For my main story today, I looked back a little at the first-half of the season, reviewing the good and the bad, with unfortunately a little more of the latter included, given the 0-6 record.

That also makes it the perfect time to unveil some grades for the first half. So here goes:

QUARTERBACK --- C-plus. If the ultimate goal of a QB is to win games, then obviously these guys haven't gotten it done. But there are obviously extenuating circumstances here with the injury Jake Locker suffered early in camp, and then again against Stanford. Also remember he was knocked out of the Oklahoma game for a series. I don't think we saw enough of Locker to really say whether he had improved from last season. But I continue to maintain that he is the least of this team's problems going forward. I expect him to thrive in the future. Ronnie Fouch has had some good and bad in his two full games, to be expected of a redshirt freshman. It's also too early, I think, to make any grand declarations about him other than the obvious that the offense really has a different look with him in there, more throwing, less (basically none) of the QB run game. With this team, this year, I'm not sure that's a positive.

RUNNING BACKS --- B-minus. A spot where you have to grade on the curve quite a bit, as, other than Brandon Johnson, no one had any experience heading into the year. Four players have started at tailback and two -- David Freeman and Terrance Dailey -- have shown a lot of potential. Both have shown more quickness and a better ability to hit the hole hard than some of their teammates. The future looks bright here. One disappointment is that the fullback spot hasn't been as much of a factor as was thought heading into the year (just a combined nine carries and one catch) with some nagging injuries hindering each player.

WIDE RECEIVERS --- B. Maybe the position that has progressed the most since the start of the year as the trio of D'Andre Goodwin, Jermaine Kearse and Devin Aguilar has given the Huskies a pretty dangerous corps, one that is improving each week. Goodwin is on track for the most single-season catches (he has 32) since Reggie Williams in 2003, Aguilar has become a consistent possession-type receiver, and Kearse has shown big-play ability. It hasn't been perfect by any means -- there have been an assortment of dropped passes and missed routes, and UW has just four TD catches. But again, given the inexperience heading into the season, it's hard to have realistically expected a whole lot more. One disappointment has been the dropoff in production from Kavario Middleton after he made eight catches the first two games -- he has zero since (though Michael Gottlieb has done a nice job picking up the slack). But overall, this is another spot where the future is bright.

OFFENSIVE LINE --- D. Maybe the most underachieving group on the team based on pre-season potential. The hope was the Huskies would dominate up front, as they did at times last season. But it has yet to happen and now some injuries are beginning to hit -- Casey Bulyca out for the year, Juan Garcia ailing with an ankle injury as well as the foot injury of last spring. And there hasn't been much depth developed as it's basically been the same six guys playing all season, which is now down to five. Did this group get too big in the off-season? Was it maybe never quite as good as it looked last season? (Remember, the Huskies were pretty inconsistent running the ball last season, feasting on bad run defending teams but struggling against good ones.) Whatever the case, this area has to take the most responsibility for the offensive struggles.

DEFENSIVE LINE --- D. I'm a little torn on a grade here. Obviously, it's been really bad up front defensively, maybe as bad as anyone can remember in the last 30 years or so of Husky football. On the other hand, it's hard to fault the individual players a lot, most of whom have been rushed into playing way before they are ready. That's a failing of the management of the team by the coaches, not the players themselves. Daniel Te'o-Nesheim has performed admirably in a tough situation, and most of the younger players have shown some promise. This was simply a group not ready for prime time and somehow, someone should have figured that out a year or so ago, maybe bringing in a JC player or two to help out. Or as I suggested today, why couldn't they have redshirted Caesar Rayford at some point the last three years? Maybe Keith Gilbertson shouldn't have played Rayford in 2004. But Tyrone Willingham had three years after that to rectify the error if he wanted.

LINEBACKERS --- C-minus. Might be more accurate to begin judging this group now that it appears to have its best lineup on the field with Donald Butler on the strong side, Trenton Tuiasosopo in the middle and Mason Foster on the weak side. Foster has put up the best numbers, but remember that he plays the spot where he's supposed to make the most tackles -- not a knock on Foster, just making a point that there'd be something wrong if he wasn't leading the team in tackles. But while there have been some glimmers, the bigger picture is that the defense is right now the worst in school history in a number of statistical categories, so this group can't rate very high.

SECONDARY --- D. UW is allowing an astounding 72.5 percent completion rate by opponents, by far the highest in college football. The Huskies also have just two interceptions while allowing 18 touchdown passes in just 160 attempts. I haven't checked, but hard to imagine there is any team with a higher percentage of TD passes allowed per attempt. It's not all on the secondary, obviously. Ed Donatell said Wednesday the biggest issue in pass defense is pressure, and UW hasn't been bringing any, with just three sacks for the season. But receivers also just seem to be wide open all over the place a lot of the times, and there have been way too many small gains turned into big plays, with angles of pursuit and tackling a constant problem. Another area that could improve now, however, as the safety spots will be more solidified with Victor Aiyewa healthy and playing alongside Nate Williams.

SPECIAL TEAMS --- D. A bright spot is that Jordan Polk looks like a promising kickoff returner. But everything else has been below standard to date. UW is allowing substantially more yards in both kickoffs and punt returns than it is getting, and the field goal kicking has obviously been a problem (3-8). And the play of the year was a botched extra point against BYU. One thing to watch is improved punt returning in the second half of the season. No reason to think Aguilar and Goodwin shouldn't eventually be good in that role.

COACHING --- F. The record -- 0-6 -- says it all. Sure, the schedule has been tough. Still, it's not as if every team on the slate was the '72 Dolphins. And the youth excuse only goes so far in the fourth year of a program. It's not as if everyone couldn't see there might be holes in the roster down the road. A better plan early on might have solved some of those issues. That may be the biggest failing of all.