Sarkisian calls '09 season a success

Two goal-line stands against Notre Dame. A final drive against UCLA that ended with an interception. Blown coverage on a 50-yard Hail Mary pass against Arizona State. It's easy to pick out games and moments that could have cost the Washington football team a bowl game this year, making the Huskies' 5-7 finish perhaps even more frustrating knowing how close they were to a six-win year and a trip to a bowl game. That would have given them that much more respect and, perhaps more importantly, 15 more practices for a young team still learning first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian's system. But consider where the Huskies were when Sarkisian arrived one year ago - just finishing up an 0-12 season and trying to rid themselves of any semblance of the Tyrone Willingham era - and it's also easy to see why Sarkisian called this year a step in the right direction. "No doubt, this was a success," Sarkisian said. "We played hard. That was the first goal, and there's no doubt we played hard. You can ask every coach we played and ask their kids, we play hard as a football team. We weren't perfect. I said this at the press conference, that it's not going to take us very long, and I truly believe that. "We're as good as anybody in our conference. We can go play them next week and we'll be in a ballgame with them. I don't know if we could have said that a year ago, but we can say that today, and in my opinion, that's not taking very long." It might take even less time from this year to next to turn the Huskies into a legitimate contender in the Pac-10, given the maturation of UW's offense this year and the players it returns. Replacing senior linebacker Donald Butler and senior defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim will be the biggest challenge for the defense, but Sarkisian said the work that some of the underclassmen got during UW's bye weeks will be valuable come next season when those players are going to be relied on. Then there's the recruiting class, currently ranked No. 9 in the country by Scout.com. "We're rolling," Sarkisian said. "We're rolling. Part of our message is that we're supposed to get better as a football program. The last two weeks helps us with that. This win tonight helps us with that. ... It gives us some validity that we're on the rise, and so, obviously, in recruiting, that plays a big part." If Jake Locker comes back for his senior season, the Huskies would return every single one of their skill position players, losing only fullback Paul Homer and offensive lineman Ben Ossai from an offensive unit that was at its best the final two weeks of the season. Consider that Mykenna Ikehara proved himself a capable replacement at center in Ryan Tolar's absence in UW's 42-10 win over Cal, and the Huskies seem to have a couple of different ways of replacing Ossai on what will be a more experienced, and ideally stronger, offensive line. The lure of bringing UW its first bowl appearance since 2002 might be enough for Locker to come back for his senior year. He has until Jan. 15 to declare for the NFL Draft. "That's something that will be considered in my decision, definitely," Locker said. "It's a memory and an experience that I think I'd be lying to you if I told you that it's not something I want to experience. That all will be part of the decision." So if Locker is back to lead an offense that has Chris Polk in the backfield, and Jermaine Kearse, James Johnson and Devin Aguilar again starting at receiver, general logic would suggest the Huskies would be expected to notch their first winning season since 2002. "I think we can be electric," Sarkisian said after the Cal game. "I think we're coming into our own. It was great that Mykenna Ikehara got his first start at center tonight and played fantastic against a great defensive line. We're very young. We lose two guys. We're a very young offense that continued to grow throughout the season, and tonight, we showed some explosiveness that we can continue to grow on." Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

Sarkisian calls '09 season a success

Disruptor interrupts Psych 210, professor and students chase man on to Red Square

2025 Seattle and King County primary election endorsements

UW mechanical engineering students are now required to pay $250 quarterly fee to participate in department-affiliated RSOs

College Inn Pub reopens under new ownership