Chris Petersen definitely had his game-face on this morning when meeting with the media, aside from the smiling barbs he took at Softy.
The Huskies’ head coach called the UCLA game a “tale of two halves”, mentioning that UCLA just simply came out and executed quite well in the second half and it kept the Huskies on their toes.
In a Don James-esque moment, Petersen said of his tired defensive players in the second half, “If you don’t want to be on the field longer, tackle better”.
Washington players looked gassed and over-worked by the end of that game, but Petersen won’t make any excuses except to say that UCLA’s offense just kept “chipping away.”
As for the upcoming game against Oregon, Petersen continues to play down the whole “hate week” hype and notes that “every week it’s a huge game for us – that’s why we concentrate on ourselves”
He also said that the team gets more energized playing in a loud stadium, and they do know what to expect at Autzen, but when asked about the unsportsman-like call there two years ago with Jake Browning, he played it down.
As for Myles Gaskin, there was a question asked about his arm late in the game against UCLA, Petersen quickly and sternly shot down any suggestion that there was anything wrong with Gaskin.
“I see what you’re doing”, he said to Dave Mahler, “Move on.”
