Short answers to UW football troubles

Asked the other day to describe how difficult Washington's 2008 season has been, coach Tyrone Willingham replied: "It would take me too long to tell you."

Well, then, let us do it instead, the halfway point of the season being the perfect time to look at what has gone wrong (a lot) and right (not so much), in a handy question-and-answer format.

Q. Is there one major reason this team is where it is right now — 0-6 for the first time since 1969?

A. Not really. This has been a collective disaster, right up there with the Backstreet Boys' national anthem before Game 1 of the World Series. Of 14 statistical categories in which the NCAA rates all 119 teams, the Huskies rank 91st or lower in 13. The Huskies stand 114th or worse in six stats — pass efficiency defense, total defense, rushing defense, punt returns, scoring defense and total defense. The highest ranking is 57th in passing offense (215.7 yards per game).

Q. Isn't there a little bit of a defensive trend in those bottom-of-the-bottom stats?

A. Good observation. Indeed, the Huskies' worst numbers are almost all on defense. Washington ranks below even Washington State in total defense, allowing 483 yards per game, 117th in the nation, and is dead last in pass efficiency defense, giving up 18 touchdowns while picking off just two passes and allowing opponents to complete 72.5 percent of their passes.

Nobody figured defense would be a strength for UW this season after the Huskies had the worst defense in school history last season, resulting in the firing of defensive coordinator Kent Baer. But the hope was that new coordinator Ed Donatell would be able to work miracles and turn it into at least a respectable group. So far, that hasn't happened.

"We're all a little shocked by it," said linebacker Josh Gage. "We all expected a lot more at this point from our group."

Q. Is there a single biggest reason for the defensive struggles?

A. Aside from missed tackles? Probably youth on the defensive line, which is something that in retrospect was easy to see coming. Washington went into the season with one experienced defensive lineman, DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, and is often using three freshmen. All figure to be good players down the road and it's not their fault they are being rushed into duty — a four-year program should have been better positioned to avoid having to use so much youth. But earlier recruiting failures left UW short. And while some want to blame it on Keith Gilbertson, Willingham could have made a decision to, say, redshirt DE Caesar Rayford during the past three years after he played as a freshman in 2004 to give this team more experience.

Q. But the offense is far from blameless, right?

A. While the conventional wisdom heading into the year was that the offense might be good enough to carry the defense, it has done anything but. The Huskies are scoring just 17.6 points per game, 108th in the nation, on pace for the fewest points in any season since 1975, save for the disastrous 2004 season, when the Huskies tallied just 154 points in going 1-10.

Q. Can't a lot of that be blamed on Jake Locker's injury?

A. The past two games, certainly, haven't gone well since Locker broke his thumb — UW has scored 41 points in the 10 full quarters he has missed. But things weren't really humming with him, either — the Huskies averaged 18.3 points in the three full games he played. Like the defense, it has been a collective effort.

Q. What's the biggest problem on offense?

A. The inability to mount a consistent running attack. The hope was that a veteran offensive line — four starters returning from last year's team that was second in the Pac-10 in rushing at 203 per game — would dominate up front and provide breathing room for some inexperienced skill position players. Instead, the line has regressed. A recent injury to Casey Bulyca hasn't helped, and Juan Garcia, who has made an admirable comeback from a Lisfranc injury, isn't quite the same player he was a year ago.

In general, the line just hasn't played as well as thought, ranking as the most underachieving unit to date. The Huskies are averaging just 103.2 yards rushing. That's on pace to be the lowest since 1939, save for the 2002 season when UW averaged 74.5 while basically letting Cody Pickett throw it to Reggie Williams on every down.

Q. And the special teams haven't done much, have they?

A. Nope, another area of high expectations because of a coaching change has so far disappointed. The Huskies are 3 of 8 on field goals (the fewest made in a season in the past 35 years is 10), and other than a few good kickoff returns from Jordan Polk, hasn't made much of anything good happen in any area.

Q. Any standouts?

A. Sure. Te'o-Nesheim, who has the team's only three sacks, has been the most consistent defender and would be the team's defensive MVP. Receiver D'Andre Goodwin has been the offensive MVP with 32 catches, on pace for the most since Williams had 89 in 2003.

Q. Any reasons for optimism?

A. The Huskies have played 12 true freshmen, and all have given evidence of living up to the hype, notably TE Kavario Middleton, TBs Terrance Dailey and David Freeman, WRs Devin Aguilar and Jermaine Kearse and DLs Senio Kelemete, Alameda Ta'amu and Everrette Thompson. Whoever the coach is next season should have a few bullets to work with.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.