Sark vows defense will get better

SEATTLE –The Washington Huskies were saying all the right things on Monday afternoon.

The UW football team is turning the page on Saturday’s loss at Stanford and is focusing on this Saturday’s game against Arizona. The past is in the past.

Less than 48 hours after a humbling 65-21 loss to the Cardinal, UW was ready to move on.

As head coach Steve Sarkisian said to open his press conference: “It’s always good when you come off a ball game like last Saturday, that you get to play again the very next week.”

A few minutes later, Sarkisian opened a Darwinesque argument of dejection-versus-demoralization when he explained how a last-second loss might have been just as jarring to the psyche.

“You get beat, you get beat,” he said. “I wouldn’t feel any better or any worse if Stanford kicked a field goal with no time left to beat us than I feel right now with them beating us by 44 points.”

And yet Husky Nation may well find Saturday’s performance hard to push aside.

Two days later, the big question is whether the fourth-ranked Cardinal are just that much better than everyone else or if the Huskies (5-2 overall, 3-1 in the Pac-12) have real issues. The UW defense was admittedly hopeless against Stanford’s run game, which piled up a school-record 446 yards on the Huskies.

“We’re not proud of the fact we’re not playing defense the way we all think we can,” he said of a unit that ranks 10th in the Pac-12 and 101st in the nation. “We’re not excited that we gave up 60 points. … There is frustration, but I also think we understand there is room for improvement. We can get better, and we will get better.”

While defensive coordinator Nick Holt has taken most of the heat from outside observers, Sarkisian admitted that the Huskies don’t have enough athleticism and size to compete with teams like Stanford – yet.

“It’s a work in progress,” said Sarkisian, adding that he wished he could have redshirted more incoming players over the years to help the unit’s overall development. “… We’re in a situation where we’re playing a lot of young guys. Not only mentally, but physically, those games (like the Stanford loss) can take a toll on you. So I think we’ll only get better, especially in that type of a ball game.

“… Obviously, we need to continue to mature and grow.”