Washington needs to beat Colorado

My parents are the ones who got me into Husky football and eventually the reason I went to school there. They don't flake on games. They don't leave games early. And, most of all, they don't show up to games and not go in.

The weather was so bad last week in Seattle, they finally did the latter. To make matters worse, the power went out in sections of the U-District and I got a rather disappointed text from my mom. She didn't even want to make the 2.5 hour drive that day.

That's how bad the weather was.

Now, to football.

Washington's 24-10 loss to Arizona State highlighted a couple things in my mind.

First, the Dawgs need a quarterback. Like they need someone who can play quarterback. Really, really bad. It's almost New-York-Jets bad. I say that as light-heartedly and supportively and optimistically as I can, but the quarterback play has been mediocre at best and atrocious at worst. Admittedly, I don't think anybody in history could play quarterback well in those monsoon-like conditions in Seattle last week, but Taylor Kelly of Arizona State played decently. Troy Williams was bad.

Second, this defense is being wasted by this offense. This is one of the better defenses I've seen at Washington in the last decade, and they keep the Huskies in games. If the offense scored a few, some, any points, they would win more games. I've written that sentiment here before, but it holds true, and continues to.

So now Washington is on the road at a much-improved Colorado team. We've learned thus far this season that Colorado isn't the perennial cellar dwellar that they appeared to be last year. They've come really close to winning some big games, and the line is probably in response to both teams' seasons. Right now, at 11:45 Thursday night, it's at Washington minus-four.

I have no idea what that means in the grand scheme of things, but it's a good indication of what the game could be. Right now, the money is on Washington, but not by much.

It feels like every single game this year has been interesting. Washington hasn't had one gimme. Hawaii was the introduction of Chris Petersen. Illinois was about the offense showing up. Eastern and Georgia State were about playing an inferior opponent in terms of talent and how to handle it. Stanford was about Petersen's Pac-12 debut. Cal was about the pass defense. Oregon about revitalizing the rivalry. Arizona State about playing the horrible weather.

Colorado is about staying the course, not losing faith and regaining positive momentum for the season.

Last season when I was interning at Seattlepi.com, I wrote a little preview slideshow for the UW-Colorado game, and some of the same story lines exist this year that did last year. Obviously wideout Paul Richardson is playing for the Seahawks now, but quarterback Sefo Liufau is a good player. This year, Colorado is at home, where they've been significantly better this year. Washington has better players, so Colorado is going to come in ready to play and ready to play a perfect game.

Washington defensive end Hau'oli Kikaha did his best to quell doomsday-sayers and pulled an Aaron Rodger's-like "Relax" this week, but a loss at Colorado would not be good, to say the least.

I'm looking at the game with optimism. I always do. But it's a big one. Washington still has two ranking opponents on its schedule — #22 UCLA and #12 Arizona — and they have to go into those games on a positive note.

Washington has to win this game. It's a necessity. A road loss to a winless-in-conference team would only aggravate and already restless fan base. I'm patient, a lot of people aren't.