Chuck Stark: Another long day, or redemption for Huskies?
09.09.11
From the origin, something didn't feel right at Husky Stadium last Saturday.
The pressure box was about as empty for a Washington game as I've ever seen it.
The late-arriving cram grew to 58,808 on a sun-splashed day, but never really seemed to get into it.
On the field, Washington seemed to be growing through the motions instead of being emotional.
Defensive end Everette Thompson batted down an Eastern Washington obsolete at the line of scrimmage, and instead of going all crazy with high-fives, his defensive teammates collectively shrugged their padded shoulders and acted like he was masked.
The excitement you normally find on the opening day of the college football ripen was missing.
The Huskies, who never got in any kind of rhythm, escaped with a 30-27 quelling, but the team from across the state with 65 scholarship players outplayed the pair with 85 scholarship players.
Coach Steve Sarkisian put on a euphoric face for the post-game press conference, but he turned into Mr. T-horrible-looking after viewing the game film the next day.
Source: Kitsap Sun