DeBoer's Subtle Message After the ASU Loss in the Desert

The Husky coach felt compelled to say something extra.

Halfway through the season, the University of Washington football team is two wins better than 2021 at this same point in time, but for one reason alone things don't feel that much different.

That's because the Huskies lost to a team they shouldn't have.

On Saturday, they fell 45-38 to Arizona State playing out the string without its head coach and for two and a half quarters going without its starting quarterback. 

A year ago, it was Montana and Oregon State, which were bad losses. This time, it was the Sun Devils.

Contrary to his predecessor, UW coach Kalen DeBoer seemed to feel the need to send a direct message in his postgame remarks in Tempe as he rehashed what happened on a cool and cloudy day in the desert, conditions that had no bearing whatsoever on the outcome.

On his way to a 2-4 start last fall, former Husky leader Jimmy Lake used to always credit the opponent for its inspired play, even Montana maddeningly so, rather than sound any alarms.

At ASU, DeBoer spoke about a growing list of injuries involving his guys and rampant inexperience running throughout his roster, but he appeared to register some impatience with the defeats of eight and seven points on consecutive weekends.

"We've got to take that next jump from being not just an OK or a good team to a good to a great team," DeBoer said firmly.

Anything less, he intimated, wouldn't be acceptable.

"In our program, it's not going to be OK," the first-year UW coach said.

This comes after DeBoer took over a Husky football program that had fallen into neglect yet he expressed heady confidence that his initial team in Montlake might be able to contend for a championship right away.

He's now finding out why it won't. 

The coach is learning exactly where the talent level lies if it wasn't clear before, that he has serious holes on the defensive side that will require additional players from the transfer portal and the recruiting ranks, that his team remains a work in progress.

As the players walked off the field at ASU to a locker room complex detached from the stadium, some could be heard grumbling amongst themselves, somewhat in disbelief over what just took place against the supposedly inferior Sun Devils.

After all, these Huskies had gone all in during offseason conditioning and remade their bodies, and then subjected themselves to extremely demanding spring and fall camps — and it still wasn't enough to avoid losing when they shouldn't have tripped up in the desert.

DeBoer strikes everyone as a championship coach and nothing has changed along those lines. It's his attention to detail, the work ethic, the offensive creativity. 

Yet the coach and his staff still have significant work to do in finding out who can and can't play for them. The weeding-out process continues on. The roster rollover is far from done.

The true barometer for DeBoer is how these guys respond over the next six weeks to a schedule that favors them. Only Oregon and a trip to Eugene should be daunting.

It took the UW's most successful football coaches in Jim Owens, Don James and Chris Petersen three seasons each before they had everything in place the way they wanted, all the players they needed to get the job done and began to win in a serious manner.

DeBoer likely will need no less than 36 months, as well.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @UWFanNation