UDUBNation.com - Huskies silence critics again

October 29, 2012

Justin Rowland
UDUBNation.com Publisher

Two times this year the Huskies have been written off by critics and many fans alike. Twice they have silenced their doubters.

It didn't take long for columnists and pundits to write off Washington after an embarrassing 41-3 loss to LSU down in Death Valley. That Tiger team isn't as good as folks believed they were at the time, but even so, the performance was so disheartening that many revised their expectations for Washington after that game.

Fast-forward through a win over Portland State and a bye week, and on that next Thursday night the Huskies knocked off Stanford, who enjoyed a lofty national ranking at the time.

That win over Stanford wasn't just any win. It wasn't done with smoke and mirrors or tricks. It was one team lining up and out-rushing the other team by a 2-to-1 margin, one year after that school, Stanford, had gone for nearly 450 yards on the ground against them.

Fast-forward again, past defeats at the hands of Oregon and Southern Cal. Arizona decimated the Huskies 52-17 in the desert and the Dawgs were again written off. Even UDUBNation.com, after that performance, wrote that revised expectations should simply be reaching the postseason.

But this resilient Husky team responded just as they had against Stanford. They knocked off a team with an impressive national ranking. An undefeated team with darkhorse championship aspirations, just as Stanford once was.

This win over Oregon State was, again, all about running the ball and playing defense.

Washington may not be as flashy as they were last season. But these Dawgs are resilient. They're tough. They're not the pushover that one columnist in Oregon believed they were.

Coaches take a lot of criticism. But two bounce-back wins like the Huskies have had this year mean these coaches are worthy of some praise.

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