Coach Tyrone Willingham opened the interview session after his team’s 35-28 loss to Stanford with this statement:

"This one is very difficult for me to stand before you because I felt like we had a football team that would be able to go out and win this football game. Not being disrespectful to Stanford, because they played a good game, but I felt like we could win the football game."

He was asked it this is the toughest spot he’s ever been in as a coach.

“Without question,” he said. “Without question. Because there are so many

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The Huskies fall to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the Pacific-10 Conference.

I’ll create a new post above with some quotes and additional notes.

However, coach Tyrone Willingham was unusually candid about his disappointment with the result of this game and with all that is surrounding his team and his program.

He had no prognosis regarding Locker but obviously Ronnie Fouch is the starter for now, and walkon Taylor Bean becomes the backup.

Willingham praised Fouch’s play tonight and said Locker’s injury is no excuse for this loss.

Injury report

UW quarterback Jake Locker

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As Saturday dawns, one of the biggest games of this Washington Huskies season — and perhaps many seasons yet to come — draws ever closer.

Here’s my preview story from today’s paper. Here’s a look at the coaching implications from the Mercury News in the Bay Area. And here’s one from Redwood City, Calif., that kind of reminds that Stanford fans sort of expect to win this one just as much as UW fans.

I’ll be leaving for the stadium in the late afternoon and will begin normal gameday blogging then. Meanwhile, a quick look

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With Oregon State’s 27-21 upset of USC standing as a reminder of how dangerous picking conference games can be, here are the rest of week’s picks:

No. 25 Fresno State at UCLA. More than 20,000 Fresno fans expected at Rose Bowl. Bulldogs, 31-21.

Colorado State at California. Road team has won previous two meetings. Cal, 35-17.

Oregon at Washington State. Quarterback troubles cancel each other out. Oregon, 40-10.

Stanford at Washington. Might be now-or-never for Willingham and Huskies. UW, 26-24.

Last week: 4-2 (including OSU-USC).

Season: 24-6.

UW games: 3-0.

In our final meeting with coach Tyrone Willingham before Saturday, the coach acknowledged that Stanford is a big game … but not for the reason you might expect.

“I’ve made it clear that we have a very good conference and it’s been good for a long time,” Willingham said. “But in a lot of those years the champion has had one loss. We’ve got ours already. There’s no room for us to error. So we have to understand that if we’re a team that’s going to get back in this thing, I think everyone would say right now –

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ESPN has announced that it will tipoff the coming college basketball season Nov. 18 with 23 hours of coverage featuring teams from 14 conferences … none of them named the Pacific-10 Conference.

(Nov. 18 is the day that the Washington Huskies will play their home-opener, hosting Cleveland State in the first round of the College Basketball Experience tournament, which concludes the following week in Kansas City.)

Otherwise, though, it sounds like fun.

Here’s the news release:

ESPN will celebrate the start of the 2008-09 college basketball season with the new College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon

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PAC-10 POWER RANKINGS

1 USC (1) 2-0. Conference play – which begins Thursday night – has been Trojans recent downfall.

2 Oregon (2) 3-1, 1-0. Four of next five games on the road.

3 Arizona State (3) 2-2, 1-0. Bye week before tests vs. Cal and USC.

4 California (4) 2-1, 1-0. QB Riley threw school-record 58 passes in loss to Maryland.

5 Arizona (5) 3-1, 1-0. Week off to celebrate, then three of next four games at home.

6 Stanford (6) 2-2, 1-1. Scored 23 straight to run — and run and run

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Freshman defensive lineman Craig Noble, whose arrival on campus was delayed by high school academic issues, practiced as a Husky for the first time Wednesday.

Coach Tyrone Willingham and defensive coordinator Ed Donatell said no firm decision has been made to redshirt Noble this season. And in fact, Willingham said that Noble could be in uniform Saturday when the Huskies host Stanford.

The 6-3, 300-pounder from Taft High in Los Angeles had seemed likely to play as true freshman until his arrival was delayed. However, even with the first third of the season ending Saturday, UW coaches

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