Maybe Washington should have done more to get some cable station to move the USC game to last night or something.

Since they didn't, the game will be played on Nov. 1 ... and that's trouble. Among all the amazing records the USC has run up since Pete Carroll arrived in 2001, one of the most amazing is its 23-0 record in the month of November. That's the topic of my story for today's paper.

And, by the way, Pete Carroll (here discussing the UW game, doesn't consider that record a statistical fluke.

Meanwhile, here's a short look ahead to the game:

WASHINGTON (0-7 OVERALL, 0-4 PAC-10)
AT NO. 7 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (6-1, 4-1)
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m., Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Television: FSN. Radio: 950-AM.

The series: USC leads, 48-26-4, including six wins in a row. The Trojans lead 29-10 in the Coliseum and have won nine of the last 11 there.

The weather: It's cloudy this morning, and the forecast calls for upper 70s and a chance of rain during the game.

What to watch: This will mark the first time the Huskies take the field knowing that coach Tyrone Willingham won’t return next season. … USC leads the nation in total defense, scoring defense and pass efficiency defense, and ranks in the top 25 in every statistical category kept by the NCAA. The Trojans’ total defense (215.6 ypg) and scoring defense (8.1 ppg) are their best in 41 years, while their pass defense (129.6 ypg) is the best in 32 years.

What’s at stake: The Huskies remain stuck with North Texas for the nation’s longest losing streak (nine games) and as the only Football Bowl Subdivision teams without wins this season. … The Trojans are fifth in the BCS rankings, and their national championship hopes can’t afford a stumble. Similarly, USC is among four Pac-10 schools with only one conference loss so far. The Trojans have won seven straight homecoming games.

Coaches who don't want their names in the speculation for the UW job just need to issue a very straightforward statement saying so.

And unfortunately for some Huskies fans, that's exactly what Jim Mora did today.

Washington State at Stanford. Cougs outscored 135-13 over last two games. Stanford, 42-13.

No. 23 Oregon at California. Holiday Bowl bid could be on the line. Ducks, 41-32.

Arizona State at Oregon State. Beavers have six-game home winning streak. OSU, 34-20.

Washington at No. 7 Southern California. One of the widest point spreads in Pac-10 history seems low. SC, 53-3.

(By the way, when I was at USC football practice Wednesday, I spoke to SC defensive coordinator Nick Holt, and he made it clear that he isn't thinking about a 50-point spread:

"Quite honestly – this isn’t just coach-speak – every Pac-10 team plays us pretty good," he said. "So we’ve got to come every week. You just look at the last two (UW-USC games), it has come down to the last couple of plays of the game. We don’t take them lightly. We know their coaches – they’re very well coaches, quite honestly. And they’ve had a lot of injuries, and hopefully they don’t get it going against us.")

(And speaking of Holt, why hasn't his name come up in connection with the UW job? He's coordinator of one of the great defenses in modern football history, he has head coaching experience in the Northwest -- 5-18, but still: Idaho -- and has spent the better part of two decades coaching in the West and is now in his sixth season in the Pac-10. So, I asked if he'd be interested:

"I don’t think about that," he said. "To us down here and to people who know the Pac-10, that is just an awesome job. Whatever happens, they’re going to be good up there. Had they probably stayed with the guys they have now they’d end up being good. They’ve got some good young kids. They had some holes to fill recruiting. Hopefully they don’t catch up, but that is, as you know one of the premier places we think dow n here in the country. It’s just a matter of time.")

Last week: 4-0.
Season: 42-10.
UW games: 6-1.

The most memorable thing about today's Pac-10 basketball media day was our Q&A session with new Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, who also happens to be Barack Obama's brother-in-law.

Robinson talked a lot about how his life might change Tuesday, depending on the results of the election. And I'll have a story about that in the Friday paper.

However, one answer didn't make the paper, and it was Robinson's scouting report on Obama's basketball game.

So here it is, now:

"I can give you a scouting report on his game. I’ll also make a comment about his judgment: We have never played one-on-one. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

"I describe him as, 85 to 90 percent of the people who play basketball are pickup basketball players. They’re not college players or pros or European guys. They’re just average run-of-the-mill guys. And I think he is in the top quartile of guys who play pickup basketball. So he can play pickup basketball with just about anybody.

"His scouting report would be: He’s left-handed, and he’s a true lefty. He’s not one of these lefties who’s better going to their right. He is a left-handed left-hander. So he’s going left, and if you stop him from going left he’ll pick it up and shoot it. He has a very good outside shot as most people do as they get older. He’s wiry strong and he knows the game, which makes it fun to play with him. He’s a very high basketball IQ player, so it’s fun to play with him."

The media day format has each coach open with an overview of his team before taking questions from the reporters.

Lorenzo Romar used the opportunity to strike two main themes that those of us who cover the team have heard quite a bit already: that this team has more upperclassment with experience and that it has more playmakers.

Romar's time at the mike actually began with a little interplay with Mike Montgomery, the former Stanford legend who is now back in the league coaching at Cal.

The coaches speak in reverse order of their team's finish the season before, so Montgomery had just finished when Romar walked to the front of the room.

"I have a letter at my mother’s house from Mike Montgomery," Romar said. "Mike Montgomery recruited me to play basketball back in the day."

At that point, Montgomery yelled from the back of the room, "I’ve always ben a lousy recruiter, Lorenzo."

Romar smiled and went on with this assessment of the 2008-09 Huskies:

"We are excited up in Seattle about this season that is about to take place.

"We feel that we have a couple of things that we haven’t had as much in the last couple of years. One of those is experience. Now, the last two years we’ve had two seniors on each team … (but) this year we have Jon Brockman, Justin Dentmon and Artem Wallace who have all played together three years and Quincy Pondexter who has played with those guys for two years. So this will be three and four years of them playing together and I think that’s really important when you put a team out there on the floor that there is some continuity with guys who have played together. With our young players and even our sophomores, the entire load of the program won’t be on their shoulders. And in times past the last couple of years we’ve probably had more of that.

"We also have more playmakers. And what I mean by that is not necessarily more point guards, but more guys that make plays. … I think we’ve lacked that the last couple of years in terms of the numbers. I think that in turn is going to make us a better basketball team this year. We’ve had some good practices. I think out team is a close-knit team. Our team is already playing together. We’re still acclimating some of the new guys in. We’re kind of looking forward to this year."

Pac-10 men’s basketball capsules with teams listed in their order of finish as predicated by the annual media poll:

1. UCLA
Received 37 of the 38 first-place votes. The NBA has taken three starters from last season’s Final Four and Pac-10 championship squad. However, returning seniors Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Alfred Aboya will be complemented by another dazzling freshman class. If there’s a problem, it could be depth.

2. Arizona State
Received the only first-place vote that didn’t go to the Bruins. Expectations are high because all starters return from last season’s 21-win NIT squad. Top returnees are guard James Harden and forward Jeff Pendergraph, who chose another college season over the NBA draft. Still, there’s only one senior.

3. Southern California
USC lost its top two scorers: O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson. But the Trojans are aiming for a school-record third straight trip to the NCAA tournament behind guards Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis, forward Taj Gibson and an infusion of freshman and previously injured players expected to return.

4. Arizona
The Wildcats have become the league’s wild card team as a returning threesome of stars Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise is offset by the disruption of coach Lute Olson’s shocking resignation. Olson’s interim replacement is Russ Pennell, who was an Arizona State radio analyst last season.

5. Washington
Lorenzo Romar believes these Huskies are tournament contenders again because they have more experienced leaders than at any point since the team’s Sweet 16 days. That should make things easier on this highly ranked freshman class. Between the vets and the newcomers, Romar sees more playmakers.

6. Washington State
The core of WSU’s glory run – Derrick Low, Kyle Weaver and Robbie Cowgill – is gone. Now the challenge falls to guard Taylor Rochestie and center Aron Baynes to keep the program from dipping too far while a handful of first-year players are thrown immediately into coach Tony Bennett’s rotation.

7. Oregon
Much like the Cougars, the Ducks will turn to a new generation of players now that the long run led by Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Bryce Taylor is over. Returning starters Tajuan Porter and Joevan Catron will try to keep things afloat while another lauded freshman class eases in.

8. California
The Golden Bears lost forward Ryan Anderson and center DeVon Hardin to the NBA. However, they might have gained a lot with the hiring of Pac-10 coaching legend Mike Montgomery. His initial challenge will be getting enough out of his strong guard corps to compensate for the lack of big men.

9. Stanford
First-year coach Johnny Dawkins steps in for Trent Johnson, who bolted to Louisiana State. And his top priority will be finding anyone to step in for 7-footers Brook and Robin Lopez, who bolted for the NBA. Their departure moves Cardinal hopes to returnees Lawrence Hill, Anthony Goods and Mitch Johnson.

10. Oregon State
The Beavers were 0-18 in league play last season, costing Jay John his job. With nowhere to go but up, OSU reached across the country to hire Craig Robinson, who went 30-28 in two seasons at Brown and is Barack Obama’s brother-in-law. It remains to be seen if Robinson or Obama has the tougher job ahead.

Each team brings one player to Pac-10 media day. The only exception today is Washington State, which had to leave start guard Taylor Rochestie behind.

Rochestie was injured during a collision while practicing in Pullman. And apparently coach Tony Bennett and staff feared the worst.

Fortunately, it seems the worst didn't happen. X-rays to is injured shin came back negative, so while he missed a press conference, he may not miss any games.

Here's what Bennett told the Media Day audience:

"(He) was supposed to be here at Media Day and was in a collision at the end of practice. He got X-rays on his shin – we were very concerned, but they came back negative and we think he’ll be fine."

Here are the results of the annual media poll of writers who cover Pac-10 men's basketball.

1. UCLA (37 first place votes)
2. Arizona State (1)
3. USC
4. Arizona
5. Washington
6. Washington State
7. Oregon
8. California
9. Stanford
10. Oregon State

UW coach Lorenzo Romar hadn't seen the poll and didn't really want to react to it. However, Oregon coach Ernie Kent talked about "three top teams" and then listed them as UCLA, Arizona State and ... not USC, but Washington.

A few things Romar did talk about:

* As he has all preseason, the stressed that a big reason for encouragement is that there are upperclassmen in main contributing roles to make the adjustments easier for the talented underclassmen.

* He also stressed that there are more playmakers this season. By that he means guys -- regardless of position, who who make plays that impact the game.

* He said practices have been good and that is a close team.

*He said Jon Brockman -- who is here as the UW player representative to media day -- has progressed each season so far and will again. He said Brockman is more athletic this season ... " a sleek doberman, 250 and hard as a wall." "We’re going to cherish every moment of his last year here," Romar said.

* Romar also paid tribute to coach Lute Olson, and said he hopes his unfortunate exit from Arizona doesn't tarnis his legacy.lute not since this happened.

* He also said freshman Isaiah Thomas seems to be the only person who doesn't realize he's short -- a trait he said is similar to many previous short but successful players in Pac-10 history, including Nate Robinson.

* Finally, he paid tribute to football coach Tyrone Willingham, as both a coach and a person.

Otherwise, the highlight of the morning was hearing from Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, one of four new coaches in the conference this season. Robinson is the brother-in-law of Barack Obama and seemed eager to talk about all that being an in-law to a president might mean either personally or professionally. But like any coach, he isn't taking that result for granted, either.

It's that time of the season when college football and men's basketball begin overlapping.

There's evidence in today's paper:

Here's my football story from today's paper, in which USC coach Pete Carroll weighs in on what the coaching change could mean to UW ... and a couple of recommendations for potential coaches with USC ties.

Meanwhile, here is TNT reporterDoug Pacey's interview with Abdul Gaddy about his decision to join Lorenzo Romar and the Dawgs next season.

This blog will contain more of both sports throughout this day. First, it's Pac-10 basketball media day, so I'll be blogging the media's prediction of the conference race by around 10 a.m., and then should have other news updates from around the league as the day moves on.

But this afternoon also brings the final briefing from football coach Tyrone Willingham before his team flies down to LA for the USC game on Saturday. So I'll have more from that and from the Trojans this afternoon and evening as well.

1 USC (1) 6-1, 4-1. Survived challenge at Arizona; now the rest of their regular season will be spent in California ... starting with Washington's visit on Saturday.

2 Oregon (2) 6-2, 4-1. Four games over 40 points and three over 50.

3 Arizona (3) 5-3, 3-1. No win, but went toe-to-toe with Trojans.

4 Oregon State (4) 4-3, 3-1. Won four of last five to nudge above .500... but the best news for the Beavers is that coach Mike Riley is staying put.

5 California (5) 5-2, 3-1. Golden Bears lead Pac-10 in turnover margin.

6 Stanford (8) 4-4, 3-2. Trail only Ducks in Pac-10 rushing.

7 UCLA (7) 3-5, 2-3. Hung with Cal for a while, but talent won out over 60 minutes.

8 Arizona State (6) 2-5, 1-3. Few anticipated this huge step back in Erickson’s second season... least of all Erickson.

9 Washington (9) 0-7, 0-4. Ty Willingham goes from presumed lame duck to official lame duck.

10 Washington State (10) 1-7, 0-5. Cougs have started six offensive lines in eight games... and this week they'll try a new QB.

I've just arrived in LA for the Pac-10 basketball media day tomorrow and then, of course, for the UW-USC football game on Saturday.

I arrived to a story in the LA Times saying that USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian admits he would discuss taking over the head job at Washington if UW officials contacted him.

Sarkisian is only 34 -- older than Tripper Johnson, but still pretty young for head coaching material. There's something about being an SC coordinator, I guess. Sarkisian apparently was considered for the Oakland Raiders job, but is holding out to become a college head coach.

He makes just over $700,000, which is very good for a coordinator, but UW might be ready to go far enough beyond that where dollars shouldn't be a holdup.

Bellarmine Prep point guard Abdul Gaddy, one of the nation’s top basketball recruits, on Tuesday gave his oral commitment to play at the University of Washington.

Gaddy, 6-foot-3, 170 pounds, originally commited to Arizona. However, he withdrew that commitment this week when longtime Wildcats coach Lute Olson announced his retirement.

UW and UCLA were considered frontrunners for Gaddy once Arizona fell out of the picture.

