Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Underdog Huskies hope to defy doubters
ATLANTA — All week long, the Washington Huskies have heard the doubters.
They’re hard to miss. They can be heard on the radio or on television. They started up as soon as the semifinal matchups were announced, with No. 1 Alabama (13-0) opening as a two-touchdown favorite to defeat No. 4 Washington (12-1).
Through it all, Washington coach Chris Petersen wants his players to filter out the noise.
“I think it’s important that we, you know, keep it all in perspective,” Petersen said Thursday at the Georgia Dome. “It’s the same game. Our kids have played in front of a lot of kids or people, fans before.”
The teams will face off at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, battling for a spot in the national championship game.
Playing the role of underdog is nothing new to Washington. The Huskies were picked to finish second in the Pac-12 North Division even before the season started. Despite winning its first eight games, the Huskies failed to crack the top four in the playoff rankings until Week 11.
Even the playoff selection committee members had their doubts about this team.
“I think our discussions and our decision would have been much easier if Washington would have had a stronger strength of schedule this college football season,” committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said after the Huskies narrowly earned the fourth and final playoff semifinal spot.
“There’s been a chip on our shoulder even before the season even started, because everybody has been counting us out before they got a chance to see how good we are,” said junior wide receiver Jeff Ross, who finished the regular season ranked second in the Pac-12 with 1,172 yards and 17 touchdowns.
“Coming into this game won’t be any different. We know that we’ve got to continue to prove ourselves and continue to show the rest of the world how hard we’ve worked.”
Washington is coming off a record-setting season, setting new program marks for scoring offense (578) and points per game (44.5) while tying the national title-winning 1991 team for most number of wins in a season (12).
Despite all of the accolades, the Huskies still find themselves answering questions about being a heavy underdog — a first for the team this season.
“For us, we just embrace it,” defensive back Budda Baker said. “We can’t really be angry at a lot of people, because a lot of people live in the SEC area and can’t really watch our games. We can’t really get mad at it.”
Baker’s teammate, Chico McClatcher, said he’s heard all of the criticism.
“We do get tired of that,” said McClatcher, who finished third on the team in receiving yards with 580. “Once again, it’s going to come down to us preparing in practice and being ready to play against a great Alabama defense and to execute our best.”
Baker hopes Alabama continues to listen to all of the praise heading into the game, lulling the Tide into a false sense of security.
“We just lay in the weeds and just be ready to play on Saturday,” Baker said with a laugh. “Let me keep doing what they’re doing and just let us play and we’re cool with that.”