BERKELEY, Calif. — There was a time when it seemed as if Chris Petersen could do no wrong, when the Huskies football team was on a perpetually upward trajectory, when the occasional agonizing losses were viewed merely as aberrations.
But this year, it has been different, subtly so at first and then glaringly, maddeningly obvious on Saturday in a 12-10 loss to struggling California, which no one will ever confuse this year with a Pac-12 contender.
Now you have to wonder, suddenly, where Washington fits into that equation. A Husky team once viewed as a powerhouse, a national contender, has been oddly off-kilter all year.