Hawke Bury The Huskies Misplays, Lack Of Inspiration Plague UW In A 38-18 Sun Bowl Debacle

If this is what bowl games are about, the Washington Huskies might want to consider stopping after the regular season.

The Huskies, who used to send a cab to pick up Iowa, got run over by it Friday, losing to a sixth-place Big Ten football team in the Sun Bowl, 38-18. It was likely the worst performance - esthetically, at least - by a UW team in its 23-game postseason history.

“It’s one of those huge disappointments,” said UW coach Jim Lambright, who led the Huskies to a bowl game after a two-year Pac-10 probation.

“You’d like to put a candle on top of the cake. But the candle was black and gold.”

The uninspired Huskies (7-4-1) trailed 21-0 at halftime and were probably fortunate to be that close. Never in the darkest moments of their bowl history - not in a 28-6 pasting by Alabama in 1986 in the Sun Bowl, not in a 29-0 loss to USC in the 1944 Rose Bowl - had they been more than a touchdown behind at halftime.

“It was about as bad as one can look having had 16 practices to try to get better,” said Lambright. “Iowa came out and royally kicked our butts.”

For the Hawkeyes (7-4), whose best win this year was against Michigan State (6-4-1), it was a measure of redemption for an array of laughable outings, both against Washington and the rest of the Pac-10. The Huskies trashed Iowa in both the 1982 and 1991 Rose Bowls, and Iowa was not competitive in its last four games against Pac-10 teams.

“I can’t believe,” said Hayden Fry, the veteran Iowa coach, “we dominated ‘em like we did.”

Let the second-guessing begin.

Did the Huskies get here too early, arriving 11 days before the game? Did they have too much freedom with curfew only on the final two nights? Did some of them knock down too many cervezas in Juarez and too few tackling dummies?

“I could not have been more pleased with how they worked,” insisted Lambright. “That (complacency) didn’t have anything to do with how we played.”Said Rashaan Shehee, the stand out UW tailback who was stopped five yards short of 1,000 for the season, “I felt we weren’t focused coming up to game time. You could see it in the players’ eyes. I think people were having too much fun too close to game time.”

Once game time arrived, Husky fun was history. Having run one scrimmage play, Washington had already fumbled twice. Dependable Dave Janoski muffed a punt after the Hawkeyes’ first possession, game MVP Sedrick Shaw blew 58 yards on the next snap and Washington was backpedaling the rest of the day.

Defense, minus standouts Lawyer Milloy and David Richie, would shortly become a problem, but when the game was on the line, it was the offense that betrayed the Huskies.

Quarterback Damon Huard had three of the most ghastly quarters in his career (6 for 16 for 83 yards) and UW failed to run effectively.

Iowa 38, Washington 18

Iowa 10 11 10 7 - 38

Washington 0 0 6 12 - 18

Iowa-Shaw 58 run (Bromert kick)

Iowa-FG Hurley 49

Iowa-Safety, ball snapped out of end zone

Iowa-FG Bromert 33

Iowa-FG Bromert 34

Iowa-FG Hurley 47

Iowa-FG Hurley 50

Wash-Pathon 30 pass from Fortney (pass failed)

Iowa-Burger 8 run (Bromert kick)

Iowa-Burger 1 run (Bromert kick)

Wash-Coleman 3 pass from Huard (pass failed)

Wash-Conwell 20 pass from Huard (run failed)

A-49,116.

Ia Wash First downs 18 14 Rushes-yards 50-294 29-96 Passing 135 250 Return Yards 22 3 Comp-Att-Int 11-26-2 19-37-0 Punts 5-39 7-27 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-3 Penalties-Yards 12-106 8-58 Time of Possession 35:32 24:28

Individual statistics RUSHINGIowa, Shaw 21-135, Banks 13-122, Burger 7-39, Shakoor 2-6, Sherman 7-(-8). Washington, Neal 9-65, Shehee 8-38, Huard 8-(-3), Thomas 1-2, Fortney 3-(-6).

PASSINGIowa, Sherman 11-24-1-135, Driscoll 0-1-0-0, Dwight 0-1-1-0. Washington, Huard 14-26-0-194, Fortney 5-11-0-56.

RECEIVINGIowa, Slutzker 4-66, Dwight 3-40, Odem 1-16, Carter 1-9, Shaw 1-6, Gibson 1-(minus 2). Washington, Conwell 4-71, Neal 4-45, Pathon 4-62, Coleman 3-33, Thomas 2-18, Shehee 1-8, Cleeland 1-13.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Bud Withers Seattle Post-Intelligencer