Gaddy is about to play his senior season at Bellarmine and will become the fourth announced member of UW’s freshman class of 2009. The others are power forward Clarence Trent of Nevada, power forward Charles Garcia of City College of San Francisco and shooting guard C.J. Wilcox of Utah.

Their decisions can become official when the basketball signing period begins Nov. 12. And with four scholarships believed available, that will probably complete this UW class.

Gaddy’s father, Abdul Gaddy Sr., confirmed his son’s choice Tuesday to Dawgman.com and other news sources.

Meanwhile, in a notable smaller bit of hoops news, UW has announced that the tipoff of it's season opening basketball game at Portland has been moved back an hour to 8 p.m. Nov. 15.

That extra hour's wait might be frustrating for coach Lorenzo Romar, who met with the media Tuesday and sounded like a man mighty excited about his team and ready to get started.

"I’m telling you, our guys have really done a nice job," he said. "It is probably the toughest race for starting lineup and rotation that we’ve had. I went the scenario that the worst thing that can happen is you have four or five competing for one or two positions and none of them are stepping up. Well now this year we’ve got several stepping up for the same positions, so it’s making it pretty heated in practice."

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and Boise State coach Chris Petersen both sort of just changed the subject today when asked about their potential interest in taking over when Tyrone Willingham's job comes open at the end of this season.

Both coaches just sort of said they were concentrating on their next games and don't need the distraction of the UW questions ... while, of course, the best way to eliminate that distraction would be to say, "I'm not interested."

So, the reading of tea leaves begins.

Two of the top contributors from UW's freshman class -- receiver Jermaine Kearse and tight end Kavario Middleton -- said they committed to the university while knowing coach Tyrone Willingham's job status was uncertain.

Therefore, both said they don't regret their decision to become Huskies, even after Monday's news that Willingham will leave at the end of the season.

When I commited to come here I commit to the school and not moreso the coach," Kearse said. "Coach, he recruited me, which I was thankful for, but I came to play at the University of Washington and that’s what I plan to do."

"I was going to come here anyway," Middleton said. "I like (Willingham). He’s a good guy. But I was coming here."

Kearse said he heard the news by university e-mail, and Middleton said he learned through a text message from Kearse.

Coach Tyrone Willingham's dismissal as coach of the Washington Huskies was the No. 1 topic today in the Pac-10 football coaches' conference call.

Everyone asked spoke well of Willingham, as might be expected.

Beyond the compliments, a few pieces of news dribbled out.

First, Oregon State coach Mike Riley made it clear that he has no interest in leaving Corvallis for Seattle.

And second, Willingham himself said he met with his staff yesterday morning, but that he did not formally offer them the same decision that he was offered: whether to leave immediately or coach the final five games. Indications are that all will stay, and Willingham said he expects them to react professionally.

Willingham said that he emailed most of his players with the news yesterday, and that he will discuss the topic with them as a group when they resume practice today. However, he then wants to shift their focus as quickly as possible to the Saturday game at USC.

Meanwhile, Trojans coach Pete Carroll said the news doesn't affect his team, but he does believe it will affect the Huskies. Carroll said he expects UW to play with great passion for their coach on Saturday.

Otherwise, the call was filled with tributes to Willingham. Typical was Oregon's Mike Bellotti, who handles such questions well in his role as dean of Pac-10 coaches:

"I have great respect for Tyrone Willingham, both as a friend personally – because he and I have coached against each other for many years and he’s been in and out of the conference and has done a tremendous job representing football coaches across the nation. He’s the president of the (American Football Coaches Association) and in that role I think his leadership has been essential in to us continuing to move forward. He has been a guy that I respect as a coach, I like and admire as a person and it’s always difficult when things don’t go right to see how it happened. I don’t have any understanding of the inner workings of that thing, but I thought they handled it in a manner that allowed him to finish this season and coach his players, and I think that’s really important. And he certainly had a choice probably not to do that, but knowing Tyrone there’s no other way he’d go out but coaching his guys and doing it the right way. I’ve always felt that Washington is a scary situation. They’ve had great recruiting years each of the last couple of years, in my opinion. A lot of kids that we would have liked to have had stayed in the state. I think he’s done a very good job in that regard. But as he said himself, if you don’t win enough, it’s not going to matter."

Neither athletic director Scott Woodward nor president Mark Emmert would name any names under consideration to replace Tyrone Willingham as head football coach after this season.

But they suggested that the media would probably step in to fill that void, and they were right.

When these kinds of jobs pop open, names seem to come from four primary ares: Guys with ties to the area, successful major college coaches who might be lured from their current jobs, assistants who might be ready to step up, and successful guys from mid-major programs who might be ready to step up.

The list below represents all those kinds of guys:

JIM MORA
Seahawks assistant and tabbed to take over for Mike Holmgren next season. But he’s a former Husky, he infamously expressed interest in the job while head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and he seems the favorite of current UW fans -- or at least those with computer access.

LANE KIFFIN
Former USC offensive coordinator who left for the NFL. He was fired this season by the Raiders, but that’s a tough job. And Pete Carroll stands forever as proof that NFL mortals can become college deities. And he's interested.

GARY PINKEL
Former UW assistant under Don James who has turned Missouri into a national power. He’s under contract there through 2012, but you know contracts.

DAVE CHRISTENSEN
Even if they couldn’t get Pinkle they would have a pretty good chance of luring his offensive coordinator, an Everett native who played at UW in the early 1980s.

WILL MUSCHAMP
Defensive coordinator at No. 1-ranked Texas. He was defensive coordinator for national-champion LSU team when UW president Mark Emmert and AD Scott Woodward were there.

CHIP KELLY
Oregon offensive coordinator. There's no questioning his offense, and now has growing familiarity to the Northwest and the Pac-10.

DEWAYNE WALKER
UCLA defensive coordinator, Willingham wanted badly to bring him up to Seattle this season.

CHRIS PETERSEN
Ongoing success at Boise State. He hasn’t shown much indication that he wants to move, but UW could throw lots of money at him and perhaps even offer to paint the field blue.

PAT HILL
Before there was Chris Petersen, there was Pat Hill with his ongoing success at Fresno State. He’s had a lot of success down there, and lots of folks wonder what he might do with Pac-10 resources and recruiting to a place like Seattle instead of Fresno.

SKIP HOLTZ
He was a hot choice for about 45 seconds when East Carolina broke off to its fast start this season. Lately, not so much.

TODD GRAHAM
The new Holtz, but based on his current success at Tulsa.

GARY PATTERSON
The new Holtz, or is it the new Graham?, but based on his current success at TCU.

JEFF TEDFORD
Under contract at Cal through 2013 and unlikely to leave now that the university finally seems to be making good on its long-delayed promise to improve facilities. Still, he might be interested in moving to a campus where football is king.

MIKE RILEY
Oregon State coach does more with less than anyone in the Pac-10. But he left Corvallis once and lived to regret it. He’s not likely to bolt a second time.

MIKE TICE
Former Seattle Seahawk tight end went on to coach the Minnesota Vikings. He was interested in the job last time and probably would be again.

MIKE LEACH
Another guy named Mike, and this one is having lots of success while scoring lots of points at Texas Tech.

Tyrone Willingham is going on with his 4:30 coaches show on KJR, 950-AM.

UW president Mark Emmert said that the decision to replace football coach Tyrone WIllingham was mostly made after the loss to Oregon State. Only the details and decisions were left after that, although he admits that Saturday's loss to Notre Dame didn't help things.

Emmert said he was surprised by the team's troubles this season -- especially on offense. He said he doesn't necessarily expect the new coach to get the Huskies to the Rose Bowl next season, but that he believes there is good young talent on the roster.

Emmert said he doesn't have a particular name or even handful of names in mind, but that this will allow the school to begin looking for that next coach immediately without going behind anyone's back.

He said he would be open to someone with head coaching experience or a coordinator, someone from college or the NFL ... although he noted that obviously someone with college head coach experience is easiest to judge.
He wouldn't "speculate" about Seahawks assistant Jim Mora, a popular name among UW fans.

"Change can be a good thing or a bad thing," quarterback Jake Locker said of the news today that coach Tyrone Willingham will leave the UW football team at the end of this season.

Locker said it is "tough" to see this happen to the coach and staff that recruited him to UW. And he said he would like to put in word to athletic director Scott Woodward in favor of retaining offensive coordinator Tim Lappano.

However, he said this is an "important time" for the football team to hang together over the next five games, starting Saturday at USC.

He said the coaching change won't affect his eventual decision of whether to stay at UW through his senior season.

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham says he will step down at the end of the 2008 season at his weekly press conference today.

Here is his opening statement:

"I’ll make a statement regarding my future at the University of Washington. Scott Woodward and I have met and we have come to a decision that at the end of the 2008 football season, they will move in another direction with the head football coach at this university. It is my desire to complete and finish the football season and do that in the manner that I have done it: Unwavering in my approach and commitment to our young men and to the goals we have set for them: that they should be championship player, championship students, championship persons and they should have fun in the matter that is reflective in the values of this program and the university community. I’m hoping that this announcement will allow the Husky family to come together and eliminate all the speculation and all the negativity that has surrounded the program and (allow) all these young men can do the things necessary to be successful both on and off the football field.

The Huskies are 0-7 after Saturday's 33-7 loss to Notre Dame. Willingham's record is 11-32 in his four seasons at UW.

Athletic director Scott Woodward said the announcement ends speculation of what is going to happen with Willingham, who had a year remaining on his contract.

"It became quite obviously that the performance on the football field wasn’t up to what we talked about at the beginning of the season and previous to the season and it became more obvious as time went on," Woodward said in explaining his decision to make the move -- and the announcement -- now.

Washington currently has a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season, tied with North Texas for the longest in the country.

A few other highlights from the press conference:

*Woodward apparently raised the issue with Willingham on Sunday. Willingham didn't want to characterize the talks today, however, Woodward said that Willingham is always professional.

*Woodward said the search for a new coach will begin immediately and he wouldn't rule out that a coach could be named before this season ends.

*Woodward had said that he didn't plan to make a move until after the season. However, he said today that his primary concern was leaving the players "orphaned" without their head coach. That issue doesn't apply now, since Willingham will stay on. For his part, Willingham said he is glad that he will be allowed to say. He also said that he doesn't think his leadership will be any more compromised as an official lame duck than it had been as a speculative lame duck.

* Willingham said he wouldn't rule out anything with regard to his future, including returning as a college football head coach. He said he expects his staff to be professional in continuing to coach the team while looking after their own employment situations.

*Things happened quickly enough where Willingham did not have enough time to tell his team that this announcement was about to be made. He saw quarterback Ronnie Fouch just before the public announcement, and informed him. Fouch said he and most of the team had supported Willingham and that he believes the team will continue to play hard for him.

* Both Willingham and Woodward said they hope that by making the announcement now, it will ease the constant speculation that had hung over the team as each loss has piled up. Both also said they hope this will help offer some clarity to recruits. Willingham said the announcement might open minds that had closed.

*University president Mark Emmert was not part of today's announcement. However, he said he will be available to answer questions from individual members of the media.

In the wake of UW's loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, no offensive or special teams players were honored as players of the week.

However, linebacker Mason Foster was honored for his work on defense and fullback Austin Sylvester, defensive tackle Jovon O’Connor and safety Greg Walker were honored for work on the scout teams.

Foster, a sophomore from Seaside, Calif., is UW's top tackler this season, led both teams with 10 total tackles.

Meanwhile, FSN has picked up the Huskies next home game -- Arizona State's visit on Nov. 8. A 4 p.m. kickoff has been set.

Finally -- for now -- true freshman defensive tackle Senio Kelemete isn't listed on the depth chart for Saturday's game at USC, and indication that the knee injury he suffered during pregame warmups before the Notre Dame game is serious. Johnie Kirton is listed as the starter.

We're scheduled to hear from Coach Willingham at noon. I'll be back with any news after that.

Last week
The Huskies fell to 0-7 with a 33-7 loss to Notre Dame. The Huskies avoided a shutout with a D'Andre Goodwin touchdown reception in the final three minutes, mostly against Irish reserves. The Huskies remain locked with North Texas for the nation's longest losing streak -- nine games -- and as the only two teams that haven't won yet this season. The loss assures the Huskies of a losing season and eliminates them from bowl eligibility.

Something to build on
Goodwin had seven catches. Mason Foster led the team in tackles again and continues to have a nice season. I usually try to make these answers about 50 words long, but in this case, I'm fresh out.

Something to work on
The trite response would be "Everything." Unfortunately, that's also the serious response. No area of the team was good enough Saturday to be considered solid.

Personnel report
Defensive tackle Senio Kelemete, safety Victor Ayiewa and tailback David Freeman all went out with injuries. We might get a prognosis on them Monday. True freshman Cody Bruns recorded his first career reception late in the game, but he still isn't being used in any kind of way that seems to justify the decision to take off his redshirt. However, the personnel move that continues to dominate all others is the coaching situation. And with the minimum assumed requirements for Tyrone Willingham to retain his job -- .500 record and bowl bid -- now out of reach, the question has shifted sharply from "if" to "when."

The week ahead
As of Monday morning, the Huskies are 42-point underdogs in what projects as their toughest game of the season: traveling to Los Angeles to meet USC in the Coliseum. The Trojans are No. 5 in the new BCS rankings and No. 7 in the new Associated Press poll. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be shown on FSN.

It isn't often that a 33-7 score sounds closer than the game actually was, but that might have been the case here.

(Here is my game story. Here is columnist John McGrath's take.) And here's a final look at the whole Willingham/Weis/Notre Dame thing.)

The Huskies didn’t make it across midfield until six minutes were left in the game. And they came within three minutes of suffering their first shutout since 2004 and their first shutout at home since 1976.

And while they avoided that indignity, there were others.

The loss officially doomed them to their fifth straight losing season and mathematically eliminated them from bowl consideration.

They remain chained to North Texas -- who lost to Troy -- sharing the nation’s longest losing streak and the distinction of being the only winless schools in the NCAA Bowl Subdivision.

The loss dropped Washington to 0-7 all-time against Notre Dame, and it dropped coach Tyrone Willingham to 0-2 in his pair of chances against the school that fired him in 2004.

All of this played out before an ESPN2 national television audience.

