Even With Pair of Losses, Huskies Pass the Attitude Check

Entering Saturday's game against Arizona, the University of Washington football team has gone 20 days without a victory, which has to strain everyone's comfort levels.

After all, these players bought in to Kalen DeBoer's new system that begin with grueling winter workouts to reshape bodies in a drastic manner and continued on with demanding spring and fall camps, all of which required a total recommitment to restore winning in Montlake.

These UW players won their first four games in exciting fashion, inside an enlivened Husky Stadium, but then dropped consecutive road outings decided by a touchdown each.

Any cracks in the foundation after being denied a pair of weekend rewards?

"That's just adversity," said Husky inside linebacker Cam Bright, the graduate transfer from Pittsburgh. "You go through those things in every aspect of life. Losses teach you more than winning does. It has its pros and cons."

During the winning streak, DeBoer kept reminding everyone that the true test of this rebuilt team would not be its winning ways but its reaction to that initial stretch of adversity when it inevitably showed up.

These Huskies basically went in the tank the year before and couldn't stop losing when their coach got fired and things turned real sour.

DeBoer and his coaches have made sure to watch closely for any telltale signs of lingering disappointment. They've been satisfied with the response they've seen.

"I know our guys are going to keep fighting and battling," DeBoer said. "I am really proud of seeing the last two weeks and how we've come into the locker room after each loss. It's been different. It's been really different."

In fact, the two defeats — to UCLA 40-32 and to Arizona State 45-38 — even elicited slightly varied responses from UW players each time.

"ULCA, I think there was a hurt," DeBoer said. "They were riding a four-game winning streak and expectations. I think there was a hurt. This last week, it was an upsetting thing to the guys. I saw a little more like aggravation."

UW players have suggested that divisions arose last year once the team went into its slide, with some players concerned more about their individual needs and hardly unified, with even the coaching staff showing some divisions.

Chuck Morrell, DeBoer's co-defensive coordinator, was impressed with how his embattled defensive backs came out of the weekend. They showed up at practice bent on correcting their mistakes, with older players trying to help out younger teammates.

"I saw it [Sunday] in the film room when we were going through the details of the mistakes we made down south and guys were really locked in," Morrell said. "We go out and go through a walk-through, and guys are helping each other, and helping each other with a little bit of the mistakes that were made, and they're talking through the situations. To me, that's a huge sign of positivity."

New coaching staffs come in expecting to fix things and deal with some tough times before enjoying program benefits. That's basically why they were hired in the first place — because something wasn't working.

DeBoer and his staff found players who have been through nonstop travails after experiencing last year's never-ending downturn that included losing games, coaches and even teammates, and who want something better.

"There's never been anything as far as finger-pointing or guys upset, other than upset at just what the results were, not upset at someone else in particular or what we did, how we did it and stuff," DeBoer said. "To me that says a lot about what the character of our team is and the culture we continue to build."

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