SEATTLE (AP) - A season already full of sideshows - from questionable celebrations penalties, to midseason coach firings and weekly winless efforts - will add yet another new distraction for Washington this week.

But the Huskies don't mind all the focus being taken off their lame-duck coach and school-record 11-game losing streak, and placed on the Husky Stadium return of former coach Rick Neuheisel.

"I'm fine. It's good," outgoing Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said Monday of this week's spotlight shift. "My situation isn't complicated. Everyone knows what is going on with me. That's pretty much old news. ... (Neuheisel) will come in and he'll be directing his team and he's proven with his record that he is an excellent coach. I don't know what the spotlight will be."

At this point, any focus taken away from the continuing woes of the Huskies would be welcome for a team short of self-confidence and still holding the moniker of "only winless team in the country."

The Huskies are 0-9 (0-6 Pac-10) for only the second time in school history, matching an equally woeful 1969 team that avoided a winless season by beating rival Washington State in the Apple Cup. The current version of the Huskies would seem to have two strong chances to avoid becoming the first winless team in school history.

The first chance comes this week against Neuheisel's reeling Bruins, who lost for the third time in four games on Saturday in a 34-6 rout by Oregon State. Then comes what might be the most miserable matchup in Apple Cup history against a Washington State squad setting records for futility.

All the volatility within the Washington program hasn't been lost on Neuheisel, the Huskies' coach from 1999 until his messy departure in 2003.

"It's sad. I know how hard people in programs work. I have great respect for coach Willingham. ... My first year in the Pac-10, he was the Pac-10 coach of the year and had the conference champions in Stanford," Neuheisel said on a conference call with Seattle-area reporters.

"I know that there isn't any lack of effort and I know they're going to play their tails off this weekend and so will our team. Even though the records don't indicate it, it should be a whale of a college football game."

There were a few bright spots in the Huskies' 39-19 loss to Arizona State last Saturday. Washington was competitive with the Sun Devils into the fourth quarter, the first time the Huskies showed any semblance of potentially breaking their losing skid since a 35-28 loss to Stanford on Sept. 27. The 19 points were the most for Washington since that loss to Stanford - the night that star quarterback Jake Locker went down with a broken right thumb.

But the Huskies' defense couldn't slow down the combo of quarterback Rudy Carpenter and running back Keegan Herring in the second half. It didn't help that the Washington offense came away with just six points after driving inside the Arizona State 5 three times in the second half.

Locker's replacement, Ronnie Fouch, had his most inconsistent game of his young career, hitting on just 13 of 40 passes and throwing a pair of interceptions. Fouch said Monday the rallying point this week is sending the Huskies senior class and Willingham out with a victory in their final home game.

"We want to get some wins for ourselves too, (but) we want to let (Willingham) leave on the right note and let him leave with some wins," Fouch said.