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October 21, 2008 11:52 AM

Willingham Tuesday notes

UW coach Tyrone Willingham has concluded his portion of the Pac-10 coaches conference call, and it didn't elicit a whole lot.

Willingham was asked again about the coaching sidelight of the Notre Dame game, though this time from a slightly different angle --- is there any difference between this game and the 2005 matchup here?

"No, because I've always tried to move away from those things,'' he said. "I went through that (at Notre Dame when he played Stanford) so I have experience with that same kind of encounter, that same kind of press buildup, so I've tried to learn to put those things back and really focus on the game and get your guys to focus on the game.

"it does build up some excitement and the guys on your team get a feeling of energy that is different there, so I think that is always a plus and think there will be some of that in this game.''

Willingham was also asked about a statement Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis made in his press conference earlier, that the biggest jump players make is from the first year they play to the second year (not necessarily in the program, but actually playing on the field).

Willingham said he would agree with that statement but that "I'm really hoping that the breakthrough comes this year.''

Willingham said the two biggest reasons guys improve from year one to year two are becoming physically stronger and having more focus.

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