The postgame mood and reaction wasn't that much different from the six losses that came before. No one's happy. No one's pitching a fit ... at least not in public. No one is saying anything but that they'll keep trying their best and believe they can win.

A sampling:

Willingham: “Right now the thing we’ve got to draw on is just basic pride. We’ve got to step up; coaches and players and all of us have to step up and do better than what we did (Saturday), because this was not a good performance.”

Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano: "It’s not that they didn’t try or anything. We got beat physically at times up front and in the backfield with all the pressures, and there were times when we dropped balls that took us out of drives and field position. I don’t think that was from lack of trying or anything like that. We just didn’t execute very well. That comes down on me and that comes down to making plays.”

QB Ronnie Fouch: “I had 5 passing yards most of the game. My last series we went out there and threw the ball around and had fun. We moved the ball well and guys made plays – the young guys like Cody Bruns and Charles Hawkins and D’Andre Goodwin made some big-time plays.”

Receiver D'Andre Goodwin, who had UW's lone touchdown: “If you’re going to lose you want to lose at least putting up points on the board. We weren’t going to stop fighting until we drove the ball down field and scored.”

Nate Williams on if the defense was frustrated with the offense: “We’re all frustrated. The offense is frustrated, the defense is frustrated the special teams is frustrated. … It’s a team game. I think we gave up a lot of big plays and (33) points so it’s our fault just as much as the offense’s fault. It’s a team game. We’re not pointing fingers, we’re not blaming anybody.”

More from Williams:
“I just think everyone came out a little too pumped because we’re on ESPN2 and Notre Dame and everyone has been making a huge deal of it all throughout the week and everything.”

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis:
“We talked before the game. … I think the media keeps (talk of a feud) going because there was no feeling of that on our team, and I don’t think there was any feeling of it on their team.”

Player of the gameNotre Dame receiver Michael Floyd caught four passes for 107 yards. That represents more than half of Notre Dame’s 207 passing yards. And 51 of those yards came on a touchdown reception on the games third play that gave the Irish a lead they would never surrender.

Husky of the gameGoodwin had a game-high seven catches, including UW’s lone touchdown. Goodwin was the only UW receiver to have more than one catch. He has led the team in receiving every game this season except for the Arizona game.

Turning point
Washington’s first possession was a three-and-out. Then Notre Dame needed only three plays to get its first touchdown, a short pass to the sideline that Floyd turned up the sidelines for 51 yards. By the time the third quarter came to an end, the Huskies had exactly 51 yards of total offense.

Bad good play
When things are going wrong, they just go wrong. In the second quarter, UW’s Nate Williams notched the Huskies’ first interception since the second game of the season. Unfortunately, it came at the UW 1 yard line on a fourth-down play from the UW 32 … meaning the interception cost the Huskies 31 yards of field possession.
“I expected everyone to criticize me for leaving my offense on the one,” Williams said. “But the way that a player is taught: When the ball is in the air you’re supposed to grab it. In the heat of the battle I didn’t know that I was on the one. I just saw the ball in the air and I grabbed it, and that’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Coach Tyrone Willingham confirmed that, although he acknowledged that he would have preferred the defender to understand the situation well enough to make his own decision to simply bat the ball down.

Personnel report
UW starting defensive tackle Senio Kelemete injured his left knee during pregame warm-ups and was carted off the field. His prognosis isn’t yet known. Tailback David Freeman suffered an ankle injury of undetermined severity. … Safety Victor Ayiewa suffered a groin injury. … True freshman receiver Cody Bruns played and recorded his first career catch for 21 yards. … Washington started the game in a nickel defense, resulting in linebacker Chris Stevens and cornerback Vonzell McDowell being credited for their first starts of the season.

Extra points
The Huskies are now 0-7 all-time against the Irish. The schools are scheduled to meet again Oct. 3, 2009, in South Bend, Ind. … In the third quarter, linebacker Donald Butler and defensive end Everrette Thompson recorded the Huskies’ fourth and fifth sacks of the season. The first three – all at Arizona -- had been recorded by end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim. … UW game captains were Garcia, Teo’Nesheim, Paul Homer and Chris Stevens.

Next
3:30 p.m. Saturday, at Southern California; Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; FSN.

And yes, the Huskies all said they believe they can beat the Trojans ... or at least go down there and try their best.

Heading downstairs: I'm about to head down to the field, so there won't be any more entries for a while. I'll be back later tonight with notes and quotes ... I can hardly imagine what can be asked or answered that is new. In the meantime, your comments are always apprecaited.

Attendance: Announced at 70,437 ... under the official sellout figure of 72,500. And, of course, far fewer now.

12:33 of the fourth: Another methodical drive for a score, but the PAT missed.

Start of the fourth quarter: The Huskies have 51 yards of total offense.

In case you're wondering, UW hasn't been shutout since a 38-0 loss at USC in 2004... Keith Gilberson's final season. The Huskies haven't been shutout at home since a 7-0 loss to Cal in 1976.

4:30 of the 3rd: Notre Dame hit a 42-yard field goal on a drive that had been kept alive on a fake punt from their side of the field.

12:55 of the 3rd: It took Notre Dame less than two minutes to drive for a touchdown on their first possession of the second half

Start of third quarter: Looks like lots of fans have already decided to call it a night.

Halftime: The Huskies have been outgained, 238-38. Notre Dame has 13 first downs, UW 3. The Washington offense hasn't gotten across midfield. Notre Dame's first score -- a 51-yard touchdown -- covered more yards than UW had in the half. Etc.

11:10 of the 2nd: 28 yard field goal after yet another awful Jared Ballman punt plus penalty gave the Irish great field position.

End of first quarter: Total yards: Notre Dame 154, Washington 15.

7:48 in 1st: Recevier Golden Tate takes end-around 21 yards for TD. The drive had begun with a Nate Williams interception, but it was wiped out on a pass interference call.

12:35 of 1st: Huskies three and out. Notre Dame hits a quick out that is turned upfield for a 51-yard touchdown.

Kickoff: Notre Dame won the toss and deferred. Washington will receive to begin the game.

UW game captains are Paul Homer, Juan Garcia, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and Chris Stevens.

Notre Dame took the field to more boos than we've heard previously this season. They're the NCAA's Dallas Cowboys, I guess: love 'em or hate 'em.

4:55: This isn't good either on face value or as an omen. UW starting defensive tackle Senio Kelemete has just been carted off the field after injuring his left knee during pregame warmups. We don't have details on the extent of the injury, but he is now listed as questionable to be able to play.

4:30: Both teams are on the field.

And the ND alumni band just marched by playing the victory march. It loses a lot in the translation from full band marching into the stadium in South Bend (one of the take-to-my-grave memories of my sportswriting life) to this dozen or so alums tooting away (something less than that).

Finally, either a lot of fans are taking advantage of this nice weather for tailgating or this is an uncommonly late-arriving crowd. Because this place is nearly empty now. But there are dots of fans in all reaches of the stadium, indicating that it will eventually grow to a sellout or something very close.

2:45: I'm at the stadium for what is probably the most beautiful day we've had for football so far. Nice fall nip in the air. Sunshine. Lake Washington a bright blue. And lots of fall colors on the upper campus.

We'll try the normal gameday game plan. I'll post with any pregame news. Then try to give at least quarterly updates. Then I'll turn the postgame over to you for comments before returning for one final post of notes and quotes.

I got an interesting call from a Tyee member who identified himself as "another Don." Unfortunately, he didn't leave a call-back number. So, Don, if you happen to read this blog and don't mind sharing the information, please give me another call and let me know how I can get in touch with you.

Meanwhile, I'd also like to touch base with any other Tyee members who read this blog. If any of you are willing, please email (don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com) or call (253-597-8808) with contact info. (No names or even opinions will be used in print without your content. I just have a few background questions I'd like to ask of some of these loyalest of the loyal UW fans.)

Thanks. We now return to our regular programming.

I'm a sucker for college football tradition, and no one has more of it than Notre Dame, who comes to Husky Stadium on Saturday.

Here is some of what the Irish is bringing with them: 11 recognized national championships, 21 seasons when awarded the national championship by at least one selector, seven Heisman Trophy winners, 12 unbeaten and untied seasons, 42 College Football Hall of Fame players, five Hall of Fame coaches, 10 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 181 first-team All-Americans, 61 NFL first-round draft picks and 28 bowl appearances. Notre Dame has 928 all-time victories and an all-time winning percentage of .738, both second-highest (behind Michigan) in college football history.

Also, the ghosts of:
Knute Rockne, the Hall of Fame coach who made the iconic “Win one for the Gipper” speech, and who died in a plane crash on March 31, 1931;
George Gipp, the great player immortalized by Rockne who died of a throat infection Dec. 12, 1920, at the age of 25; and Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley, Don Miller and Elmer Layden, the famed Four Horsemen.

Last, but certainly not least, an alumni band that will play the “Victory March,” the great fight song originally written in 1908.

In a season with a sadly small number of thrills, those golden helmets running onto the field on a blue, grey October day is something worth soaking in.

Here is today's game preview and this brief highlights box:

NOTRE DAME (4-2)
AT WASHINGTON (0-6,04)
Kickoff: 5 p.m., Husky Stadium
Television: ESPN2. Radio: 950-AM.

The series: Notre Dame leads the series, 6-0. The teams first met in 1948. The most recent meeting came in 2005, a 36-17 Irish win at Husky Stadium.

What to watch: Some fans will be watching the interactions of UW coach Tyrone Willingham and ND coach Charlie Weis, although they have downplayed their relevance all week. The Irish are a heavily pass-oriented team. They use a pro set and sometimes line up with the quarterback alone in the backfield. The UW defense might respond with more of its nickel package. Through six games, Notre Dame has seven interceptions and seven fumble recoveries. The Irish kickoff return team ranks second nationally allowing 16.4 yards per return. Both teams use young players: 12 true freshmen have played for the Huskies, nine for the Irish. Eighteen of Notre Dame’s 21 touchdowns have been scored by underclassmen.

What’s at stake: A loss eliminates the Huskies from bowl consideration and dooms them to their fifth straight losing season. UW is looking for its first win against Notre Dame. An Irish win would move them to within one game of bowl eligibility after falling short last season. However, Notre Dame’s hopes reach considerably beyond mere bowl eligibility and all the way to the kind of major bowl bid they once took for granted.

Another sign of the season's changing: It's time for me to file my predictions in the Pac-10 men's basketball preseason media poll.

My vote is due Monday, so as has become our custom, I'll post a first draft here and you guys can tell me what I might want to reconsider.

Here's the way I'm leaving (influenced somewhat by yesterday's events out of Arizona):

1. UCLA: Lost enough talent to sink almost any program ... except UCLA.

2 USC: Subtract one-and-one O.J. Mayo, add one-and-done DeMar DeRozan. Bring back some solid veterans, add some mostly forgotten injured guys. Who knows what comes out? I don't really see a clear second-best team in the conference this season, so this is sort of a vote that Tim Floyd's system is about to click in.

3. Arizona State: Two huge building blocks in James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph, but I'm not as taken with the rest of the roster as some others are. This is mostly last season's team, plus a year of experience. And last season, they were 9-9 in the conference. (Plus, I picked the ASU football team No. 2, and look where that got me.)

4. Washington: Talented young players complemented by a solid core of veteran leadership. You can count on Jon Brockman as a conference player of the year candidate. But after that, optimism calls for some leaps of faith: That Isaiah Thomas will be a difference-making freshman. That Quincy Pondexter and MBA take solid steps up. That the free-throw hex has passed. If so, the Huskies could go dancing again.

5. Arizona: The Wildcats have become wild cards with the awkward retirement of Lute Olson leaving a lot of confused and probably unhappy players. Will the band together in adversity or fall apart?

6. California: There's a disturbing lack of proven big men, but I think Mike Montgomery might be able to do something with the talent on hand.

7. Washington State: A lot of people I respect don't think the Cougars will fall nearly this far. And Aron Baynes and Taylor Rochestie gives a nice inside-outside foundation for the rebuilding. But I'd be surprised if the replacement parts will be ready this quickly.

8. Oregon: The Ducks paid dues with young players and then got progressively better as they matured. Now it's back to dues-playing time again.

9. Stanford: Goodbye Lopez twins. Goodbye Trent Johnson. Hello rebuilding.

10. Oregon State: New coach Craig Robinson will have to build from the ground up... actually from the basement up. Sticking with the analogy, it's hard to imagine anything but a foundation being laid this season.

No. 6 Southern California at Arizona. Wildcats have won six straight at home. If they make it seven, it's time to take them seriously again. USC, 38-20.

Oregon at Arizona State. Ducks have won three straight in what has been series of streaks. If they make it four, ASU -- once thought of as a Rose Bowl contender -- suddenly gets into trouble for any bowl at all. UO, 37-28.

UCLA at California. Home team has won last eight in series. Both have been pretty up and down, but the Bears should have enough at home against a rival.Cal, 32-17.

Notre Dame at Washington. Huskies’ collapse has cooled once-sizzling Weis-Willingham subplot. So what we're left with are a couple of rebuilding teams, with the Irish appearing well further along. Although not to any degree that puts them out of the Huskies' reach. Notre Dame was tested at home by awful San Diego State and lost on the road at Michigan State and North Carolina. In fact, they haven't won on the road yet ... although the same was true of the Oregon State Beavers until they arrived at Husky Stadium. Irish, 32-28.

Season: 38-10.
Last week: 3-1.
UW games: 5-1.

Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson announced his retirement today, leaving his Wildcat basketball program in something close to chaos about three weeks from the start of the season.

In the seasons I have covered Pac-10 basketball, I have enjoyed my dealings with Olson, and it's a shame that his departure has been such a circus.

This leaves Arizona without a coach, although the school says it will move quickly to find a replacement.

Meanwhile, among the many left hanging is prize recruit Abdul Gaddy of Tacoma and Bellarmine, who will apparently re-consider his options -- including Washington.

Well, here's this week's list, but I think this is just an amazing season where everything below No. 1 and above No. 9 is a jumble.

(Also reflective of that jumble: The Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, which has a contract to take the No. 7 Pac-10 team for its bowl, made contingency arrangements with the WAC this week in case the Pac-10 can't supply enough 6-win teams.)

