On Saturday night, Washington traded in its offensive machine, a 2007 Locker, for an older model, a 2004 Gilby, and then motoring its gutless machine, along with its feckless defense from last year, proceeded to lose to the Oregon Ducks, 44-10, at "Let me Autzen here," in Eugene, Oregon. 

Not that we're picking on former coach Keith Gilbertson; he was a victim of some horrid circumstances and deserved a better fate. He was in the right place at the wrong time and deserves accolades for bravely captaining a hopeless cause.

In Gilbertson's last season at UW (2004), his 1-10 team averaged a meager 14 points per game. That team lost to Oregon 31-6, and, counting that one and up to now, the Huskies have lost five-straight games to the Ducks. 

Back in 2004, against Oregon, QB Casey Paus completed 14 out of 36 passes for 211 yards, with no touchdowns against four interceptions. Last night, Jake Locker went 12-28-0, with no touchdowns. His efficiency rating was 73.76 and he completed 43% of his passes. The Huskies' leading rusher, he netted 57 yards on the ground.

Third-string quarterback, Chris Harper of the Ducks netted 60 yards rushing, out-dueling Locker on the ground during the game, in which, during its latter stages, Locker eschewed the run. True freshman Harper has the potential to be better than last season's brilliant quarterback Dennis Dixon.

The Huskies had no defense for Harper; they must not have listened to coach Mike Bellotti singing the Wichita native's praises after the Ducks' spring game.

The Huskies' defense gave up 496 yards, while the offense managed just  242 yards. No one was covering Jason Williams when he took a pass on the sidelines behind the line of scrimmage from Jeremiah Masoli and legged it in from 48 yards out to give the Ducks a 30-10 lead with 11:02 to go. Masoli replaced starting quarterback Justin Roper who left the game in the second quarter with a concussion.

Basically, the Huskies couldn't throw, catch, tackle, cover and block. Their offense and defense and their special teams were mostly wretched. The 3-3-5 defense was an experiment gone awry, giving up two quick touchdowns to the Ducks in the first quarter. The Dawgs looked better when they returned to a 4-3 defense in the second quarter, and they played more enthusiastically.

The whole team evaporated in the second half as it did in most of its games last season.

Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano stubbornly pounded true freshman phenomenon Chris Polk up the middle in all futility, as we feared he would do. Polk gained 19 hard-earned yards on 14 carries. Lapano had no back-up plan for a power-running game that would fizzle like a botched chemistry lab experiment.

Lappano needs to junk the power-running game and concentrate on the spread.

We hoped to see a no-huddle offense; it never materialized. We hoped to see some swing passes to Polk while lined up in the slot. That never happened. The coaching was unimaginative and downright lousy. Head coach Tyrone Willingham may not last the season, and we still wonder why he fired last season's defensive coordinator Kent Baer, which we said at the time was a poor decision.

But quarterback Ronnie Fouch looked good when he replaced Locker in the fourth quarter. Fouch was 5-7-0 for 44 yards and a PE of 124.23. Fouch is a typical California quarterback, ready beyond his years. True freshman Kavario Middleton (four catches, 35 yards) stood out at tight end. At 6-foot-5, 255, his size is a blessing for the high-throwing Locker, from both a mental and physical standpoint. Ryan Perkins booted a neat 35-yard field goal.

As the game progressed, playing Fouch at quarterback and using Locker as a running back came to mind, and it became clear to me why Locker played baseball during the summer months as I stretched my mind, which is not an easy thing for me to do. See Will recruiting mistakes cost Huskies?

Failing to light up the scoreboard dramatically is the bottom line of our commentary. That shortcoming could spell doom for the Huskies early this season, while their young players are still developing.

But, all in all, it doesn't look good for the Huskies this season, especially if they should continue to motor their scaled down buggy, that rusty clunker, that 2004 Gilby.