Huskies need to show some passion

So, where’s the anger? Where’s the defiance? Where is anything for the University of Washington football team to rally behind?

This is a Husky football team devoid of almost any emotion other than frustration and disappointment. As much as they’ve lost in the last few years, those emotions are entirely understandable. But for this program to begin to turn a corner, to get over that hump players have talked about all season, there has to be more.

There can’t be simply sadness and resignation, which is about the only feeling that was evident after Saturday’s loss to Arizona State. Walking back to the locker room after the game, only center Brad Vanneman seemed truly angry at the loss. The rest of the team seemed to trot off the field with looks that ranged from “Oh well, another week, another loss,” to “Oh man, we lost again.”

The losing would wear on anyone. Heck, it’s wearing on me and I have nothing riding on the games. But why does it seem that the fans and even the media are more upset about the losing than the players? This is a team that seems to have accepted the losses and simply move on to the next week. And a team that accepts losing is a team that isn’t ready to move forward.

The lack of emotion stems from two major problems: One, Tyrone Willingham has established a personality for this team of seriousness, no nonsense, do-your-job-and-go-home. Those qualities are great, and have a place in a program that was seriously lacking in those attributes. But in the process, it’s sapped the team of what can often propel a team to a win late in a game: Excitement, swagger, arrogance.

The Huskies come onto the field and leave the field in the exact same way. They march on almost like soldiers, no yelling, no fist pumping, nothing that would lead anyone to believe they are excited to be there and confident that they can win. If any game is dependent on emotion, it’s football, but Washington plays like it is a job, not a game meant to be enjoyed.

Which leads to the other problem: There isn’t a single dynamic personality on the team. There are simply players who have followed the lead of their coach, who has preached team, team, team. Again, having a team concept is important. But there has to be room for individualism, to allow players to become stars, to lead. Instead, Willingham has done away with captains, done away with names on uniforms, rarely talks about players specifically. Alone, there’s nothing wrong with any of that, but combined it has made this a faceless team. Players don’t know who is supposed to take the lead, who is supposed to step up and say what needs to be said when it needs to be said.

Willingham wants to build a team where every player is able to do that. But all that has done is lead to confusion and a lack of anyone stepping up. Stars are good for teams. They are the guys who set a tone. They carry themselves with a swagger and confidence whether they are winning or losing. Teams take on the personality of those guys, but when there aren’t any, especially by design, you have a bunch of players walking around trying to act how they think the coach wants them to act. That’s led to a team that simply wanders aimlessly and accepts what is happening to it, rather than hearing a few of its key players say, “No, this isn’t who we are, we’re better than this, now let’s start playing like it.”

Look at the Washington basketball team last year. The Huskies were obviously extremely talented, but there were close games at the end where Nate Robinson and Will Conroy, through personality and determination alone, willed Washington to wins. They were both great players, but it was the intangibles they brought that was their most important characteristic, and there is no one on the football team who is displaying that ability.

For awhile, it seemed like Isaiah Stanback could be one of those guys. He’s clearly a tremendous athlete, and as the quarterback plays a position that people expect to lead. For much of the season, he carried himself with that confidence that you look for in a leader, standing straight, head up, looking you in the eye, saying the right things, win or lose. Yes, he had started to take on some of Willingham’s ultra-serious personality, but there was still some of that youthful cockiness.

But after Saturday, I don’t know. Stanback was at his lowest point. He struggled in crunch time in the fourth quarter, then sat slumped in his chair in the interview room, head down, whispering answers. His answers reeked of self doubt. I can understand the disappointment, but a leader, a star, doesn’t carry himself that way.

It’s a big week for the team and Stanback. Washington can’t run a quarterback out there, no matter how gifted, who doesn’t believe in himself. If Stanback’s confidence issues continue during the week, it may be time for a change. And if this team continues to act like robots in their approach to the game, it may be time for Willingham to consider if all that he’s doing to establish the program is really the right way to go.