UW Must Sharpen Skills For Bucke
After beating Arizona State with a trick play in the final three minutes, the No. 18 Washington Huskies have some waiting to do for their next opponent.
And that’s fine with the Huskies.
“Normally, I don’t like taking a bye early in the season,” quarterback Damon Huard said. “But I think we’re going to need some extra preparation for Ohio State. They’re a great team and we’ve got a lot to improve on.”
The Huskies, who beat Arizona State 23-20 in their Pac-10 opener on Saturday before 73,129 fans at Husky Stadium, will play at No. 9 Ohio State (1-0) in two weeks.
If they’re going to have a chance against their Big Ten Conference opponent on Sept. 16, they’re going to have to be a lot better than they were in their opening game.
Following Robert Nycz’s 20-yard field goal with 5:56 left, Arizona State led 20-15 and the Huskies looked beaten.
“I overthrew a couple of passes and we had some drops,” Huard said. “I think that’s just because it was our first game. I’m glad it’s under our belts and we got away with a win.”
The Huskies won their 10th consecutive home game and won the 31st time in 33 games because they were able to put together a seven-play, 66-yard touchdown drive - complete with a bizarre finish.
Washington’s bench called six consecutive running plays and then had the Sun Devils exactly where they wanted them.
On play No. 7, Huard pitched out to backup tailback Rashaan Shehee and the Arizona State secondary came up to stop the run. Only it wasn’t a run. It was - surprise - a halfback pass.
Shehee threw a wobbly pass to flanker Fred Coleman for Washington’s winning touchdown with 2:53 to go. The only way the play wouldn’t have worked was if Shehee and Coleman would have screwed it up. That’s how wide open Coleman was.
“When the ball was in the air, I was thinking, ‘Please, Freddie, just catch that horrible pass of mine,”’ Shehee said. “I know I’ll get razzed about that pass all week.”
Trying to come back after a 3-8 record in 1994, the Sun Devils were shocked.
“They did a good job of selling the run,” free safety Mitchell Freedman said. “Everybody came up on the pitch.”
“We’ll have to learn to defend that play better because you can be sure other teams are going to try it against us now,” Arizona State coach Bruce Snyder said.
Eligible to go to the Rose Bowl again after a two-year bowl ban, Washington finds itself leading the Pac-10 with a 1-0 record this week. The Huskies know they’re going to have to make some dramatic improvements in a short period of time if they’re going to be serious Rose Bowl contenders against the likes of No. 7 Southern California and No. 12 UCLA.
The Huskies are at Oregon State on Sept. 30.