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Willingham era begins at W with a moral victory

Only one little thing went wrong in Tyrone Willingham`s debut as head coach of the University of Washington`s football program. The Huskies lost. Maybe this is what happens when the bar has been set so low that a snake has to lose its skin just to limbo underneath. But coming off a 1-10 season when the Huskies committed the most turnovers of any team in the country, there was something eerily optimistic about an opening-day effort in which Washington played nearly mistake free from start to finish. Outside of a little kickoff return trouble and a dropped pass late in the game, the Husky offense and special teams had the sort of afternoon coaches dream about, especially with a brand new team. The Huskies showed they have a quarterback keeper in Isaiah Stanback, remarkably accurate at 19 of 27 for 242 yards with no interceptions in just his second college start. They unveiled a good-looking sophomore running back in Louis Rankin, who rambled for 112 yards in 23 carries.

They fielded a fleet of young receivers who won`t make anyone forget Reggie Williams, but who made plays all day as Stanback spread the ball around nicely. They discovered a tight end threat in red-shirt freshman Johnie Kirton, a converted 280-pound tailback out of Everett. Feel-good stories seemed to be popping up everywhere for the Huskies on a sunny September afternoon in Seattle, where a road game turned into a home show for the 26,482 fans who bothered showing up. And, yet, there was Willingham assuming the position afterward, explaining how there will be no joy in Montlake -- or Qwest Field for that matter - when his new Dawgs come up shy on the scoreboard. Two points of reality indeed support Willingham`s insistence that no moral victories should be declared on this day.

For one, Washington`s defense wore down badly in the second half against the Falcons, finally succumbing to the constant pounding of Air Force`s option attack by yielding touchdown drives of 99 and 83 yards in the final 10 minutes. Secondly, the Huskies didn`t lose to USC. That was Air Force, a 5-6 team last year in the WAC. This was a victory Washington desperately needed, given the increasing degree of difficulty proposed by dates with Cal, Notre Dame and UCLA in the next month.