ATLANTA – Despite what you might have heard, no one has been cruel to the Washington Huskies in their media sessions this week.
They haven't been insulted or taunted or teased. In fact, the biggest clue to their underdog status has been the combination of kindness and occasional backhanded condescension with which they've been treated. It's like the old fear-mongering "civil defense" films from the 1960s in which presumably doomed citizens were asked questions like, "How deep should your fallout shelter be to survive the initial blast?" or "Which root crops can survive best in irradiated soil?" – questions which implied that "You might possibly survive this thing, but it's going to be bad. Really bad."
No. 1 Alabama's success is the reason for that impending-doom vibe. On top of history is hype, the unremitting hype about this Crimson Tide being "the best team in college football history." (The fact is, we don't even know if this is the best Alabama team in the past five years, at least not yet.)
America, or the vast swath of the country outside of Alabama, wants Washington to win, which is different than believing the Huskies can actually do it. The attitude, just a short distance from pity, is palpable enough that even Alabama tight end O.J. Howard was moved to come to Washington's defense on Wednesday.
"They're not here because they got picked out of a hat," Howard said. "They deserve to be here."
The Huskies seem to understand where the questions come from. They don't dodge the inevitable implication, but they don't concede anything, either. U-Dub does not embrace the "disrespect" angle with the fervor that Clemson did last year. They know their coach, Chris Petersen, has a reputation of doing his best work when expectations are low, so they wear their confidence quietly – and couch it in even more Alabama praise.
"With a lot of teams, you look at them, you go OK, where do we attack here?," UW linebacker Keishawn Berriera said. "You say, 'Where can we go here? Can we get them on special teams?'
"We call it a pigeon, you know, on special teams. We don't see that (with Alabama.) And for a lot of teams, you really see, like, OK, they look like they don't have a lot of depth at this position. But for Alabama, they're pretty (stout) as far as they have great players.
"But, you know, this is football."
The Washington players who met with the media on Wednesday are justifiably proud of their 12-1 season. They note that their own defense, ominously nicknamed "Death Row," has impressive statistics and a secondary that ranks with any unit in the country. They seem to understand that Saturday's College Football Playoff semifinal at the Georgia Dome is about survive-and-advance as much as building a reputation, but earning respect is certainly an item on their agenda.
"I think for Husky Nation and for people who have been fans for a while now, I think it would be great (to beat Alabama)," defensive back Kevin King said. "I think everybody's behind us. Everybody's had a great year seeing what we've been capable of. But for us up here and for us that have been in our little circle in the team, we're not coming to possibly knock off No. 1. That's not what we – that's not our mindset. That's not what we've come to do.
"We've come to win. We've come to compete and we're not thinking: Oh, like we might be able to do this. We come with the mind-set of, OK, let's go in there. From the top to bottom, we're ready to play. Let's get it done."
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or 205-722-0225.
