It’s hard to believe how the Huskies lost to Notre Dame on Saturday.

It was heart-wrenching, painful and frustrating.

A 37-30 overtime loss that should never have gone the way it did.

Lead change after lead change, field goal after field goal, goal-line stand after goal-line stand.

Sure, much will be said about the UW’s inability to score on two consecutive first-and-goal’s from the Notre Dame 1-yard line, but the fact is that the Huskies scored more than enough to beat the Irish.

While Jake Locker made things happen in the red zone, Jimmy Clausen and Notre Dame could only muster field goals. Give a little credit to defensive coordinator Nick Holt for at least clamping down inside the 20-yard line.

But when it came down to deciding whether this upstart Huskies team would start 3-2 ­— halfway to a six-win season and a bowl game — or 2-3, a losing record with tough Pac-10 games on tap, it was the officiating crew at Notre Dame Stadium that had the most say.

Chris Polk had a good idea of how the officials pretty much cost UW the win.

The freshman running back essentially boiled down the Huskies’ loss to two officiating mistakes: one in which a third-quarter touchdown run by Polk himself was overturned when it appeared that there was no conclusive evidence to do so, the other during a two-point conversion, which put the Irish up 30-27 late in the fourth quarter.

It was during that two-point conversion when Notre Dame’s Robert Hughes was shown on TV replays with his knee down before he — and the ball — was pushed across the goal line. The Huskies could only settle for a field goal on the ensuing drive, tying it up for overtime.

“The nation knows we should have won,” Polk said, “because everybody knows if you watch the replays, they know that the two-point conversion that his knee was down, and that when I scored it was a touchdown. They didn’t beat us. The refs beat us, in a sense.”

They sure did, and they cost the Huskies their third win in five games.

I’ve got to take Polk’s side.

Notre Dame didn’t beat the Huskies on Saturday, the refs did.

So even though their record reads 2-3 instead of 3-2, and everyone still feels a bit mopey, these Huskies didn’t get beat by Notre Dame.

The almighty Fighting Irish played against a supposedly inferior opponent at their supposedly raucous home stadium and lost.

Keep thinking like that. Keep saying that because these Huskies aren’t done yet.

There are still seven games left, and just as we’ve seen in every game so far — except, perhaps, against Stanford — these Huskies can and will compete against anybody.

Reach Opinion Editor Allen Wagner at opinion@dailyuw.com.