1 Southern California (1) 5-1, 3-1. Eleven straight quarters without giving up a touchdown.
2 Oregon (3) 5-2, 3-1. Leads league in rushing … 77 ypg more than No. 2 USC.
3 Arizona (6) 5-2, 3-1. No Wildcat penalties in win over Cal.
4 Oregon State (5) 4-3, 3-1. Rushed for 553 yards over last two games... however that was against the Washington schools.
5 California (2) 4-2, 2-1. TB Best made solid return after elbow injury.
6 Arizona State (7) 2-4, 1-2. QB Carpenter now 10th on Pac-10 career passing list.
7 UCLA (8) 3-4, 2-2. Neuheisel holding Bruins together pretty well.
8 Stanford (4) 4-4, 3-2. Up and down Cardinal leads Pac-10 in red zone offense (91.7%).
9 Washington (9) 0-6, 0-4. Signs of offensive life with first 100-yard rusher (Terrance Dailey) and receiver (D’Andre Goodwin) vs. Beavers. (My story in today's paper takes a more detailed look at the Huskies, assessing mid-season grades unit by unit.)
10 Washington State (10) 1-7, 0-5. Non-shutout streak over after 280 games.

Not much news out of UW football so far today, but what little news there is was good.

Coach Tyrone Willingham said that previously injured or limited players such as tailback David Freeman and safety Johri Fogerson and receiver Cody Bruns all worked yesterday and are expected to work today when the Huskies take the field at 4 p.m.

Willingham -- like offensive coordinator Tim Lappano yesterday -- seems eager to get a look at Freeman and likely starter Terrance Dailey in a tailback rotation. Willingham also said that the staff was impressed enough by Dailey and Freeman where both likely would have gotten their chances this season even if injuries hadn't sliced away so much of the tailback depth chart.

And finally: For those of you who come across this post instantly, it looks like the ND-UW game is one of the topics for discussion coming up on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption."

Otherwise, this game doesn't seem to be drawing the national attention that might once have been expected. The UW sports information office said the only national media asking for time with Willingham this week was ESPN, which will apparently devote some time to the game as part of its Saturday "College GameDay" coverage.

Coach Lorenzo Romar said the season-opening three-day camp in Lacey over the weekend went well. That mostly means that everyone came out healthy and seemed to meet expectations.

Among those who reported with preexisting injuries, Artem Wallace is expected to be full-go by the end of this week, and Darnell Gant might be ready next week.

The team was able to work for four hours per day, and Romar said they used it all, either on the court or learning sessions. By the end, "you could see that gas tanks were getting a little low," Romar said.

The team stayed at a hotel near the St. Martin's campus, and that allowed the coaches to let the new players know what is expected of them on road trips this season.

The team also had some time for a little social bonding ... including a little bowling ... apparently with Artem Wallace doing the best.

But overall, Romar said the team seems further along than at this time last season, thanks largely to an increase in guys Romar considers play-makers.

Here's a link to the whole Romar press conference from GoHuskies.com.

Meanwhile, here's another link: This time an update on former Husky Tre Simmons, whose career in Israel may be suffering from the perception that he's too much of a nice guy.

As you may have noted from my story today, Tyrone Willingham is doing his best to keep his status as former Notre Dame coach out of this week's storyline.

We got some access to Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis Tuesday, and he did too. Although he did grant us that he felt a pressure to win the 2005 meeting a bit more than he might have let on at the time.

"It was so soon after the changeover," Weis said. "But I think that once we got past that game, I think that both (Willingham) and I were happy to get past that game. … We’ve gone our separate ways from there. I think that was probably the one hurdle that we had to get through, just so we could get through it. But I’ve gone my way; he’s gone his way as our programs have as well.

"In 2005, it was definitely there. You could act like it wasn’t there because you felt like this dog and pony show that we always talk about. That’s how I felt at the time. I don’t feel that way now. Now I feel that, hey, it’s the second half of the season, we need to get off to a good start, we’ve had this long weekend off, we’ve got to get off to a good start, and Washington happens to be the team that we’re playing."

As for any personal relationship with Willingham, Weis said this:
"We don’t know each other very well, but we’re cordial. But no, I don’t call him and he doesn’t call me. The last time that I saw him I think was last January at the coaches’ convention. Other than that, we don’t call and ask how the families are doing or anything like that."

And even though Weis and Willingham are part of a small fraternity of men who know what it's like to coach under the bright lights of South Bend, Weis said when he seeks advice he contacts former Irish coaches Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz, not Willingham or Willingham's predecessor, Bob Davie.

"When I call people up, I usually like to talk to the guys that left here with a good taste in their mouth," Weis said. "When guys leave here before they’re ready to leave, they’re not the people who would be the best people for me to talk to. It’s not that we’re not cordial; it’s not the best situation. I don’t want them to feel they have to say something and I really don’t want to ask them. That’s why when I have a question to ask somebody who’s been in that boat, I call Ara and Lou. Because they were here over a decade and I feel those were the guys who kind of guide me the best. The bottom line is when people leave before they want to leave it’s never a good conversation."

Here's Tyrone Willingham's week-opening nod back to the Oregon State game and ahead to Notre Dame:

"The best thing I can say – and I think those sentiments will be echoed by our players – (there were) not enough of the good things that we liked from the ball game, but I think we saw the opportunity to play better than we did. And what we've got to do is cut down on our mistakes and put ourselves in position to win a football game. And if we can do that, this week we have another quality football team coming to town and we've got to play physical, we've got to get after it, and we've got to put ourselves in a position to eliminate the mistakes so we can put ourselves in a position at the end of the game to win."

An early scouting report on the Irish:

NOTRE DAME (4-2)
5 p.m. Saturday, ESPN2, at Husky Stadium.

Coach: Charlie Weis, 26-17 in his fourth season.

Last week: The Irish were off. The week before, Notre Dame gave up an 11-point lead in a 29-24 loss at North Carolina, which was then ranked No. 22. Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw for 383 yards and two touchdowns. Halfback Armando Allen carried 11 times for 60 yards.

Against the Huskies: Notre Dame leads the series, 6-0. The teams first met in 1948. The most recent meeting came in 2005, a 36-17 Irish win at Husky Stadium.

Washington connections: Most notably, UW coach Tyrone Willingham's previous job was at Notre Dame, where he went 21-15 (583) over three seasons before being dismissed. Offensive line coach Mike Denbrock also coached under Willingham there. Notre Dame has two players from Washington high schools: freshman OL Carl Brophy (Spokane/Gonzaga Prep) and senior WR Kris Patterson (Seattle/O'Dea).

Scouting report: The Irish average 25.5 points per game and allow 22.7. Clausen is an exceptionally strong-armed quarterback, and the Notre Dame offense is heavily titled toward the pass, averaging 272 yards per game through the air (17th nationally) and 101 yards on the ground (108th). Similarly, their defense is better against the pass (28th) than the run (60th). Notre Dame's special teams are strong in punting, average on returns, and weak on field goals. The Irish have played nine true freshmen this season, and 18 of their 21 touchdowns this season have been scored by underclassmen. Notre Dame sometimes lines up with only the quarterback in the backfield. Willingham said the Huskies might respond with increased nickel packages on defense.

Did you know: Notre Dame football has produced 11 national championship teams, seven Heisman Trophy winners, 79 consensus All-Americans, and 42 College Football Hall of Famers.

The final 1,000 or so tickets for the Notre Dame game -- 5 p.m. Saturday at Husky Stadium -- went on sale this morning.

Details available through the Husky ticket office.

A sellout is expected.

The drums started beating loudly today on the topic of Ty Willingham's game Saturday against Charlie Weis and Notre Dame.

Although, not surprisingly, no matter how we phrased the question, Willingham refused to acknowledge that this game is special to him beyond the normal next-game-on-the-schedule importance.

"That's something that everybody else will dwell on," he said. "After we finish (this press conference) I will be simply focused on our football game and try to move our football team in that direction. And at some point, some of you will tire of that and move on to something else."

Yeah, but not yet. That's the whole focus of my Tuesday story.

Meanwhile, the players agreed that Notre Dame is a little different -- partly due to tradition and partly as Ty's former employer.

Other news from the day was minor. About 1,000 remaining tickets for the Notre Dame game went on sale Monday. A sellout is expected. … This week's depth chart shows Terrance Dailey (tailback), Ryan Tolar (guard) and Trenton Tuiasosopo (linebacker) listed as starters for a second consecutive week, while Senio Kelemete is shown reclaiming his previous defensive tackle spot ahead of Johnie Kirton, who started vs. OSU. … Willingham praised Dailey and implied that he could nail down the long-term starting job. … Willingham reported no new injuries from the OSU game, although he didn't name any previously injured players certain to return. However, he did mention tailback David Freeman and safety Johri Fogerson as possible. He also said quarterback Jake Locker's six-to-eight week recovery timetable will probably be closer to eight weeks – which could mean no sooner than the Apple Cup. … Until someone earns the full-time kicking job, Ryan Perkins will handle UW field goals of less than 40 yards, and Jared Ballman will handle longer distances.

UW coaches added a extra offensive player in their weekly Player of the Game awards.

Honored for their play against Oregon State were both receiver D'Andre Goodwin and tailback Terrance Daily on offense, as well as linebacker Mason Foster on defense and punt returner Devin Aguilar on special teams.

Also noted for work on the service teams were fullback Tobias Togi, linebacker Bradly Roussel and defensive back Taylor Lappano.

Meanwhile, the depth chart for the Notre Dame game shows new OSU starters Dailey, Ryan Tolar (guard) and Trenton Tuiasosopo (linebacker) remaining at the top of the depth chart, while Senio Kelemete is shown reclaiming his previous defensive tackle spot ahead of Johnie Kirton, who made his first defensive start Saturday.

Washington's game at USC game on Nov. 1 has been selected for national television broadcast by FSN. The game will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. for the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The start time for Washington’s Dec. 23 men’s basketball game against Lehigh has been changed to 3 p.m.

Tipoff was moved up from the previously announced 7:30 p.m. so that Lehigh could fly out after the game to get an earlier start on the holidays with their families.

Meanwhile, here is the Pac-10 TV schedule and start times.

LAST WEEK
The 34-13 homecoming loss to Oregon State kept a stretch of zeroes where Washington doesn’t want them: 0-8 over the last eight games, 0-6 this season, 0-4 in Pacific-10 Conference play, and 0-5 over the last five games against OSU. The Huskies remain one of two winless teams in the Bowl Subdivision.

SOMETHING TO BUILD ON
Ronnie Fouch threw for 276 yards in his second college start. Tailback Terrence Daily ran hard for 102 yards in his first college start. D’Andre Goodwin had a UW season-high 136 receiving yards. The UW defense held OSU’s Jacquizz Rodgers 26 yards under his previous Pac-10-leading average.

SOMETHING TO WORK ON
Fouch threw three interceptions and lost one fumble. OSU quarterback Lyle Moevao completed 18 of 22 passes. The UW defense gave up touchdowns of 33, 52 and 55 yards. For the fifth time in six games, the defense recorded no sacks. UW missed 36- and 40-yard field goals.

PERSONNEL ISSUES
No significant new injuries were reported. But lingering injuries elevated previous reserves into starting jobs at quarterback, tailback, guard, linebacker and defensive tackle. Receiver Cody Bruns, who lost his redshirt last week, didn’t play due to injury. Clouds linger over coach Ty Willingham’s future.

THE WEEK AHEAD
The debate over Willingham’s job status moves into the national spotlight as Notre Dame (4-2) visits Husky Stadium at 5 p.m. Saturday. This will bring reexamination of the questions over Willingham’s dismissal as coach of the Irish and the merits of his successor there, Charlie Weis.

We've known this was coming our way ever since the schedule first came out.

And with no one much eager to look back very long at Saturday's dreary loss to Oregon State, it's time to look forward to the visit from Notre Dame and Charlie Weis and to revisit all the drama of Tyrone Willingham's departure from South Bend.

The Chicago Tribune got a jump on most with this preview article.

While we're at it, here's a link to the official Notre Dame football website.

And one last one -- for now -- to the South Bend Tribune sports section.

It's hard to lose eight straight games without some of the postgame quotes starting to sound familiar. That's kind of how it seemed Saturday in what was a familar-seeming loss followed by familiar-seeming quotes.

Everyone lamented the few key plays that turned the game against them. Everyone resolved to keep working as the season moves into its second half.

Here's my game story. Here's John McGrath's column.

And here are few of those postgame quotes:

COACH TYRONE WILLINGHAM overview:
“(It) was a game in which we didn’t make enough plays, gave up too many big plays, didn’t create any turnovers and gave turnovers. If those things could have been avoided …”

Offensive coordinator TIM LAPPANO on the Huskies' success throwing deep:
"They play a technique with their safeties about nine yards and if we could have protected our quarterback better tonight we could have scored a lot of points against them because the ball gets over the top of them. Our whole game plan was to run the football at them, just keep plugging away with the run game, just go at them and throw the ball over the top of them. We got behind them many times and we hit a lot of them and many times we didn’t have the time to get it. That’s what happens when you play your safeties down low like that. They support the run well, but you’re vulnerable over the top. We didn’t make them pay enough like I wanted to."

Defensive coordinator ED DONATELL overview:
“You’ve got to put the complete game together. You can see people over the course of the year have had a hard time (stopping OSU) -- even the best teams. It’s really the big plays.”

QB RONNIE FOUCH on the offense:
"It was tough. We had a lot of good drives, we just couldn’t capitalize when we got in the red zone on those third downs. It’s tough coming off of the field and having to kick field goals, but we’ve just go to do better on finishing our drives and making big third-down plays."

DT JOHNIE KIRTON on the season:
"It definitely tears at us, but I’m one of those guys that if something bad happens to me, at the next moment I can put a smile on my face, I can turn back that intensity. I know my senior class is the same way. It’s nothing to dwell on, we just need to get over the hump.
... What gets old is every Saturday night. The feeling, it gets old and something needs to change. ... It’s internal with us as players. There are so many times we come out physical, we come out running around, but for whatever reason it kind of dies away. It’s just maintaining like we do in the beginning of the game."

