One more chance
Huskies need a win to avoid historic low
BERKELEY, Calif. – Tyrone Willingham will be on the sideline for the final time.
Steve Sarkisian will be in Pasadena, Calif.
The Apple Cup will be two weeks in the rear-view mirror.
Where the Washington Huskies’ minds will be is anyone’s guess.
Washington and California belatedly end their regular seasons today at Memorial Stadium in what has become almost an afterthought of a football game for a lot of folks with other things on their minds.
One of those is Willingham, who said he will do his best to treat this game like any other.
“I think the focus will still be the same: Let’s find a way to win the football game,” he said. “Obviously, you’d like for all your seniors to participate – that’s something big to have them have a chance to finish out. But the No. 1 thing will be find a way to win the football game. … There will be no real sentimental conversation surrounding my last ball game or anything of that nature.”
Even without that, his players are aware of what’s going on.
“I don’t think it’s really hit everyone yet that he’s leaving,” redshirt freshman cornerback Quinton Richardson said early this week. “I really do appreciate him, though. He’s the one that gave me my scholarship and got me here, and I really do appreciate it and I’m going to miss him. He is the head coach, and he was there for us when we needed him.”
Many players said they would like to send Willingham and this senior class off with a win.
They’d all like a win for themselves, too.
The Huskies are 0-11, and this is their final chance to avoid going into the record books as the first winless team in modern UW history, and the first 0-12 team in the history of the Pacific-10 Conference.
No one goes into a season hoping to finish 1-11, but it’s the highest goal still available to these Huskies.
“It would make a big difference for me because it would be my first college win,” freshman Jermaine Kearse said. “It would be a good motivation for me to get that first college win this year and then carry it on to next year.”
All indications are that the Huskies will play their next season under Sarkisian, now USC offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach. The hire still hasn’t been officially announced, and Sarkisian will be with the Trojans today when they meet rival UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
Even before Sarkisian’s selection was reported Thursday, the Huskies understood that film of this final game will be studied carefully by whatever coach will be in charge when the team regroups for spring practice.
“A lot of guys see it as motivation – you want to go harder and give it the extra 10 percent,” Richardson said. “I look at it both ways. I sort of go hard no matter what in a game. But at the same time, I know that the new coach is coming in, I’ve got to audition to keep my position and things like that.”