First-year functions

SEATTLE – The two head coaches who will roam opposite sidelines this weekend, in the latest installment of the Pac-10’s biggest interstate rivalry, jumped in at different depths in the pool.

But it’s difficult to say which first-year coach – Washington’s Steve Sarkisian or Oregon’s Chip Kelly – has the tougher job.

Sarkisian took over a 0-12 Huskies program that had nowhere to go but up, and when his team barely lost its season opener to LSU, he got swarmed with congratulatory pats on the back.

Kelly took over a surging Oregon program and felt an entirely different reaction when his Ducks lost their season opener to Boise State. The swift kicks to the backside were meant to run him out of Eugene.

Seven weeks later, both coaches appear to have their respective programs headed in the right direction as they prepare to square off at Husky Stadium Saturday afternoon.

“He’s done a heck of a job up there,” Kelly said of Sarkisian.

The Huskies’ coach had similar praise for his counterpart

“It’s a real tribute to Chip and what he was able to do to keep that team focused,” Sarkisian said.

While Sarkisian came to the UW program with a leash about as long as Interstate-5, Kelly had such an unforgivable start to his tenure that it looked like he might not even make it to this point of the season.

The former offensive coordinator showed little offense in a 19-8 loss to Boise State on Sept. 3, and the moments that followed the final whistle were even more alarming. When star running back LaGarrette Blount was caught on camera punching out an opponent in the postgame scrum, the UO program appeared to be out of control.

But while the fans began swimming around his flesh, Kelly calmly suspended Blount, rolled up his sleeves and went back to work. His Ducks have won five games in a row.

“It’s actions and not words,” Kelly said this week when asked what the mood was like after the loss to Boise State. “Our guys went back to work after that Boise game and have been working hard ever since.”

Kelly, a former Ducks assistant, knew what he was getting into when he took over for Mike Bellotti in March.

“(The Ducks) were ranked No. 9 in the country when the season started, so expectations were pretty high,” he said. “This is one of the haves in college football. We’re trying to work our way to compete with the Floridas and the Oklahomas and the USCs of the world.”

With five consecutive wins, and a 3-0 mark atop the Pac-10, the Ducks have made their unceremonious start all but forgotten in Eugene.

Sarkisian has won over the masses despite a roster that is made up mostly of the same guys who couldn’t buy a single win in 2008. He snapped the Huskies out of their 15-game funk, provided one of the biggest upsets in school history with a win over USC, and still has UW clinging to the thread of hope that is the bowl season.

“We’ve come a long way from a mental standpoint,” Sarkisian said.

Unlike Kelly, who has spent two years learning about the Oregon-UW rivalry as an assistant coach, Sarkisian has mostly had to learn about the interstate hatred through word of mouth.

“I was well-informed once I took the job, and then I did a little research, and I’m starting to get an understanding,” Sarkisian said earlier this week. “It’s one of a couple rivalries that we have here that people are very intense about – no question.”