And a few game highlights:

Player of the game
Oregon State flanker James Rodgers gained a game-high 110 yards on three carries – a 36.7-yard average. He also caught three passes for 53 yards. He accounted for three touchdowns: on runs of 52 and 55 yards, and a 33-yard reception. His brother, Jacquizz, accounted for OSU’s other touchdown.

Husky of the game
Receiver D’Andre Goodwin regularly got behind the Oregon State secondary. He ended up with five catches for 136 yards. He became the first UW receiver to top 100 receiving yards this season, and he moved past that milestone in the first half.

Turning point
Washington jumped ahead 3-0. On the Beavers’ next possession late in the first quarter, they faced a fourth and 1 at their own 43. Coach Mike Riley decided to go for it. OSU converted and continued on for a touchdown that started a 17-0 run that UW couldn’t overcome.

Injury report
UW coach Tyrone Willingham reported no new injuries that are expected to keep anyone out next week. Goodwin and tailback Terrance Dailey each went out for a while, but both returned to action.

Extra points
Dailey became the fourth player to start at tailback for UW in the first six games, joining Chris Polk, David Freeman and Willie Griffin. … Tackle Johnie Kirton started for the first time as a defensive player. He had started previously as a tight end. … Jared Ballman’s 45-yard field goal in the first quarter was the first made by the Huskies since the season opener at Oregon. It also was UW’s longest since Ryan Perkins hit from the same distance last season against California. … This was OSU’s first road victory of the season after three losses. … Washington remains paired with North Texas as the only winless teams in the NCAA Bowl Subdivision as the not-so-Mean Green also lost, 35-23, to Louisiana-Monroe. The teams also share eight-game losing streaks, the longest in the nation. … UW game captains were Paul Homer, Johnie Kirton, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and Michael Gottlieb.

Next
Notre Dame 5 p.m. Saturday, Husky Stadium, ESPN2. The Irish is 4-2 and will be coming off a bye week.

Heading to the field: I'm about to head down to the field and then into postgame mode for notes and quotes. As always, the comments section of this blog is open for your thoughts.

11:59: UW answers quickly as Terrance Dailey goes up the middle for a 59-yard touchdown. As of now he has 15 carries for 99 yards, making his first college start one of the few bright spots of the evening.

12:52 of the fourth: James Rodgers (who has outshone Jacquizz) just sent a lot of fans to the exits with a 55-yard run.

End of third quarter: If this result holds, at least it looks like UW will retain company as one of two winless teams among the 119 teams in the NCAA bowl subdivision: winless North Texas is also trailing badly.

Another note: No appearance by freshman Cody Bruns, who lost his redshirt in a three-play no-pass-attempt appearance at Arizona.

8:29 of the third: Oregon State marched 65 yards on their first possession, and this one is on the verge of getting out of reach .. and perhaps out of hand.

Halftime: What's working is Fouch-to-Goodwin. Goodwin has 122 receiving yards already. What isn't working is the running game: UW has 20 rushing yards. OSU has 76, although UW has kept Jacquizz Rodgers pretty much under control (25 yards).

Total yards favor OSU, 194-178.

OSU QB Lyle Moevao is 12 of 13 for 118 yards. Fouch is 10 of 18 for 158.

8:43 OSU turns another Fouch turnover -- a fumble this time -- into a James Rodgers TD -- on a middle screen this time.

14:09 of second: OSU turned the pick into a 37-yard field goal.

End of first: Unofficially, OSU 110 yards, UW 67; OSU four first downs, UW two; OSU 54 passing yards, UW 50; OSU 56 rushing yards, UW 17. And Fouch just threw an interception in UW territory for the lone turnover of the quarter.

2:23 of 1st: Oregon State went for it on a fourth and one in their own territory. They made it and were rewarded soon after when James Rodgers took a fly sweep 52 yards down the near sideline for the lead.

4:54 of first: A 48-yard pass from Ronnie Fouch to D'Andre Goodwin led to a 46-yard field goal by Jared Ballman giving UW it's first lead since the Stanford game.

Kickoff: The game is about to begin with UW receiving.

UW game captains are Paul Homer, Johnie Kirton, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and Michael Gottlieb.

2 p.m. A couple of hours to kickoffs, and the Huskies have just walked across the field in street clothes and up the tunnel to prepare for their game vs. Oregon State.

Several preview items are blogged below. The game kicks off at 4 p.m. and will be shown on the Versus cable network.

As usual, I'll keep a running blog here with any pregame items, then with at least quarterly reports as the game progressed, then I'll pass it over to you for reaction while I get postgame notes and quotes for my final post tonight.

The UW athletic office has announced that University of Oklahoma athletics administrator Stephanie Rempe has been name UW's senior associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator.

Rempe (pronounced REMP) will be a senior member of the athletic department under AD Scott Woodward and will serve as the department's liaison to the Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA committees related to women's athletics. She also will oversee the day-to-day operations for men's and women's basketball, as well as several Olympic sports.

Full information is available at Gohuskies.com.

Counting down the hours to UW's homecoming match with Oregon State, which will mark the midpoint in the Huskies' season.

My preview story in today's paper deals with the increasing heat between these Northwest rivals -- and especially after last season’s meeting in when Jake Locker was sent to a Corvallis hospital with a concussion. The intensity grew from there, with pushing and trash talk. Four players were ejected, including UW guard Ryan Tolar, who returns to the starting lineup this week.

Here's a look at roughly the same topic from the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Both coaches said they hope none of that will carry over.

UW’s Tyrone Willingham: “There is always some concern about that, especially with the way things happened down there, and who they happened to. I think that has a little impact on that. But we will try to get our guys focused on playing the game, hopefully play it with great emotion but never cross that line.”

OSU’s Mike Riley: “It’ll be a hard-hitting, passionate game. I would anticipate that. I don’t know if there will be any fallout from last year. That’s usually kind of overrated. It’ll be just about these two new teams. There are a lot of the same guys, but a lot of different guys, so I don’t know if there will be any carryover.”

A quick game preview:

OREGON STATE (3-3 OVERALL, 2-1 PAC-10)
AT WASHINGTON (0-5, 0-3)
Kickoff: 4 p.m., Husky Stadium.
Television: Versus. Radio: 950-AM.

The series: Washington leads 57-31-4 overall and 32-18-2 in Seattle. However, the Beavers have won four straight, their longest domination of the series. OSU won last season, 29-23, in Corvallis; and took the last meeting in Seattle, 27-17, in 2006.

What to watch: OSU uses a big-play offense featuring reverses, fly sweeps, screens and a deep passing game. OSU’s Jacquizz Rogders, James Rodgers and Sammie Stroughter are among the top big-play threats in the Pac-10. Hard feelings from last season’s chippy game could carry over for both teams. The Huskies’ resolve will be tested if they fall behind early.

What’s at stake: This is UW’s homecoming game. Washington is the last remaining school from a BCS conference that hasn’t won yet. Another loss would clinch a sixth straight non-winning regular season for UW. The Beavers are looking for their first road win. OSU sees this as a chance to move into the upper levels in the Pac-10 race.

The Huskies begin men's basketball team reports to work today for the first of four practices over three days at St. Martin's University in Lacey.

The practices are closed to media and public, which is the way Romar likes it. Here's a look at that angle, from our sister paper, the Olympian.

And here's my overview preview story from the Thursday TNT.

The follow-up on quarterback Jake Locker's broken thumb confirmed the originial prognosis that he will be unavailable until mid-November, coach Tyrone Willingham said today. However, there will be another evaluation in a couple of weeks. Depending on how the injury and the season progresses, Willingham said Locker is "in danger of not being available" again this year.

In other notes from his final press conference before the Oregon State game on Saturday, Willingham said:

*True freshman Cody Bruns will be in the receiver rotation this week.

*No decision on a starting tailback has yet been made between Willie Griffin, Brandon Johnson or Terrance Dailey.

*Either Victor Ayiewa or Tripper Johnson will start at the safety opposite Nate Williams.

*Safety Johri Fogerson and defensive tackle Senio Kelemete have been among several players fighting illness this week.

In other news, the UW defense has fallen to 119th – last nationally – in pass-efficiency defense, 118th in total defense, 116th in scoring defense, and 114th in rushing defense.

Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell indicated this week that it is very unlikely that late-arriving true freshman defensive lineman Craig Noble will play this season. Donatell also singled out true freshman defensive end Everrette Thomson for praise. “He’ll be a very good end here for a long time and have a real nice career,” Donatell said.

This is UW’s homecoming game. Willingham acknowledged that has lessened in meaning to some fans, but that it remains "something that is important" to him and the players.

The UW Alumni Association will hold its annual Homecoming Rally at 8 p.m. Friday at Red Square on campus. The event is intended for current students and alumni and will feature free food, live performances by the Husky marching band and cheer squad, and appearances by UW athletes and coaches.

No. 6 Southern California at Washington State. If Beavers ran up the score, Trojans can name the score. SC, 57-10.

No. 25 California at Arizona. Wildcat win would bring all-time series even. UA, 34-26.

Stanford at UCLA. Bruins have won four straight in series. Cardinal, 27-20.

Oregon State at Washington. OSU looking for road win, UW for any win. Beavers, 31-24.

Last week: 3-1
Season: 35-9
UW games: 4-1

We just got our one exposure to coach Tyrone Willingham today, and health news was the main topic.

Unfortunately, the meeting came too early for any update on the status of quarterback Jake Locker, whose thumb is being re-examined today. However, Willingham did say that even if Locker is cleared by the previously announced mid-November schedule, the decision of whether to use him or not will depend not only on his health but on the Huskies season. Assuming the bowl math is out the window by then, then it's more likely that Locker will simply call it a season.

Meanwhile, Willingham said that Casey Bulyca's knee injury is apparently season ending, and therefore college-career ending.

He also said that TE Kavario Middleton missed practice Tuesday due to having a wisdom tooth removed. Willingham also said that he remains pleased with Middleton's freshman season even though senior Mike Gottlieb has taken his spot as the featured tight end.

Saturday is Washington’s homecoming, and the highlight event, of course, is the 4 p.m. football game against Oregon State at Husky Stadium.

However, at 8 p.m. Friday, the UW Alumni Association will hold its annual Homecoming Rally in Red Square on campus. The event is intended to bring students and alumni together for free food, live performances by the Husky Marching Band and Cheer Squad, and special appearances by UW student athletes and coaches.

KJR sports radio host Dave “Softy” Mahler and Husky Hall-of-Famer Greg Lewis will co-emcee.

1. Southern California (1) 4-1, 2-1. TB McKnight averaged 13 yard per carry vs. Sun Devils.
2. California (2) 4-1, 2-0. Only team still unbeaten in conference play.
3. Oregon (4) 5-2, 3-1. QB Masoli rushed for 170 yards in win over Bruins.
4. Stanford (7) 4-3, 3-1. Rushed for season-high 286 yards vs. Wildcats.
5. Oregon State (6) 3-3, 2-1. Unbeaten at home, but no wins on the road.
6. Arizona (3) 4-2, 2-1. Probably bowl bound, but talk of roses was premature.
7. Arizona State (5) 2-4, 1-2. Unexpected step back in Erickson’s rebuilding.
8. UCLA (8) 2-4, 1-2. Thirteen punts of 50 or more yards … but they get so many opportunities.
9. Washington (9) 0-5, 0-3. In a race with North Texas -- North Texas!! --to find the winner’s circle.
10. Washington State (10) 1-6, 0-4. Complaining about a conference opponent running up the score is never a good sign.

The biggest news out of UW Tuesday once again involved injuries. (Here's the story from TNT sportswriter Eric Williams who handled the Huskes yesterday.)

Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said that quarterback Jake Locker will have more tests on his surgically repaired thumb Wednesday, but that it seems likely that he'll be out for the remainder of the season.

"We’ll know more tomorrow," Lappano said. "They moved him into a hard cast, whatever that means. He can’t sit there like this and hold it up, and at night it still throbs a little bit. That was last week. ... He’s not going to miss spring ball, or anything like that. There’s no way. It’s not like that. But is he going to play before the season is over? Who knows. Highly unlikely I would guess. Tomorrow we’ll know more, but he’s going to miss spring ball. It’s not going to be that bad."

His other information was on starting guard Casey Bulyca, who coach Tyrone Willingham announced yesterday will undergo knee surgery which could end his college career. Lappano seemed to indicate the prognosis is less certain.

"He’s been hobbled for a couple weeks," Lappano said. "He’s been bothered, but he’s been working through it. He knows he hadn’t been really effective with it. It came to a point he’s not helping anybody. He’s not playing real good with it. He knew he wasn’t helping the team, and it got so painful he had to have it looked at. We don’t know the extent of it. There’s some speculation it could be two weeks, it could be seven weeks. They won’t know until they get in there. If there’s some floating bone in there, it could be awhile. If there’s not, it won’t be that long."

Lappano also said:

*Oregon State looks a lot better on recent film than they did early in the season.

*OSU's reworked front seven is coming on strong, and the defensive backs like to bump the receivers at the line.

* TB Willie Griffin wasn't a fumbler in high school, but he's developed a problem this season -- in practices and in the Arizona game -- what has to be solved.

The sports calendar is rolling around in a way that will start adding a lot of basketball into the mix as the Huskies hold their hoops media day on Wednesday and then report to preseason camp on Friday.

(There will be no Midnight Madness or other public event at UW this season. The Huskies will open with three days of camp at St. Martin's in Lacey.)

Here's an overview preview story from today's paper.

I have a story in the Tuesday paper comparing the current Huskies with the 2004 team -- the one that cost Keith Gilberson his job and resulted in the hiring of coach Tyrone Willingham.

In preparation, I looked back at Willingham's opening statement from his opening press conference when hired in December of 2004, just to get an idea on what priorities he had for area's of improvement.

Here's how Willingham began that day:

"For me to stand before you as the head coach of the University of Washington, is a special opportunity and a special honor. I have watched this program for many a year, and the things that President Emmert, Todd (Turner) have said, are the things that have rung true in my mind, my vision of what this football program is all about. It is tradition-laden, when you think about that tradition you think of a great deal of success, you think about great players, you think of Rose Bowls. I couldn't be prouder at this moment to be head coach. What I would hope to do in my time here is to go back to all those great things and great accomplishments that this program has achieved. That will be my focus to get back to the toughness. I remember walking in to this stadium on numerous occasions, and walking out saddened, because not only had we been defeated, we had also been beaten."

