Door is shut on Huskies' season

One of the most tumultuous seasons in Washington football history came to a quiet end yesterday when Silicon Valley Classic officials selected UCLA instead of the Huskies to play Fresno State on Dec. 30 in San Jose.

That means the Huskies, who finished the season 6-6, will stay home for the holidays for the first time since 1994, when UW was on probation. It will be the first time UW hasn't played in a bowl game when not on probation since 1988.

"Obviously, we are disappointed, but I knew we would be lucky if we got to a bowl game because of our record," said UW athletic director Barbara Hedges, who had aggressively pursued the bid. "Obviously, our season wasn't exactly what we wanted it to be, and we have a lot of hard work to do."

After the other Pac-10 bowl slots were settled Monday, the Silicon Classic — which is contractually obligated to take the No. 6 seed from the conference — was left to choose between the Huskies and Bruins.

The two had identical overall and conference records (4-4), but UCLA beat UW 46-16 in October and Hedges said she was told by Silicon officials that that result was the clincher.

But there were other factors working against UW.

Foremost, picking UCLA gives the bowl a California matchup that might draw more fans, particularly from Fresno State. FSU has struggled to get UCLA on its schedule in the past — the schools have played just six times, with the Bruins winning them all.

FSU coaches and officials were also reportedly leery of playing Washington, because the Bulldogs will open next season in Seattle against the Huskies. Bowl officials also said they took into consideration the number of alumni of the two schools in the Bay Area and the wishes of ESPN, which will televise the game.

"We felt after looking at all the factors that at the end of the day we wanted UCLA," said bowl chairman Greg Jamison.

Still, Silicon officials said they were impressed by the aggressiveness with which the Huskies pursued the bowl. Bowl officials met for roughly an hour before picking UCLA.

But UW's fate seemed sealed earlier in the day when it was announced that Fresno State would play in the Silicon bowl for the fourth straight year, the result of some fancy work by the Western Athletic Conference to land an additional bowl bid.

WAC officials were able to seal a deal to send Boise State to the Fort Worth Bowl to play TCU and Tulsa to the Humanitarian Bowl, opening up a spot in the Silicon for Fresno. If the WAC had been forced to send Tulsa to the Silicon, UW's odds would have been better.

"Once they got Fresno State, I knew it would be difficult for them not to pick UCLA," Hedges said.

UW's 6-6 record meant there was no chance to attend any other bowl games. Only teams with winning records are eligible for at-large bids.

The end to UW's season means the beginning of what will likely be a lot of change around the program.

UW coach Keith Gilbertson is expected to shuffle some positions on his coaching staff, which was primarily put together by former coach Rick Neuheisel. All nine assistants are on one-year contracts that expire June 30.

Also likely to be determined soon are the futures of receiver Reggie Williams and defensive tackle Terry Johnson, both of whom are expected to turn pro.

Williams is a junior and Johnson a senior who could return for another year if he graduates by the beginning of next season. Both players said last week they would make no announcement until it was certain the Huskies were not playing in a bowl game.

"We had our chances to take care of business during the season and we did not get it done," Gilbertson said. "We have no one to blame but ourselves.

"It's disappointing because it would have been nice to coach those seniors one final time, but that's the way it goes."

UW's recruiting priorities include immediate help on defense from the junior-college ranks, linemen and a quarterback (preferably, Woodinville High's Matt Tuiasosopo).

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com