Shehee Has Way All Day

Coach Jim Lambright spent the better part of a week trying to convince people that his 22nd-ranked Washington football team was exciting enough to warrant major bowl consideration.

Come Saturday, sophomore Rashaan Shehee wasn’t about to let him down.

The UW tailback entertained 74,414 football fans at Husky Stadium with an 85-yard scoring run that highlighted an impressive afternoon for Shehee, who finished with a career-high 214 rushing yards in the Huskies’ 33-30 Apple Cup win over Washington State.

“It was supposed to be a bounce play,” Shehee said, recalling his 85-yard sprint down the left sideline on the second play of the third quarter. “I bounced out, a guy hit me, I spun out and I was going to go back right. But somebody came up, so I just cut back left. And (flanker) Fred Coleman had a great block and I just took off down the sideline.”

WSU cornerback Brian Walker was among several Cougars fooled on the play.

“We didn’t have him down, but I thought somebody had him wrapped up,” said Walker, adding that he was walled off by UW blockers. “I had stopped. I was looking. Then all of a sudden he busted out to the outside. I thought he was down. I was just ready for the referee to start blowing his whistle. The next thing I know, he’s going up the sideline.

“It took a lot of the wind out of our sails. It reminded me of Stanford, where we came out in the second half and - boom! - a big run.”

In the Cougars’ 36-24 loss to Stanford last week, Anthony Bookman sparked the Cardinal with a long run early in the second half. Shehee’s 85-yarder followed a mostly nondescript first-half effort for the Huskies, who trailed 14-6 entering the third quarter.

Shehee carried 26 times for an 8.2 yards-per-carry average against WSU, and scored his 13th, 14th and 15th touchdowns of the season to break Napoleon Kaufman’s 1993 single-season record of 14. Shehee also caught four passes for 32 yards as the Huskies racked up 498 net yards.

“We have two of the most dynamic tailbacks,” Lambright said. “I’ve got (injured former starter) Leon Neal standing beside me jumping up and down and coaching like mad, and Rashaan Shehee out there saying, ‘Give me the ball again; give it to me again.”’

Huard sets record

Damon Huard became the Huskies’ all-time passing leader, moving past Sonny Sixkiller on a 19-yard catch-and-run by Shehee on the second play of the second quarter.

Huard completed 20 of 34 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown against WSU, giving him 5,692 career yards. Sixkiller passed for 5,496 yards from 1970-72.

UW injury update

UW defensive tackle David Richie, a 270-pound junior from Kelso, Wash., suffered a neck injury early in the third quarter, prompting a 20-minute delay as medical personnel cautiously attended to him. Richie was removed from the field on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital, where he was to stay overnight, Lambright said.

“He has a bruised spinal column,” Lambright said. “It’s a soft-tissue bruise. Most of the actions out there were taken as precautionary actions, as with any neck injury. He does have feeling back in all parts of the body, so there is no worry at this point about paralyzation in any way.”

WSU injury update

Offensive right tackle John Skukanec injured an ankle in the second quarter and left the game. He was replaced by Ryan McShane, who missed part of the third quarter after twisting a knee on the same play that left Richie injured.

Inside linebacker Chris Hayes entered the game with an injured ankle and was limited to sporadic action. Defensive back Shad Hinchen, still recovering from a concussion, did not play. Defensive tackles Delmar Morais and Darryl Jones left the game with unspecified injuries.

The next Drew Bledsoe?

It’s a label Cougars quarterback Ryan Leaf has had to live with almost since he set foot on the WSU campus and it’s based, he acknowledged, mostly on the fact that they’re both 6-foot-6 and blessed with slingshot arms.

But at least one Cougar doesn’t consider the comparison far-fetched.

“I was here when Bledsoe was here,” said wide receiver Chad Carpenter. “His arm is just as good as Bledsoe’s. When it’s cold out, you don’t want to catch his ball - he throws it real hard. If he works on his spiral a little bit, he can have an outstanding pass, just like Drew did.

“The world is his oyster. He’s got anything he wants. I’m excited for him.”

Goin’ down swinging

Frank Madu came into Saturday’s Apple Cup needing 156 rushing yards to become WSU first 1,000-yard rusher since 1992.

He left early with 26 yards - and one TKO on 15 carries.

The senior running back was ejected with 13:51 still left in the third quarter for punching a Husky defender after being tackled on a short run over right tackle.

Madu did not show up in the interview room after the game to discuss the incident, but a television replay seemed to show him throwing a punch in the middle of the pileup.

Madu left the game, gesturing as if he had been punched or grabbed in the chin.

Miguel Meriwether, Madu’s replacement, ran for 79 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.

Untested tricks

The injury situation got so bad for WSU that during the Cougars’ final possession, as they tried to go 90 yards in the final minute to win or tie the game, Price called a trick play that involved one key player who had never practiced it.

With Meriwether, a converted quarterback, filling in at running back for Madu, the Cougars threw the ball out to the right flat to tight end Eric Moore, who then lateralled to Meriwether streaking past him down the sidelines.

The play looked like a big gainer, but was called back when officials ruled Moore had illegally lateralled the ball forward.

“He had never even run that hookand-ladder play we called in at the end of the game,” Price said of Meriwether. “We had always run it with (Derek) Sparks and Madu and we’d always practiced it with those two guys, but neither was in there.

“I just told Miguel what to do and he went out there and did it.”

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