So, Willingham's first stated priority for the Huskies was toughness.

I asked him Monday how he thinks he's come along on that goal.

“That one’s always a very difficult quality to measure,” he said. “I would probably say we still haven’t reached the level that I would like us to. Are we better in some areas than others? I would probably say yes. I think we have improved some of our mental toughness. Physically, yes, we have some guys that I think across the board are physically tougher.”

I followed up asking in what ways the current team is clearly better than the one he inherited.

“I would say our approach to the game is definitely one of those things that you talk about,” he said. “The mentality it takes to develop and be a good football team – absolutely. I think we’ve improved a lot of our athleticism across the board on this football team.”

We got a little while with Oregon State coach Mike Riley today. Here are his thoughts on coming to Husky Stadium on Saturday as a two-touchdown favorite.

"We’ve talked a lot with our team about not worrying about the point spreads," he said. "We’ve been on both extremes as underdogs and as favorites, and so we try to say that that doesn’t matter to us. We know it’s going to be hard, every game in the conference is. We always try to preach that the game is about our preparation and getting ready to win, so that’s the focus and all that other stuff is really for people that aren’t playing in the game."

An early look at the Beavers:

OREGON STATE (3-3 OVERALL, 2-1 PAC-10)
4 p.m. Saturday, Versus, at Husky Stadium

Coach: Mike Riley, 50-41 in eighth season at OSU.

Against the Huskies: Washington leads 57-31-4 overall and 32-18-2 in Seattle. However, the Beavers have won four straight, their longest domination of the series. OSU won last season, 29-23, in Corvallis; and took the last meeting in Seattle, 27-17, in 2006.

Last week: Oregon State mauled Washington State, 66-13, in Corvallis. The Beavers ran up 548 yards of total offense including a season-high 323 rushing yards. The attack was led by Jacquizz Rodgers’ 168 rushing yards and Sammie Stroughter’s 116 receiving yards. Quarterback Lyle Moevao threw four interceptions, but even at that the Beavers won so dominatingly that there were postgame complaints from WSU that they had run up the score.

Washington connections: Eight players from Washington high schools appear on the OSU roster: freshman P Johnny Hekker (Bothell), freshman WR Geno Munoz (Tacoma/Mount Tahoma), freshman DB Brian Watkins and WR Anthony Watkins (both Burien/Highline), freshman PK Matt Barker (Sprague/Gonzaga Prep), sophomore OL Alex Linnenkohl (Olympia/Capital) freshman OK Colin Kelly (Kelso) and freshman TW Joe Halahuni (Orting). OSU running backs coach Reggie Davis is a former UW Huskies tight ends coach and letterman.

Scouting report: There is no love lost between the teams, especially after a rough game last season in which Jake Locker was taken from the field by ambulance after suffering a concussion. Rodgers, a true freshman, leads the Pac-10 win an average of 119.7 rushing yards per game. Moevao leads the Pac-10 in total offense (252.8 yards) and passing average (264.7 yards). Stroughter had six catches against WSU and became the fifth Beaver to top 2,000 career receiving yards. OSU defensive end Norris Slade had two sacks in each of the last two games and ranks fourth in the Pac-10 overall. The Beavers lead the Pac-10 in time of possession (32:53) and fourth-down conversions (5-of-9; 55.6 percent). Johnny Hekker is the lowest-ranked punter in the conference. OSU is 3-0 at home, 0-3 on the road.

Coach Willingham was asked directly today if recruiting would be easier if he had a vote of confidence from athletic director Scott Woodward.

And his answer was equally direct: "Absolutely."

However, it was somewhat more roundabout when asked how his assistant coaches were received while recruiting during the bye week:

I try to draw an analogy," he said. "It reminded me of a negative circumstance when you hae fires or disasters in another area: Everyone knows there's a fire. When you’re right there, you feel the heat of it, have the smoke, you have all those things that you deal with. When you’re far away, all you know is that there’s a fire. That’s very much what our recruiting was in the places we go to: They know there’s some conditions, but they don’t know all the stuff you deal with on a daily basis. … So, we still have a great opportunity to go in there, and if we turn things around, present a very positive outcome to the young men we’re recruiting, and they can see themselves coming in and helping our program and making it better.”

UW has received five oral commitments for its freshman class of 2009, but hasn’t added a recruit since Sept. 7.

Tailback Brandon Yakaboski and offensive lineman Casey Bulyca have been lost for the season due to injury, coach Tyrone Willingham announced today.

Both will have knee surgery in the coming weeks.

Bulyca had started every game this season at right guard. Willingham said he will likely be replaced by Ryan Tolar, perhaps with center Matt Sedillo in reserve.

Meanwhile, safety Darin Harris (concussion) remains out. TB David Freeman remains iffy with what is now thought to be a high-ankle sprain. And the lone good news may involve receiver D'Andre Goodwin, who is "close" to returning ... perhaps Saturday.

Coming off of the bye week, several decisions remain to be made regarding the UW starting lineup.

Either Willie Griffin or Brandon Johnson will start at tailback, either Alvin Logan or Jermaine Kearse at receiver (D'Andre Goodwin apparently is heathy enough to go on the other side ... at least accoding to the depth chart just released), either Josh Gage or Matt Houston at linebacker and either Tripper Johnson, Johri Fogerson or Victor Aiyewa.

Of the two true freshmen who took off their redshirts in Game 5 at Arizona, Terrance Dailey is listed as the No. 3 tailback, and Cody Bruns doesn't appear among the receivers.

Oregon State opens the week as two touchdown favorites for the game at Husky Stadium at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Here's an Oregonian quote from OSU coach Mike Riley on being a big favorite over a team from the state of Washington for the second straight week:

"I'm preaching the same message (this week),'' Riley said. "Respect who you are playing, practice like crazy, and try to get better. ... it's one game at a time for us, and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter if we're favored, or if we're the underdog in the rest of our games.''

It's time for UW coaches, players, fans and media to get that bye week behind us and look ahead to Oregon State, which visits at 4 p.m. Saturday.

We'll hear from coach Tyrone Willingham and probably a few players around noon Monday, and I'll pop in with any news from that, or from the updates depth chart.

Meanwhile, a couple of links that may serve you all week: the Corvallis Gazette Times Sports section and the official OSU football site.

North Texas lost to Louisiana-Lafayette, 59-30, on Saturday.

That obscure game makes this blog because the loss was North Texas' seventh straight, dropping them into a tie with Washington for the nation's longest losing streak.

The Huskies return to action at 4 p.m. Saturday against an Oregon State team that looked pretty dang good in demolishing Washington State today, 66-13.

Meanwhile, North Texas will visit Louisiana-Monroe next week in what is apparently its continuing search for a Louisiana town with a team they can beat.

This was a bit of a slow week for Husky news, but things are about to start hopping as football and basketball begin to overlap.

I'll have an early hoops story in the paper soon. Then more will follow after Wednesday, when UW holds its prepractice media day. Here are some other key days to remember:

Friday: Team reports for practice.
Nov. 6: Exhibition vs. Western Washington at Hec Ed.
Nov. 15: Season opens at Portland.
Nov. 18: Home opener vs. Cleveland State.
Nov. 24: Meets defending national champion Kansas in semifinal of CBE tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
Dec. 4: Hosts Oklahoma State in Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series.
Jan. 3: Pac-10 opener at Washington State.
March 7: Regular season ends vs. WSU at Hec Ed.
March 11-14: Pac-10 tournament at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
March 15: Selection Sunday for postseason tournaments.

Meanwhile, here are a few early thoughts on the coming season from three key figures of the coming season:

COACH LORENZO ROMAR on his expectations for Jon Brockman's senior season:
"Let’s say a minimum of what he did last year. A minimum of what he did last year. In Jon’s case I don’t totally know what to expect, because he has really been focused. So I don’t want to over-predict and I don’t want to cheat him. I don’t know. I just know that he has been on a mission this summer and this fall. He has worked really hard. If you would see him… you would not guess he weighs 250 pounds – you’d think he’s probably 225, 230 because he looks so sleek. But he is every bit of 250 pound. Our guy mattludwig – our strength and conditioning coach – has done a phenomenal job with our guys during the summer. If you look at them, you can see there are some different looking bodies out there. Our guys are in better condition and Jon is one of those guys that has benefitted from it."

BROCKMAN on whether things feel different heading into his final season as a Husky:
"Yeah it does. It gives a whole different perspective to things. The little stuff, you just start thinking, ‘This is the last time I’m going to do that, the last time I’m going to be doing this.’ I wish I would have known what this felt like when I was a freshman, sophomore, junior, just because I would have had a better understanding for what those other guys were feeling. Because it definitely means a lot more knowing this is the last time you’re going to do it."

And freshman ISAIAH THOMAS on surprising some of his teammates with his passing ability:
"I think I’ve always had it. It’s just the teams I’ve been on, I needed to score for us to win. This team, we’ve got a lot of talent around us, so you guys are going to see my other skills, and passing is one of them. Everybody is a little surprised that I can pass as good as I can. You guys will see once the season starts."

Arizona State at No. 8 Southern California. This one has lost a lot of luster since the start of the season. SC, 35-13.

UCLA at Oregon. Ducks have the top-rated offense in Pac-10, while Bruins' offense ranks last. UO, 45-14.

Arizona at Stanford. Cats have won five of last six at Stanford. UA, 41-20.

Washington State at Oregon State. Mike Riley looking for 50th win as OSU coach. And he seems to be looking in the right place. Beavers, 43-20.

Last week: 5-1.
Season: 32-8.
UW games: 4-1.

The Washington Huskies begin a free weekend right after their Thursday afternoon practice.

However, most UW coaches will remain busy, trying to rev up their seemingly stalled recruiting efforts.

“Most (assistant coaches) have departed – some Wednesday night, some (Thursday) morning -- to get out to the local high schools and do that,” Willingham said today. “I’m kind of limited in a sense because if you put seven (assistant coaches) out, the head coach can’t get out with that number, and we’ve already go seven assistants on the road.”

The Huskies have five known oral commitments to join the freshman class of 2009: safety Nathan Fellner (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West H.S.), cornerback Aaron Grymes (Seattle/West Seattle H.S.), cornerback Kenneth Pinkard (Dallas/South Oak Cliff H.S.), quarterback Keith Price (Bellflower, Calif./St. John Bosco H.S.) and defensive end Andru Pulu (Federal Way/Federal Way H.S.).

That is the smallest number of commitments in the Pacific-10 Conference, and it has been more than a month since anyone joined the list. Prospects are thought to be waiting for clarification on Willingham’s job status or at least some sign of hope from his 0-5 football team.

Willingham spent this week of practice trying to produce that by shaking up not only the usual practice routine, but also changing the contact-heavy focus of the previous bye week.

“I think we’re on track to do what we said we’d do: Hopefully get a little healthy, give our guys some quality work and at the same time change it up just a little bit so they get the benefits of not feeling like it’s just work, work, work, but have the opportunity to go out and have some fun,” he said. “… Obviously, nobody says it’s not a difficult time for the football team, but they seem to be having a good solid attitude about it. … We didn’t do quite as much scrimmaging as we did the bye week before. We didn’t feel like that would be an asset to us this week.”

The Huskies return to action Oct. 18 against Oregon State at Husky Stadium. The Beavers play Washington State this weekend in Corvallis, Ore.

A couple of other notes:

Athletic director Scott Woodward told radio station KJR-AM this morning that he would award a failing grade to the Huskies season thus far. However, he repeated his commitment to reserve final judgment until after the season.

Finally, Washington currently holds the nation’s longest losing streak: seven games. That’s one fewer than North Texas, which is in action this weekend against Louisiana-Lafayette. UW and North Texas are the only winless teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season.

1 Southern California (1) 3-1, 1-1. Avoided going 0-for-Oregon.
2 California (4) 4-1, 2-0. Re-emerging as top challenger to Trojans.
3 Arizona (6) 4-1, 2-0. Blew Huskies out of windy Arizona Stadium.
4 Oregon (2) 4-2, 2-1. League-leading run game blunted at SC.
5 Arizona State (3) 2-3, 1-1. Long fall from ‘threat to SC’ to ‘chance for UW.’
6 Oregon State (5) 2-3, 1-1. Rebuilding, but not rebuilt.
7 Stanford (7) 3-3, 2-1. QB Tavita Pritchard has five TD passes in last two games.
8 UCLA (8) 2-3, 1-1. Apparently wide gap from Pac-8 to Washington schools.
9 Washington (9) 0-5, 0-3. Nation’s longest losing streak.
10 Washington State (10) 1-5, 0-3. Turns to student body to fill QB depth chart.

Jon Brockman appears to be "on a mission" to make the NCAAs.

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.Jon Brockman drives past Artem Wallace in UW practice.

Practice is still about about 10 days away, but basketball coach Lorenzo Romar was in mid-season form today, refusing to comment on UW's Nov. 24 game against defending national champion Kansas because he's concentrating fully on the Huskies' rare road season opener Nov. 15 at Portland.

However, a detailed talk with Romar always yields some good information, and that was certainly true today. I'll write more about some of this later, but here are some highlights:

*The Huskies will add Division-I newcomer Seattle University to their schedule in the 2009-10 season.

*This UW team will have the best mix of experience and youth that he's had since Brandon Roy's senior season ... which ended at the Sweet 16.

* Jon Brockman appears to be "on a mission" to go out the way he came in ... with an NCAA tournament appearance. (We also got a chance to talk with Brockman, who is a sleek and strong 250 pounds and says he figures he made about 11,400 free throws during the summer -- regular workouts of 500 makes before stopping, and at a rate of about 86 percent. If he and the Huskies had come anywhere near that number last season, they likely would have played in the NCAA tournament instead of the CB,um,some vowel.)

* Romar likes the influx of young guards: citing especially Tacoma's Isaiah Thomas and the outside shooting of Elston Turner. However, he cautioned that no one should overlook senior Justin Dentmon who is the only one with NCAA tournament experience, spent the summer working on his shooting, and is in the best shape of his career. (We also talked to Dentmon, and yes, he looked hyper-fit -- solid and strong, but not bulked up.)

