The UW prez now examines Ty Willingham's 11-25 record

The University of Washington Huskies football offense looked formidable the first time it was shown this season, and such was the case on the final occasion. Unfortunately, first appearances, as many divorcees and used-car buyers know, can be deceiving. Yes, the "O" looked pretty promising that first time out: last spring at the annual intra-squad game. The last time, Saturday night, Dec. 1, in Honolulu, the Dawgs hustled up a 21-0 lead against unbeaten Hawaii, mainly on turnovers and an impressive running game. But the now 12-0 Hawaii Warriors prevailed as an intoxicatingly hot Saturday night in paradise became a cold-sober Sunday morning in Seattle. The Huskies failed to score during the second half, losing 35-28 and finishing another bad-Dawg season 4-9.
The University of Washington Huskies football offense looked formidable the first time it was shown this season, and such was the case on the final occasion. Unfortunately, first appearances, as many divorcees and used-car buyers know, can be deceiving. Yes, the "O" looked pretty promising that first time out: last spring at the annual intra-squad game. The last time, Saturday night, Dec. 1, in Honolulu, the Dawgs hustled up a 21-0 lead against unbeaten Hawaii, mainly on turnovers and an impressive running game. But the now 12-0 Hawaii Warriors prevailed as an intoxicatingly hot Saturday night in paradise became a cold-sober Sunday morning in Seattle. The Huskies failed to score during the second half, losing 35-28 and finishing another bad-Dawg season 4-9.

The University of Washington Huskies football offense looked formidable the first time it was shown this season, and such was the case on the final occasion. Unfortunately, first appearances, as many divorcees and used-car buyers know, can be deceiving. Yes, the "O" looked pretty promising that first time out: last spring at the annual intra-squad game. The last time, Saturday night, Dec. 1, in Honolulu, the Dawgs hustled up a 21-0 lead against unbeaten Hawaii, mainly on turnovers and an impressive running game. But the now 12-0 Hawaii Warriors prevailed as an intoxicatingly hot Saturday night in paradise became a cold-sober Sunday morning in Seattle. The Huskies failed to score during the second half, losing 35-28 and finishing another bad-Dawg season 4-9. (Update: The Seattle Seahawks also scored 28 but held Philadelphia to 24, moving to 8-4, largely because of Lofa Tatupu's three interceptions and Matt Hasselbeck's gutsy passing performance. The Hawks face division rival Arizona (6-6) next Sunday, Dec. 9, at Qwest Field.) The Huskies loss leaves embattled head coach Tyrone Willingham at 11-25 during his three losing seasons here, with a lot of boosters, as well as a prominent local columnist (Steve Kelley of The Seattle Times) calling for his job. The Willingham status promises to be made clearer soon, as a hands-on guy, UW prez Mark Emmert, takes it upon himself to evaluate the efficacy of maintaining Willingham for the remainder of his five-year deal. If not Ty, who'd be the guy? Some want Seahawks assistant coach Jim Mora, a former Husky player who had success as head mentor of the Atlanta Falcons (the latter with its own dog problems courtesy of Michael Vick). Maybe the other option would be to follow a Willingham pink slip with the hiring of Gary Pinkel. UW had the chance to do just that during the era of athletic director Barbara Hedges, but nothing would do but to go with the now-unutterable Rick Neuheisel; that led to the demise of program made great during the Don James era. Meanwhile, Pinkel advanced to the lead job at Missouri, where he had his minions ranked first in the nation until Saturday's loss to Oklahoma. The thought here is that Willingham will be retained for another season, but with the proviso that he improve assistant coaching, especially on defense. Otherwise, the only sure thing for the program is that gifted quarterback Jake Locker will be back, perhaps bringing a lot of quality recruits with him. Locker came within a few yards of becoming the first Pac-10 QB to rush for 1,000 yards during a season (albeit a prolonged, 13-game campaign). He still sails a lot of his passes, but Locker - odd for a quarterback - is emerging as one of the best running backs in Husky history. That's judging from first appearances, though.

  

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