The Washington Huskies not only lost at Arizona on Saturday, but at least one Wildcat said he thought they quit.
According to The Tucson Citizen, here’s what tailback Nic Grigsby said: “Right before the half … (Arizona tight end) A.J. Simmons and me were saying these guys are looking sick. I looked over there and they were not talking to each other, not doing nothing. We sensed they were quitting already.”
On Monday, UW coach Tyrone Willingham defended his team against that charge.
“No, I don’t think so,” Willingham said. “I think that’s depending on how you take that comment and exactly the words that were used and you interpret it, but I think our kids kept playing and kept trying. We just were not successful, but I do not think our kids quit.”
As Willingham implies, when a team gives full effort for 60 minutes and still loses, 48-14, that brings up a whole different set of problems.
Coaches and players will try to get a handle on those during the remaining 11 days before Washington (0-5 overall, 0-3 Pacific-10 Conference) returns to action Oct. 18 versus Oregon State at Husky Stadium.
“We enter another phase of our season, and that being the second bye week that we’re entering to,” Willingham said Monday. “Our focus as always will be one, to get healthy; two, to improve our football team and work those areas that we think need a lot of improvement; and then make sure we have developed our younger players and keep them progressing.”
In that first category, Willingham said he expects most players who missed the Arizona game to be healthy enough to play against the Beavers.
He singled out receiver D’Andre Goodwin and safety Nate Williams as likely to return, although not necessarily at 100 percent health.
However, he said safety Darin Harris (concussion) is “the major question” who could be out for an extended time.
And, of course, quarterback Jake Locker (thumb) is expected to be out until at least mid-November. That means redshirt freshman Ronnie Fouch will get several more chances to build on his performance at Arizona in his first career start.
“I thought Ronnie’s play was good and solid,” Willingham said. “What affected our overall offense more than anything else … was the fact that we couldn’t muster very much of a run game. I thought Ronnie hung in there when there was pressure.”
Willingham praised Fouch for battling heavy winds in Tucson. He said the redshirt freshman didn’t hesitate to put the ball in the air and give Husky receivers several chances to make plays.
Fouch completed 12 of 28 passes for 181 yards with one touchdown and one interception. In four appearances this season, he has completed 49.3 percent of his passes with three touchdowns and one interception. He barely trails Locker in passing yards per game (128 to 126.5) and has a better rating (116.54 to 103.56).
“(Being the starter) felt different,” Fouch said. “But it’s tough losing the game. A couple of key third downs at the beginning of the game we didn’t connect on, and it was just tough after that moving the ball offensively. … Our offense kept fighting. When we got down by 20-30 points nobody gave up.”
Extra points
Willingham defended taking the redshirts off of two more true freshmen – tailback Terrance Dailey and receiver Cody Bruns – in a one-sided game near the middle of a winless season. Willingham said he simply plays the best players when he considers them ready to help the team. As for reports that Bruns wanted to redshirt, Willingham said, “Let me say it this way, I didn’t hear anything about him not wanting that opportunity.” … Fouch confirmed that a wind whipping from the south affected passing at Arizona. He also said he got good instruction from Locker, who traveled with the team and watched from the sideline. … UW has five known oral commitments for the class of 2009, the lowest total in the Pac-10. Asked what pitch he is giving to recruits in light of the winless start, Willingham said, “I think that our recruits can see that there is a young football team out there playing and that with some growth it is going to be a much better football team.”
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808
blogs.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
LOST WEEKEND
The numbers from the weekend of bad football for the Huskies, Cougars and Seahawks:
UWWSUHawks
Margin of defeat342538
First downs121113
Net yards rushing632674
Total yards allowed449325523
Turnovers recovered000
Third-down efficiency8-162-141-11
Team completion pct.42.948.451.9
Opponent completion pct.81.062.276.9
Time of possession diff.-12:24-9:00-12:56
W-L record0-51-51-3 BAD STARTS
Longest winless streaks to start a season for the Huskies since 1900:
YearStartFinal W-L
19690-91-9
20080-5TBD
19570-4-13-6-1
19380-4-13-5-1
20040-41-10
19390-44-5
19630-36-5
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