Steve Sarkisian "anxious, excited" for first game as Washington's head coach

There will be all the obvious beginnings for the Washington Huskies on Saturday night when they open the football season against Louisiana State: new coach (Steve Sarkisian), new turf and even, as Sarkisian had fun pointing out this week, new uniforms.

There also will be a cleansing. Once kickoff comes at 7:36, the disaster that was 2008 officially ends. Despite all the openness of the new program, this will be many fans' first real look at the new-look Huskies.

And while the Huskies don't guarantee a win tonight against the Tigers, who are 17 ½-point favorites, they do promise an honest effort, something that wasn't always there as the drudgery of 2008 wound to a close.

"Sometimes some of the players just gave up on us, and whenever you have that, you are not going to win ballgames," said linebacker Donald Butler. "Whenever there is friction between the coaching staff and players, [you are not going to win ballgames]. But again, I put it more on the players. We weren't getting it done on the field last year. And that's the difference between last year and this year."

What's also different is the return of players such as quarterback Jake Locker (from injury) and linebacker E.J. Savannah (from suspension/leaving the team); the maturation of 18 returning starters; and the addition of a few talented newcomers, such as freshman receiver James Johnson.

"It feels like a new team with our strength and conditioning [work] and just the amount of confidence that these coaches give us and the confidence that we have in them," said safety Nate Williams. "Everything feels like it's new. We are all way more confident than we were last year and we are just excited to get out there and start playing."

So, obviously, is Sarkisian, who said Monday that he had been thinking for months about what he will say to his team before kickoff.

"You dream about that first pregame speech and your best Jim Owens or Don James or Knute Rockne impression you can make," said Sarkisian, the 35-year-old who made his mark as the offensive coordinator at USC before coming to UW to replace Tyrone Willingham last December.

And of standing on the sideline for the first time as a head coach? "I'm anxious and excited for it," Sarkisian said. "I want to enjoy the moment. I don't want it to go by without me really cherishing the moment. But when the game starts, it will be another game."

And then the answer will really begin to take shape on just how much better the 2009 Huskies will be from 2008 — how much the disaster of last year was because of talent differential and how much was due to the coaching uncertainty and instability.

The Tigers would present a huge challenge in the best of times for UW, let alone with the Huskies having lost 14 in a row and starting over.

LSU was an unfamiliar 8-5 last year, but finished on a high by beating Georgia Tech 38-3 in the Chick-fil-A Bowl and is ranked No. 11. Offensive tackles Ciron Black and Joseph Barksdale lead an offensive line that will try to blow open holes for powerful running back Charles Scott, who rushed for 1,174 yards last season. It'll also try to give quarterback Jordan Jefferson all the time he needs to get the ball to a corps of fleet receivers, led by Brandon LaFell (63 receptions last season). And a defensive coaching staff overhaul has led to high hopes for that side of the ball, with seven seniors leading the way.

The Huskies will counter with what they hope is an improved Locker leading an offense that will feature more of USC's prostyle looks, and a defense that could feature 10 starters today with previous starting experience.

Should the oddsmakers prove right, however, Sarkisian won't be alone in the pantheon of Huskies coaches to lose their first game. Only one since 1956 has emerged victorious in his initial UW outing — Jim Lambright in 1993. Willingham, Keith Gilbertson, Rick Neuheisel and Don James all lost, and Jim Owens got a tie.

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