There are a lot of loyal Husky fans who are sleepless in Seattle because their team is winless in Seattle. They are simply antsy about taking another hit for the cause because Washington has become arguably the worst team in the nation.

The Huskies might be barking like an angry dog, but their opponents are no longer paying attention. They are not even listening; they are snickering. The once proud, winning tradition built by the immortal Don James has become so unraveled by other hands that it may never be put back together again.

Proof positive came last Saturday (10-4-08) in Tucson (AZ) when Arizona led 48-7 after three quarters and Coach Mike Stoops mercifully let his troops cruise home to a 48-14 victory. The defeat was Washington’s 5th straight this season and 7th straight dating back to last season. Even a winless Army team managed to notch its first victory Saturday by beating Tulane 44-13, leaving only North Texas (also 0-5) and Washington as the only winless Division I-A teams.

Even North Texas has only lost 6 straight dating to its last game a year ago, meaning the Huskies have the longest losing streak in the nation. The Huskies have lost to bitter rival Oregon (44-10), Brigham Young (28-27), Oklahoma (55-14), Stanford (35-28) and now Arizona (48-14). Their two season-ending losses were to bitter in-state rival Washington State (42-35) and Hawaii (35-28).

It is true that, through the 6th week of the season, Washington has played the 2nd toughest schedule among all 119 Division 1-A teams. The problem is that we are not talking about the Tuba City, Montana Buffaloes; we are talking about the once-proud, once-feared Washington Husky football program.

And, yes, the Tuba City, Montana Buffaloes are fictitious; it is just difficult to compare the Huskies to another team because there is no team worse than Washington is right now.

So just how bad are the Huskies? I thought you would never ask. The Huskies are this bad: Jeff Sagarin has them rated108th among 242 possible 1-A and 1-AA teams. There are 10 1-AA teams rated ahead of Washington. They are all the way from Montana (at 106th) to James Madison (at 70th), and include Massachusetts, Jacksonville State, Appalachian State, Weber State, Richmond, New Hampshire, Villanova and McNeese State. This is not exactly a powerhouse lineup.

There are 22 1-A schools rated worse than Washington, the poorest is Idaho (at 183rd) and then North Texas (at 180th). All 10 AA teams and 22 A teams-except North Texas-have done something that Washington has not-win at least one game this season.

Washington Coach Ty Willingham has definitely joined a not-so-famous club that includes Tommy Bowden from Clemson, Kirk Ferentz from Iowa, Phillip Fulmer from Tennessee, Al Groh from Virginia and Greg Robinson from Syracuse. All of them are about to be fired as head coaches.

Willingham will not survive this season. The only real question left is: will he even win a single game?

Washington has a bye this weekend. What the Huskies really need is not a bye week but a bye season.

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