Thoughts of the injured Curtis Williams — whose status is still uncertain — are on the minds of the Washington players and coaches as the senior safety lays in Stanford Medical Center after suffering a spinal cord injury during the Huskies’ 31-28 victory in Palo Alto, Calif., last Saturday.
While it’s been an emotional week for the No. 8 Huskies (7-1 overall, 4-1 Pacific-10 Conference), they know they have a game to play against a tough Arizona (5-3, 3-2) club.
“I think you let the kids deal with [their emotions] the way they think is appropriate to deal with it,” Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “Yet, you make sure we all understand this is what we have to do and we go. I don’t think you try to push away the human emotions that exist. I don’t think you ignore them; that would be silly.
“I don’t think there is any question that it is going to be difficult.”
The Wildcats are focusing on ending a two-game losing streak, but it won’t come easy in front of 70,000-plus die-hard fans at Husky Stadium. Washington has won four of its last five meetings with Arizona.
One of the major factors in the game will be at the quarterback position. Washington’s option-oriented offense relies heavily on Marques Tuiasosopo, who is third in the Pac-10 with 240 yards of total offense per game.
Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins — famous for his somersault leap into the end zone the last time he was in Seattle — rushed for a career-high 104 yards on 11 carries, but also threw four interceptions in last week’s loss to UCLA.
“I think he’ll be fine,” Arizona head coach Dick Tomey said of Jenkins. “I don’t think there is a quarterback who hasn’t had an ugly game or two. The great ones have had those kind of games. He handled [the last game] like a champion, and he stood up there and took more responsibility than he needed to take.”