SEATTLE — Tim Lappano remembers his trips to Husky Stadium as an opposing coach at Washington State and Cal in the late 1980s and early 90s, and the visits he later made to Seattle while coaching at Oregon State from 2000 to 2003.
“It was a nightmare,” said Lappano, now Washington’s offensive coordinator. “You have to remember I came in here a lot in the late 80s, early 90s when this was the peak of Huskies football, best it’s ever been, and it was a nightmare coming in here. A nightmare.”
And now, with the Huskies set to host Oregon State today? Let’s just say teams don’t fear trips to Montlake like they once did. Sure, opposing coaches will still say every week that Husky Stadium is one of the toughest, loudest places to play in college football, but in recent years, the home-field advantage just hasn’t been there for the Huskies.
“It has to be the one place you count on great things happening for you,” said Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. “You want to have your consistency. It’s always great to go on the road, but you want to be able to count on winning at home. What we have to do is create the plays and energy to get our fans excited and make it that very difficult place it has always been.”
Yet in recent years, including all of Willingham’s tenure, Husky Stadium hasn’t been a difficult place to win. Under Willingham, the Huskies are 6-16 at home through three and a half seasons, and just 2-12 in Pac-10 play. Add in the 2004 season and the Huskies have won just seven of their past 28 at home and two of 18 conference home games.
From 1986 to 2003, Washington lost just 20 games at Husky Stadium, yet the Huskies have lost one more than that in four-plus seasons since. Prior to 2004, the Huskies’ last losing record at home came in 1976, and Washington was unbeaten at home six times from 1991 to 2001.
“It’s hard to explain,” said sophomore linebacker Mason Foster. “It makes my stomach hurt losing at home like that. Having the support of all the fans, then you look at them and feel like you’ve disappointed them. This is a great place to play, and when you end up losing it’s just terrible.”
The obvious reason for the poor home record is that recent Washington teams just haven’t been very good. But that still doesn’t explain how Willingham’s teams have won as many Pac-10 home games in Tucson, two, as they have in Seattle. Saying the teams have struggled doesn’t seem to explain how the Huskies are seemingly as bad at home (six wins in 20 games) as they are on the road (five wins in 19 attempts).
The teams in the 1980s and 1990s were not only more talented than recent teams, but they also made teams dread the game that awaited at Husky Stadium.
“Nobody has ever thought they were going to lose a game, but you knew you had to play an almost perfect game — no turnovers, win the battle of special teams — to have a chance to win a game in here,” Lappano said. “The other thing I always remember about this place was, even if you came in here and upset Washington, you were going to get your butt knocked off. There was a physical group of guys in here for a long time and a lot of guys have said that. That was true. You knew you were going to come in here and it was going to be physical, it was going to be a beat down, physical, get after it [game] whether you wanted it or not. So you better gear up and get ready to go because these guys are going to hit you for 60 minutes. It was no fun.”
For local players, many of whom grew up going to Husky games, the losses are especially tough to swallow. Tripper Johnson, the Huskies’ 26-year-old walk-on safety, started going to games 20 years ago with his father. His favorite memory of being a Husky fan, he says, was going to the 1993 Rose Bowl one year after Washington won its national title.
During that 1992 season that took them to the Rose Bowl, Johnson wouldn’t have seen the Huskies lose even if he went to every home game. Sixteen years later, he’s yet to win a game at home. That’s something Johnson and the Huskies would love to change against the Beavers this afternoon, not only for themselves, but the fans that have suffered through so many losses.
“I was a fan when I was younger, and you come to watch wins,” he said. “It’s disappointing, because I want for fans to be able to come to games now and see us compete and win a bunch of games. So it is frustrating.”
And even though the Huskies are two-touchdown underdogs to the Beavers today, they have going for them the fact that Oregon State is winless so far this season on the road. While the Huskies are looking for their first win of the season, the Beavers are trying to prove to themselves that they can be good away from Corvallis.
“That’s a big deal,” said Oregon State cornerback Brandon Hughes. “It’s a huge deal for us, because we’ve been struggling on the road as of late. In order to go forward, we have to be able win games on the road. We can’t just win at home, otherwise that’ll leave us at what, .500? That’s not where we want to be at the end of the year. It’ll be a big confidence booster for the rest of the season if we can pull this off.”
For the Huskies, any win would do, but pulling off an upset and giving a home crowd something to cheer about would be even better.
“It’s a good time to win right here,” said Foster. “A very good time.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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