Just a brutal loss for the Huskies, who blew a 15-point lead today to drop to 2-6.
Jordan Reffett called it embarrassing, while Tyrone Willingham said it hurts “an awful lot.”
The Huskies offense put up big numbers getting 41 points and 572 yards of total offense, but five turnovers kept Arizona in the game, and Washington’s defense couldn’t stop Willie Tuitama and the Wildcats’ spread passing attack.
A week after Oregon set a school record running the ball, Tuitama did the same passing with 510 yards.
Jake Locker piled up 493 yards of offense (336 passing, 157 rushing) but his big game was somewhat tainted by four turnovers.
A few quotes from the UW players and coaches:
Willingham opened by saying “I think it goes without saying that this one is very, very difficult. To do a lot of things that we did and not be able to find a way to stop them and give ourselves an opportunity to win the game is very disappointing.”
Defensive coordinator Kent Baer called it a “really frustrating day.”
Reffett, one of the team’s most outspoken leaders (not to mention a great quote) had this to say:
ON THE TEAM’S MORALE: “This is obviously one of the worst losses I’ve ever been a part of. To be up 41-26 in the fourth quarter and to come back and lose 48-41 is disappointing, but there’s no quit in this football team, and I’ve said that over and over again. I still believe in this football team, and this football team believes in itself. We’re not going to be down in the dumps. We’re going to go to work tomorrow, and we’ve obviously got to work twice as hard when we get together.”
ON ARIZONA’S NUMBERS: “It’s embarrassing. As a defense, we want to go out there shut people down. And we haven’t been able to do that for a long time.”
It’s worth noting that Reffett went out of his way without being asked to stick up for his coaches:
“It’s totally on the players. It’s not the schemes, it’s not the coaches, it’s us. We’ve got to make plays. That’s the bottom line and I’ll stick to that all year long. People talk about Coach Baer or Coach Willingham, it’s not their fault. Honestly, it’s our fault. We’ve got to make plays. We’re in the right spot, we’ve got to make plays, that’s the bottom line.”
ON LOCKER’S BIG DAY: “That guy plays his ass off man, and I just wish that we could reward that kid with a couple of Ws, because I tell you what, these last couple of weeks, he’s been shining. He’s a special player. I feel bad for that kid. He ain’t used to losing and he doesn’t like to lose. My hat’s off to him and we’re going to try to pick it up for that offense, because they moved the ball well today.”
Check out tomorrow’s Herald for full coverage of the game.
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