Washington Huskies' choices Saturday: Apple Cup champs, or 0-11 chumps

The Washington Huskies have one title to try to capture this week: Apple Cup champs. And another to avoid: worst team in school history.

A loss to the Cougars on Saturday would be Washington's 11th of the season. Only one other team in school history has had 10 — the 2004 squad that finished 1-10.

To be fair, until 1971 the Huskies usually played only 10 games in a season, and fewer than that in earlier eras, so for years it wasn't even possible to lose 10.

But by just about any measure — winning percentage, yards allowed, points scored — this Huskies team is in danger of going down as the worst in school history, particularly if it loses to a Cougars squad that is threatening to be remembered as one of the worst in the history of college football.

"Nobody wants that on their name," said fullback Paul Homer. "Nobody wants to go 0-12. But we are going to go out there and play hard, just what we have been doing every week, going out there, trying to get a win."

Only twice since 1920 have the Huskies won as few as one game in a season, the seasons previously regarded as the low points of the program — 1969, when UW went 1-9, and 2004.

Washington will be a heavy underdog in two weeks at California, meaning the Apple Cup looms as its best chance of getting a win.

"We can't look at it like that," said receiver Cody Bruns, referring to any of the possible historical implications of the game. "We're just trying to progress through the season and get a win."

Even a lone win, however, will put only so much shine on this season.

Consider that of the 17 team statistical categories measured by the NCAA, the Huskies rank 106th or lower in 15 — and there are 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams. The Huskies' highest rank is 83rd for pass defense, a number as high as it is in part because teams run so easily on the Huskies they often don't have to pass much.

Best epitomizing UW's place in the college football world this season, UW is 117th in scoring offense and 116th in scoring defense.

The Huskies are allowing 453.4 yards per game, which would break the record of 446.4 set last season, and gaining just 263.5, which would be the fewest since 1967.

Washington's 13.9 points per game would be the fewest since the 1969 team averaged just 11.6. And the 39.9 allowed would be the most ever.

Players insist they aren't really that bad.

"Statistically, it will say that," Homer said. "But I look at the guys on the team and we've got really talented, athletic guys. We just didn't have that chemistry, I don't think, and that's why football is the ultimate team sport. You just can't have a lot of athletes running around out there and have a team."

Like this year, the 2004 and 1969 teams presented some special challenges.

In 2004, the Huskies were a year removed from the firing of Rick Neuheisel, which shook the foundation of the program. When UW lost its first three games that season, it seemed apparent Keith Gilbertson wouldn't be back, and he was fired with three games left.

The 1969 season was rugged from the start as the Huskies faced three teams ranked in the top 20 — at Michigan State, at Michigan and Ohio State — in the first three games. Washington lost those games by a combined 27 points and never really recovered. At midseason, the team was shattered by racial tension, which helped result in a 57-14 loss at UCLA. The team was 0-9 before beating the Cougars in Seattle in the Apple Cup for its lone win.

Only one other UW team since 1954 has won as few as two games, the 1973 squad that went 2-9. That team, however, beat Syracuse in the third game of the season, so the specter of going winless never lasted long.

It says something about Washington's football history that the Huskies have had just 27 losing seasons since taking up the sport in 1889, and 17 since the end of World War II — including the past five.

Few, however, have been as disappointing as this one, which began with high hopes of a turnaround in coach Tyrone Willingham's fourth year but will end in his removal and uncertainty.

"I don't know what didn't mesh," Homer said. "Everybody gets along really well in the locker room. I felt like every year I've been here, the team has gotten closer in terms of hanging out outside football, tolerating each other in the locker room and having a good time with each other. Maybe we are missing something else."

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