocking off a Top-25 team in its own house before giving the game away to the Bruins, Stanback knows as well as anyone that conventional wisdom doesn’t apply here.
This defeat was different. No Husky team has put together such a complete game against a quality opponent since the 2003 Apple Cup, a 27-19 victory over eighth-ranked Washington State.
Since then, Washington has won two games – against two equally dismal teams in San Jose State and Idaho – and has lost 14. The losses continue as relentlessly as mortgage.
Despite the undeniable improvement under coach Tyrone Willingham, the reward of a victory over a quality opponent hasn’t emerged. The 21-17 loss to UCLA carries the danger of yanking the wheels off, ala 2004, and Stanback knows it.
That’s the reason he’s approaching this week a little differently.
“I’m not usually the talker; I try to lead by example,” Stanback said. “But I know I have to get everybody up this week. That means I have to get myself up this week.”
Credit Willingham for his refusal to crow about moral victories, as so many have chosen to do. The talk after Saturday’s loss was about a turnaround where it involved the Huskies, a 1-10 team in 2004, whose program is on its fourth head coach since 1998.
Willingham is a bottom-line guy. Inside, he has to like what he sees – Stanback’s star potential at quarterback, Craig Chambers’ big-play potential at wideout, a defensive line that’s finding its way, C.J. Wallace’s promise as the Huskies’ most jolting hitter at safety since Hakim Akbar – but he won’t entertain the possibility that Washington has even established eye contact with a turnaround.
That’s not possible until the W’s come. Willingham’s job depends on it, as Notre Dame pointed out to him about as subtly as, well, sudden unemployment.
“I would much prefer to be crying to our team about how poorly we played, but we won,” Willingham said. “That is what you want to do. You want to win.”
Still, Willingham is smart enough to know that if he fails to acknowledge the positive things that came out of Rose Bowl Stadium on Saturday night, he could very well lose this team before he finishes his first season. After all, as downtrodden and as sick of losing as the players are, they recognize the improvement that’s taking place here.
This is a much different team than the one that gave up 56 points to Cal on Sept. 10 at Husky Stadium. Despite a growing number of injuries this season and well-documented recruiting problems in recent years that have left the Huskies out-manned in many positions, the argument could be made that Willingham has orchestrated improvement in the quality of play that has been much quicker in coming than anyone could reasonably expect.
The fact that the record doesn’t yet show it is reflective of how far the program has fallen since it won the 2001 Rose Bowl.
Mistakes come up in 2005, but nowhere close to the 2004 rate, when Washington turned the ball over an average of nearly once a quarter. As a result, Washington can at least hope to be competitive against most Pac-10 teams.
Where hope was lost in 2004, it’s coming back in 2005. While the talent isn’t such that the Huskies can afford to commit an avalanche of errors and expect to win, they can reasonably expect, in contrast to 2004, that victory is within reach if they keep the faux pas at a minimum.
“Within our team, we know we’re good,” Stanback said. “We feel we’re turning it around, but we turn back around by making mistakes. If we don’t turn the ball over, we could have won every game this year. Once we stop doing that, we’ll start winning.”
Already, Stanback was in the process of shaking UCLA. Next, he would work on his teammates – more verbally than he ever has.
He’s getting pretty convincing.
Washington 24, Oregon 23.
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