* Romar (and Dentmon) said this team will play at a faster pace than any team since the Roy season, both offensively and defensively.

* Said Thomas is a more skilled player than Nate Robinson, but Robinson had an unequalled will to win. Thomas can shoot over and dribble past a defender. Nate somehow just gutted his way to where he needed to be -- "Joe Frasier for 40 minutes" as Romar put it. (Meanwhile, Thomas said he and Nate both play with swagger and heart. And he showed the swagger -- in a good way -- saying the goal for this season is to get the program back on its feet and into the NCAA touranment. He also said he's never played with a frontcourt guy like Brockman before, and that he thinks to will help his game greatly because Brockman must be doubled, and that will open space that Thomas knows how to fill.)

Here's The Sporting News' overview of the Huskies, who TSN picks 36th in the nation and behind UCLA, USC and Arizona State in the Pac-10.

After hearing from Coach Willingham earlier this morning we got a little time with each coordinator this afternoon.

A few highlights from each:

FROM OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR TIM LAPPANO
*The team won't be able to "bang three straight" practices like they did during the last bye week. The team will try for a mix of improvement through practices, but also allowing time for the team to heal as mid-season nears.

* Cody Bruns and Terrance Dailey both wanted to play. Lappano is an easy-going guy, great with the media and a resource of information that all Husky fans should be thankful for ... but he was clearly displeased with some of the criticism that has come after the Huskies played their 11th and 12th true freshmen of the season. (However, contrary to what he said Saturday, today he seemed to imply that true freshman receiver Anthony Boyles won't play this season.) He said Bruns and Dailey both earned their playing time, both probably would have played earlier if not for injury, and that Dailey could be in the mix for the starting job against Oregon State ... even if all the tailbacks are healthy. "These guys came here to play early," Lappano said. "That's why they're here."

* Said that Michael Gottlieb's strong play has resulted in less time and fewer catches for true freshman tight end Kavario Middleton.

* Said the teams running troubles are a combination of the offensive line not knocking defenses off the ball as well as expected, along with young running backs who need to improve their vision and their decision-making when reading blocks.

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ED DONATELL
* Defended his defense against Arizona charges that they quit Saturday, saying "We don't have those kinds of kids here." However, he recognized the comment as an indictment, and said that he wants his defense to so obviously not quit that no one would think such a thing, and in fact where opponents would marvel at how hard the defense continued to play.

* Said he is pleased with the play of safety Nate Williams, especially considering he's lined up with different secondary personnel every week.

We had only brief phone access to coach Tyrone Willingham today. (We'll get time with some players and other coaches this afternoon, and I'll file again later with whatever comes from that.)

Willingham said there wasn't really anything new since we spoke yesterday. However, he did say that he tried to provide a little bit of a new feel for his players when they got together Sunday, for the first time since their loss at Arizona.

"I think our guys came in (Sunday) and had a nice physical workout," he said. "We tried to changed it up just a little bit to kind of give some freshness to it and not have them be in as long (Sunday) and kind of freshen up and we’ll get back to them today and try to adjust things just a little bit to keep the trend going: healthy, work and then develop."

It's an example of something I asked Willingham last week before the Arizona game: if he needs to mix up his message (or at least his presentation of that message) so that his players don't tune out from hearing the same thing each week.

"I think that with the young men that you have today, you always have to have a new message, a new presentation or a new way of presenting it," he said. "I think that’s the age we live in. I kind of call it the seven minute culture. I think it’s because TV’s commercials are every seven minutes. So you’ve got to change the message. But at the same time it does not mean that you can’t drive home the same message because no matter what you do, there are fundamentals to writing, there are fundamentals to reading, there are fundamentals to athletics. There are fundamentals to everything that we do, and we have got to learn those fundamentals so those have got to be a part of our game and you can’t get away from those. But you do have to change things up, you do have to have some variety, you do have to have some diversity. So I have to come up with a new way of saying something very consistently that catches their imagination, gets their thought process and triggers it in a different light but at the same time it’s still very fundamentally sound with what we have to do. Because no matter what you change, it’s still a game of blocking, tackling, running, catching."

The players of the week are receiver Devin Aguilar on offense, end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim who had three sacks on defense and snapper Danny Morovick on special teams.

Honored for their scout team work were receiver Cody Bruns, De'Shon Matthews and Riley Gervais.

Bruns, of course, saw more than service team work, actually getting into the game Saturday in a controversial decision that cost the true freshman a redshirt season.

Coach Tyrone Willingahm said that standard decision-making was applied, deciding that he plays the players that will give the team the best chance to win, and that there is enough season left for Bruns to make an impact.

“Anytime you play a freshman at any point other than the first ballgame it raises eyebrows somewhere,” Willingham said. “But I think if you’ll go back and look over my career and look over the time that I’ve been here, we’ve been very wise in how we’ve used and utilized our freshmen. I think was still consistent with the guys that we put in on Saturday. There were still, when they went in, eight games that we had remaining. We had injuries that affected their timing going in.”

Bruns and tailback Terrance Dailey were the 11th and 12th true freshmen used this season, which is thought to be a school record. And after the game offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said that a 13th – receiver Anthony Boyles – could add to that number.

Willingham said he adheres to a single rule: “Play the best players, and play them when they’re ready to play and ready to perform and can help themselves and help the football team.”

Regarding widespread 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.”

A few other Willingham comments from today's press conference:

On the bye week:
We enter another phase of our season, and that being the second bye week that we’re entering to. 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 and keep them coming forward. The schedule will change a little bit in terms of the structure, but not necessarily in terms of the time that we work. Everything there will be pretty consistent.

On the injury list
In two weeks I’m hopefully that we’ll have all of them back. Still the major question mark will be Darin Harris. We don’t know what his timetable will be, it could be extended. But other than that I think we’ll get most of the guys back. You’re talking about Goodwin will come back, you’re talking about Nate Williams, who should be able to come back in two weeks. And that’s not to say that they’ll be 100 percent back, but I think and anticipate that they will be back.

On the play of Ronnie Fouch
I thought Ronnie’s play was good and solid. What effected our overall offense more than anything else, and Ronnie included in there, was the fact that we couldn’t muster very much of a run game. I though Ronnie hung in there when there was pressure, I thought he made some key throws, and a couple that you just see a guy lob up a couple of balls that probably some people would not even have been creative enough to think about, he put some balls up and let the wind take them and let wind kind of take them and give our receivers a chance to make plays. I thought he had a very solid performance.

On the running game
I thought we lacked a real spark, some real juice, some real energy there, and that’s one of the things when we had our quarterback Jake, that he gave us. His ability to get the extra out of a run I thought was there. We didn’t get much of that on Saturday even though we did have some good runs.

Willie Griffin opened up the ballgame with a nice run, came back and unfortunately had some fumbles there, so that became an issue with me. Brandon Johnson did some nice things, then you saw a freshman, Terrance Dailey, come in and I thought have a very nice run on a draw-like play and he’s starting to show what I think he can do.

On the offensive line
I think we still were OK. I didn’t think it was our best performance. We went into the ballgame thinking maybe we could mash and move them a little bit, and as I said it would kind of be our size against their quickness a little bit. I don’t think we came out as well as we’d like to.

On the absence of Locker
What it does is it takes away what I call the extra man. When you have a quarterback that has the ability to run the football, it forces the defense to allocate another man to him, which normally most defense don’t worry about if the quarterback is a drop-back pass type. So we’ve got to find a way to eliminate that extra man. And that’s always been an issue in modern-day defense, how can you get that extra man out of the box and move him around and do things so that you can have that running game? Because if you don’t, then they up with eight guys in the box and you only have seven to block them in many cases.

On his message to recruits
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. You see that in our receivers, we’re seeing it on defense. We’re seeing a lot of young people that are added to the mix of our football team. I believe they have the ability to grow and improve and get better. With that, we have a chance to be a better football team, but the goal for us is not to wait, we’ve got to do it now.

And a few more from quarterback Ronnie Fouch:

On the stiff Arizona wind
It was pretty tough, so we were using it to our advantage when we had it. We were being safe against the wind, not throwing our deep passes. Once I got out there I wasn’t thinking about it as much. I just kind of got used to it during as warm-ups and coach said when I throw the ball keep it low and not let it get caught up in the wind.

On if the Arizona defense changed because Locker was missing
They had a really good defense. They brought multiple blitzes we didn’t get a chance to see on film – a lot of them. But they are a really good defense and I can’t really tell you if there was a difference.

On having Locker on the sideline
Yeah, he helps me a lot. He knows the plays that we run and we talk about them and talk about the plays that I saw. He helped me out a lot. … We just talked about every series when I’d come off the field he’s ask me what I saw and we talked about pretty much all the plays and what we need to do better, what we need to work on. It helped out a lot having him at the game.

On the mood of the team
It’s where it should be. People should be upset about the loss, you know, but we’ve got to put it behind us and I think guys are and we’re all looking forward to this bye week and people getting healthy and ready to beat Oregon State. We have a good offense and we have a good team and we all know what we can do, so we’re all excited to put this behind us and keep fighting for Oregon State.

Single-game tickets for UW's non-league men's basketball season go on sale today.

UW is also offering a couple of five-game plans, including four Pac-10 games and one out-of-conference opponent.

Click here for details.

Also, here's another note from UW regarding basketball season tickets:

Interested in purchasing Husky men's basketball season tickets but want to see first-hand where the seats are located? Join us for the Husky Men's Basketball Season Ticket Open House on November 6, just prior to the exhibition game vs. Western Washington. For more information about season tickets or to reserve your spot for the open house, call 206-221-0617.

Made it back from Arizona uneventfully.

No new news is expected out of UW until midday Monday when we get our weekly meeting with coach Tyrone Willingham and a few players -- and I'm not sure how much new stuff they'll have to say even then.

Meanwhile, our weekly look back and ahead:

LAST WEEK
The Huskies fell to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in the Pac-10 with a 48-14 loss at Arizona. Washington now has the nation’s longest losing streak: seven games. And UW and North Texas are the only Bowl Subdivision schools that haven’t won in ‘08. QB Ronnie Fouch completed 12 of 28 passes in his first start.

SOMETHING TO BUILD ON
Junior defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim broke out with a big game, making eight tackles and recording three sacks – the Huskies’ only sacks of the season. Fouch showed potential. Freshman receiver Jermaine Kearse made a brilliant 62-yard reception in traffic. Safety Victor Ayiewa returned to action.

SOMETHING TO WORK ON
Everything, really. The offensive line couldn’t handle the Arizona defensive front despite a size advantage, and the tailbacks weren’t able to make their own yards. The defense seemed helpless against the Wildcats’ quick-strike offense. Special teams gave up a 48-yard punt return for a touchdown.

PERSONNEL ISSUES
Tailback Terrance Dailey and receiver Cody Bruns became the 11th and 12th true freshmen to play this season. That’s already a school record, and there remains a chance receiver Anthony Boyles could become the 13th. At least six potential starters are questionable with new or lingering injuries.

THE WEEK AHEAD
The Huskies are off next weekend and will return to action Oct. 18 when Oregon State visits. Athletic director Scott Woodward said no coaching change will be made. The Huskies scrimmaged a lot during their last bye, but coach Tyrone Willingham said Saturday he hadn’t yet decided about this week.

Athletic director Scott Woodward said that coach Tyrone Willingham won't be fired during the coming bye week, and that he remains firm in his intention to make his coaching decision after this season.

Here's my full story from today's paper. (And here's a report on a firing Woodward did make. See the bottom of this post for more information.)

UPDATE: And since the comments below have begun discussing the "North Carolina model" of coaching changes, here's a link to the John McGrath column about that.

And here's more of what Woodward and some Huskies said about Willingham:

“I told you last weekend that I was less satisfied than I was the week before, and I’m even less happy today. But we have seven games to play, and we’re going to play those seven games. And, no, there’s not going to be a change this week. Like I said, (I will) look at the whole body of work of this season and assess it at the end of the season.”

“Coach Willingham’s coaching as hard as he can, and the kids are playing hard. I didn’t see quit in these guys. They didn’t play well, but I didn’t see quit. I didn’t see bad dissention. But it’s not good. I don’t want to sugar coat it, but it’s not good.”

“You don’t want to have your team orphaned -- it’s a bad situation. I don’t think it’s a great philosophy to make a firing in the middle of a season. I just don’t believe in it. … We have class in this program and integrity.”

The players also seem eager to see their coach stay.

Linebacker Mason Foster: “Coach Ty Willingham or not, I’m trying to win, you know what I’m saying. The coach hot seat or anything they’re talking about, I’m just trying to win for the University of Washington, for us. We’ve got to take pride in what we do. We can’t look at it like it’s on Coach Willingham. It’s on us. We’re the ones out there on the field.”

Quarterback Ronnie Fouch: "For a lot of us, this was the reason we came here was because of coach Willingham. We’re not going to give up on our head coach. We’re going to keep fighting and battling, no matter what it takes. We’re not going to give up this season.

Finally, here's a letter regarding the Tuite move that Woodward wrote to the athletic staff:

Here at the University of Washington we enjoy a rich history and tradition of excellence, both on the field and in the classroom. That success is the result of the commitment that those in leadership positions at this fine institution have made to provide a superior experience to the students who attend this school. There are many in this department who have been instrumental in creating the level of success that we have enjoyed over the years, including our current Executive Staff. Maintaining a tradition of excellence, though, sometimes requires change and a new direction. With this in mind, I have decided to seek a new direction for our Olympic Sports programs and I have informed Marie Tuite that I will be replacing her with a new Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Programs. I have not reached this decision lightly, it has been the product of months of thought and discussion and I have come to the conclusion that this will provide me with a fresh start for managing our sport programs.

Marie has contributed greatly to this department during her tenure here and she is to be commended on her wonderful service to our coaches, staff, donors, and student-athletes. Please join me in thanking Marie for her dedicated service to the University. I know that she has many friends in the department and on campus who wish her the very best.

I have begun the search for a new Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Programs and anticipate having an announcement in the next few weeks. In the interim, please feel free to contact my office with any questions or concerns.

Go Huskies!
Scott

No Huskies were happy after the game, but none were talking about quitting or even giving up their goals of a winning record or a bowl bid.

Here's my game story.

