It was only the first drive of the season, but boy, was it a shocker.

The extremely efficient 10:35, 85-yard drive that got the Huskies on the board against No. 11 LSU on Saturday was something I forgot was possible.

As Jake Locker, Chris Polk, James Johnson and Johri Fogerson weaved their way downfield, I don’t think anybody really expected the Huskies to put together such an impressive first drive against what is supposed to be one of the more athletic defenses in the SEC.

I certainly didn’t.

Maybe even more so than those who were able to catch the team at practices during fall camp, I had no idea what to expect coming into the LSU game, mainly because I spent the summer in Seoul.

So after a nine-hour flight from a city that once hosted the Olympics and the World Cup to a city where a new era — the Steve Sarkisian era — was about to begin, I was naturally intrigued.

Jetlagged one day after my flight. Tired and sluggish, of course. But extremely intrigued by the possibilities of what a new coach and new outlook can do for a team that went 0-12 last season.

Turns out, it can do a lot.

The last time I saw Steve Sarkisian he was shouting about how he believed a turnaround would be coming soon and that the Huskies would be competitive in 2009. How could anyone believe such a thing after an 0-12 season?

Sure enough, the Huskies kept things relatively close against No. 11 LSU, and Sarkisian proved that he is more than ready to be the head coach of a Pac-10 team. After all, the Huskies out-gained the Tigers in every offensive category.

The last few memories I had of Jake Locker were his broken thumb and errant passes. I read from afar that the junior quarterback was improving in Sarkisian’s new offensive scheme, but I had to see it to believe it.

Sure enough, Locker connected on 25-of-45 passes and threw for 321 yards, all while limiting his rushing attempts to a more manageable number.

Last I remember before the summer, the situation at running back was full of questions. Who was going to step up and bust through an SEC defense?

Sure enough, Chris Polk stepped up and ran for 90 yards on 21 carries, providing the Dawgs with rushes the Huskies haven’t seen since Louis Rankin ran for more than 1,000 yards in 2007.

But I think I was mostly concerned with how the team would fare over four quarters, and how bad it would look if the Huskies got demolished.

Turns out I didn’t have to worry about any of this.

The Dawgs didn’t get demolished.

They fought to the end and scored what would normally be considered a meaningless touchdown to close the game out at 31-23.

But we know that final drive wasn’t meaningless. They didn’t give up. They showed that under a new coach and with a little bit of rejuvenation, there is no reason why they can’t be competitive now.

Sure the Huskies had 11 penalties to the Tigers’ three. And sure they turned the ball over twice.

But really, after showing this much progress why can’t the Dawgs continue to improve?

Sarkisian said himself that he expects turnovers and penalties to start disappearing.

This team looks pretty good right now, but what kind of team would the UW be then?

Reach columnist Allen Wagner at sports@dailyuw.com.