Some game highlights:

Player of the game
Arizona tight end Rob Gronkowski had five catches for 109 yards and three touchdowns. His first score was a 37-yard pass from quarterback Willie Tuitama, which gave the Wildcats an early 10-0 lead.

Husky of the game
Defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim broke through for the Huskies first three sacks of the season. He ended with eight total tackles. Washington had come into the game as the only one of the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams without a sack.

Turning point
The game was never competitive. But losing this coin toss was especially costly. Arizona won and deferred. Washington chose to receive, but that doomed them to playing the first quarter going into a stiff wind. Every play for the first six possessions of the game was run in Washington territory. By the time the Huskies saw the other side of the field, they were already down 10-0, and before they got the wind at their backs, they trailed 17-0.
“We made that choice in the second half, to try to give them the wind and hopefully have it in the fourth quarter,” coach Tyrone Willingham said. “I thought about it (in the first half), but I thought it was probably better to take the ball there and get ourselves going.

Two more freshmen play
Washington used its 11th and 12th true freshmen of the season: tailback Terrance Dailey and receiver Cody Bruns.
Ten had played previously, and that was already thought to be a school record.
In their debuts, Dailey carried six times for 18 yards. Bruns was in for a handful of plays and didn’t show up in the statistics.
Coach Tyrone Willingham and offensive coordinator Tim Lappano each defended giving up two more redshirts, citing the lack of numbers at both positions and these players ability to contribute over the remainder of the season.

Injury report
Tailback Brandon Johnson suffered a hip pointer and safety Nate Williams was in and out with back spasms. Receiver D’Ande Goodwin, who had been questionable with rib injuries, played only a single down and left the field in apparent discomfort. Safety Victor Ayiewa, who had missed the first four games with a groin injury, got his first playing time of the season. Tailback David Freeman (ankles) and safety Johri Fogerson (ankle) did not travel with the team. Quarterback Jake Locker did, and watched the game from the sidelines in his game jersey, sweatpants and a cast on his right hand.

Extra points
Two season-long streaks ended. In the first half, defensive end Te’o-Nesheim recorded the Huskies’ first sack of the season. UW was the last team in the Football Bowl Subdivision to get one. In the second quarter, a Ronnie Fouch pass was deflected and intercepted. The Huskies began the day as one of three FBS teams that hadn’t thrown an interception. … Through the middle portion of the game, UA quarterback Willie Tuitama competed 14 straight passes. … Tailback Nic Grigsby has scored a rushing touchdown in all five of Arizona’s games … Arizona kicker Jason Bondzio hit a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter, matching the longest of his career. … Redshirt freshman tailback Willie Griffin got his first career start. … UW game captains were Te’o-Nesheim, Trenton Tuiasosopo, Michael Gottlieb and Casey Bulyca.

Next
The Huskies are off next weekend. They will return to action at 4 p.m. Oct. 18 when Oregon State visits Husky Stadium.

Heading downstairs: It's about time to head down to the field to get what are likely to be some very unhappy and increasingly familiar quotes.

I'll be back later with notes and quotes ... apparently including some words from athletic director Scott Woodward.

Start of 4th quarter: Arizona went to their reserve QB on their first drive of the third quarter. (He led them to a TD). Assuming Willie Tuitama is done for the night, he ends with 17 completions in 21 attempts for 193 yards and three touchdowns.

Meanwhile, UW appears about ready to make a QB change too. Walk-on Taylor Bean is warming up on the sideline.

5:30 in the third quarter: Even the Arizona fans seem to have seen enough. The stands are thinning out, and there are a lot of red shirts walking the streets leading away from the stadium.

Halftime: I just got a few words with athletic director Scott Woodward. He admits that he is increasingly unhappy with what is playing out on the field this season ... and obviously that first half is no exception.

However, he repeated yet again that he is not in favor of, and does not expect to make, a midseason coaching change.

Or a mid-game coaching change.

4 mintes left in the half First the Huskies' no-sack streak ended. And now they have thrown their first interception of the season, a deflected Fouch pass to Tony Chidiac.

Meanwhile Terrance Dailey was in that series, becoming the 11ths UW true freshman to play this season.

11:55 of 2nd Huskies answer first time going with the wind. Big play was a 62-yard pass reception by Jermaine Kearse ... great catch. It was the longest play surrendered by the Wildcats this season.

2nd quarter Obviously a brutal start for the Huskies. However, they have the wind with them this quarter. If they're going to get back in this, it's time.

First quarter stat: Arizona 147 total yards, Washington 50.

First quarter Daniel Te'o-Nesheim just got credit for the first sack of the Huskies season. They had been the only major college team coming into this week without a sack.

Tailback Willie Griffin got his first start. But he fumbled on the second series and was replaced by Brandon Johnson.

Kickoff UW game captains are Daniel Teo-Nesheim, Trenton Tuiasosopo, Michael Gottlieb and Casey Bulyca. ... Arizona won the toss and elected to defer. Washington will receive and begin the game going into what remains a very stiff wind.

4:27 Sitting behind me is a Rose Bowl rep, scouting Arizona, no doubt, which btw is the only Pac-10 team never to have played in the Rose Bowl game.

3:50 Army beat Tulane today, which means Washington and North Texas are the only remaining Bowl Subdivision teams without a win this season. However, Washington's six-game losing streak dating back to last season is the nation's longest.

2:50 The UW travel roster shows that starting tailback David Freeman and starting safety Johri Fogerson did not travel to Tucson due to injury.

However, leading receiver D'Andre Goodwin did, as did safety Victor Ayiewa did. And so did true freshmen receivers Cody Bruns and Anthony Boyles and tailback Terrance Dailey, who haven't played yet, but could make their college debuts tonight.

Also, as mentioned yesterday, quarterback Jake Locker traveled too, even though he won't play to night or for several weeks due follwing surgery Monday on his broken thumb.

2:30 p.m. I've arrived at Arizona Stadium, and I'm feeling exceptionally secure. Most press boxes are content to remind us that there is no cheering in the press box. Here, they also remind you that weapons aren't allowed in the press box. Nor, for that matter, are pets or skateboarding. But since I seldom pack heat in a press box, it's nice to know the competition isn't either.

While walking to the stadium it was impossible not to notice how windy it is. I mean really windy. Windy enough to impact passing games. It's warmer than the Huskies are used to, and there could be some rain by gametime. But the wind is the factor that could end up making a difference.

Meanwhile, we'll stick to our normal gameday blogging schedule. I'll pop in here with any news before the game (the travel roster could be interesting). Then keep this as a running blog through the game. Then after, I'll run down for quotes and I hope you will keep the blog going with comments. Then I'll be back for finals notes and quotes on a separate blog item.

(Reminder: Kickoff is 4:30, and on Versus (and, I assume, on Versus HD), not the usual FSN.

A sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy day has dawned in Tucson.

Here is my preview story from the morning paper.

Among the Tucson papers, here's the prevew from the Arizona Daily Star, including a bit of a shot at Ty Willingham from columist Greg Hansen. And here's a look from the Tucson Citizen, including a story pointing out that it's been a decade since the Wildcats have been such big favorites over another Pac-10 team.

Here's my skimmer's guide to the game:

WASHINGTON (0-4 OVERALL, 0-2 PAC-10)
AT ARIZONA (3-1, 1-0)
Kickoff: 4:30 p.m., Arizona Stadium.
Television: Versus. Radio: 950-AM.

The series: Washington leads 16-7-1. The visiting team has won four straight. Last season, Arizona came from 15 points behind in the fourth quarter for a 48-41 victory in Husky Stadium. The last meeting at Arizona came in 2006, when UW won 21-3.

What to watch: UW freshman quarterback Ronnie Fouch makes his first start. His path could be more difficult with the Huskies’ leading receiver (D’Andre Goodwin) and tailback (David Freeman) doubtful due to injury. They’ll try to keep up with an Arizona offense is averaging 42.5 points and 423 yards per game, while going against a defense that allows an average of 222 yards (best in the Pac-10 and second nationally) and 15.5 points. The UW defense must contain a quick-strike Arizona offense that has 11 touchdown drives of two minutes of less (tied for fifth nationally). The Huskies also will have to adjust to temperatures expected to remain in the upper 80s at kickoff. There also is a chance of rain.

What’s at stake: The Huskies will put three zeros on the line: no interceptions thrown, no sacks recorded and -- most of all -- no victories. They’s also apprecaite some good news heading into a bye week. Meanwhile, the Wildcats can move two-thirds of the way to bowl eligibility. However, Arizona fans are thinking even bigger, hoping to move among the top tier of teams in this season’s wide-open conference race.

I plan to arrive at the stadium around 2 and will begin the usual gameday blogging then.

The game is on the Versus cable network.

Coach Tyrone Willingham made room on the 64-man travel roster to take injured quarterback Jake Locker along on this trip. Locker's leadership is always considered valuable, but there had been some question if he would be cleared to fly so soon after surgery on his broken right thumb.

Obviously, he was.

Meanwhile, I've also arrived in Tucson, and I'm sorry to be so predictable but it really must be a dry heat because it feels perfectly comfortable out there even though it's supposed to be around 90 degrees.

The gameday forcast also calls for temperatures around 90... and then lower because of the 4:30 kickoff. (Arizona time is the same as Pacific time this time of year.) Also, there's a chance of Saturday night showers.

"(The heat) will have some impact," coach Tyrone Willingham said at mid-week. "... Our guys will have to go through some adjustment. We talk to them constantly about hydration so that they prepare themselves. It's not something you can do overnight, it's something you have to continually work at. For our guys that it has been problematic with it, you try to do some extra things. And just advise the other guys to keep putting the fluids in to avoid the problem."

Meanwhile, the most interesting news in the local papers that I've spotted so far is the Arizona Daily Star's report that Arizona has taken the first steps toward a stadium-improvement project a few seasons down the line.

Well, once again I've started the week with a loss. Last week I underestimated Oregon State, and this week I overestimated them. (Or perhaps I overestimated USC and underestimated Utah.)

Anyway, here's the rest:

No. 23 Oregon at No. 9 Southern California. Running was enough vs. Cougars, but it won’t be vs. hyper-focused Trojans. SC, 37-24.

Arizona State at California. Elimination game for Rose Bowl the loser's dreams. Cal, 30-20.

Stanford at Notre Dame. Irish have won six straight in the series. N.D., 31-28.

Washington State at UCLA. This is that rare game that each of these teams probably thinks it can win. Bruins, 34-14.

Washington at Arizona. Visiting team has won four straight in this series, and Tucson was the site of Tyrone Willingham's first Pac-10 win as UW coach. However, these Wildcats figure to score far more than Locker-less Huskies can match. Arizona, 47-17.

Last week: 3-1.
Season: 27-7.
UW games: 3-1.

In his final meeting with the media before kickoff, Willingham said Thursday that he remained uncertain if receiver D’Andre Goodwin and tailback David Freeman will be available Saturday. Safety Johri Fogerson (ankle) is doubtful, but it appears safety Victor Aiyewa (groin) will play for the first time this season.

Willingham said true freshman receiver Cody Bruns will probably make his college debut at Arizona, and he said it is possible receiver Anthony Boyles could, too. True freshman tailback Terrance Dailey had also been in the mix, but he was slowed this week by illness.

The Huskies fly out Friday, their first travel in 34 days since the season-opening loss at Oregon on Aug. 30.

The team will be greeted by the hottest weather they have faced in a while. The forecast for today in Tucson calls for partly cloudy skies with a high temperature of 93. The game day forecast calls for a high of 89.

Anyone ready to talk basketball for a second?

ESPN hoops analyst Jay Bilas blogs that UW senior foward Jon Brockman as the No. 1 rebounder in college basketball.

Here is a link, although this is ESPN Insider (paid subscription) material, so you may not be able to get through. However, as I have already mentioned, Bilas lists the top rebounds and puts Brockman ahead of No. 2 Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, No.3 Blake Griffin of Oklahoma, etc.

Of Brockman he writes, "Brockman won't win on 'Dancing with the Stars,' but he is a beast on the boards." He goes on to point out that Brockman was the nation's third-leading rebounds last season (11.6 rpg) and the two guys ahead of him are now in the NBA.

By the way, I'll try to do a basketball off-season roundup next week when the football team is off. Then things should pick up again as the Huskies hold their basketball media day Oct. 15, then begin pactice (no public Midnight Madness-like event is planned), then comes Pac-10 basketball media day Oct. 30 in Los Angeles, and then the start of the UW season, Nov. 15 at Portland.

Add tailback Brandon Yakaboski to revolving door that is the Huskies' injury list.

Yakaboski injured a knee at Tuesday practice and is probably out for Saturday’s game at Arizona.

In his absence -- and that former starter Chris Polk and his replacement David Freeman -- the starting job will go with Brandon Johnson or Willie Griffin, and the idea of using true freshman Terrance Dailey will rise a bit. Dailey himself had missed some time this week, but that was explained as illness and nothing that should affect his availability if needed in Tucson.

Leading receiver D'Andre Goodwin also is practicing, but doubtful for Saturday with a rib injury.

And the UW career of senior CB Byron Davenport is probably over, as he will undergo knee surgery later this month.

Wondering where the good news is? That's elsewhere on the defensive side, where coordinator Ed Donatell said this afternoon that middle linebacker Donald Butler (concussion) is working and likely to play Saturday, while safety Victor Aiyewa (groin) also is working and could make his season debut Saturday.

1 Southern California (1) 2-1, 1-1. Off game or overrated?
2 Oregon (2) 4-1, 2-0. Pac-10 leader with 47.4 points per game.
3 Arizona State (3) 2-2, 1-0. Ranked here on expectations, but reality near.
4 California (4) 3-1, 1-1. Tedford reopens quarterback competition.
5 Oregon State (7) 2-2, 1-1. Nothing fluky about win over USC.
6 Arizona (5) 3-1, 1-0. Still hard to tell until they play someone.
7 Stanford (6) 3-2, 2-1. Halfway to bowl eligibility in Harbaugh’s second season.
8 UCLA (8) 1-3, 0-1. Neuheisel is 67-33 after 100th game as coach.
9 Washington (9) 0-4, 0-2. Only BCS team without a win … or a sack.
10 Washington State (10) 1-4, 0-2. Outscored 213-47 vs. Bowl Subdivision teams.