Hardly A Happy Holiday Colorado, Detmer Bomb UW Colorado 33, Washington 21

They were ready for this one.

The Washington Huskies were well prepared for the Holiday Bowl. They were fired up, they were confident, they were sharp, they had won six games in a row.

What they weren’t, however, was good enough to beat Colorado.

Not even with Corey Dillon pounding out 140 yards rushing.

Or with Brock Huard completing his first eight passes.

Or with Jerome Pathon giving them their first kickoff return for a touchdown in 18 years.

Or with the defense allowing the Buffaloes just 43 yards rushing.

Basically, the Buffs had too many good receivers, too many good pass protectors, and too many Koy Detmers for the Huskies.

Detmer passed for 371 yards and three touchdowns to lead Colorado to a 33-21 victory before 55,749 spectators on a beautiful night in Jack Murphy Stadium.

“They had outstanding people who made big plays; they made ‘em when they had to,” Washington coach Jim Lambright said. “And they dominated the second half. … That wins big football games.”

And this was a big one, perhaps even bigger for the Huskies than for the eighth-ranked Buffaloes, who completed their third consecutive season with 10 victories. Colorado (10-2) can expect to climb into the top five, too, or at least come close.

No. 13 Washington, meantime, could fall down to the lower reaches of the Top 20, which isn’t usually considered a launching pad for a team that views national-championship potential for itself in 1997.

At 9-3, the Huskies still won two more games than they had in any of the past three seasons, and Lambright said he told his players after the game to remember the accomplishments as well as the disappointment of Monday night’s game.

“We have a young football team,” he said. “This team will keep getting better. It’s wonderful to learn from winning, but sometimes you have to learn from when you lose.”

The beginning of the game could not have gone better for Washington.

The Huskies hurled Dillon against the Buffs time and again in the first quarter, when he rushed 14 times for 83 yards and two touchdowns.

Every once in a while Huard would zip a quick pass to Pathon or Fred Coleman for a Huskies’ first down.

It was 7-0 after 3 minutes. It was 14-0 after 12 minutes.

It seemed too easy. And it was.

That was when CU receiver Rae Carruth went deep. Real deep.

“When they got ahead by those two touchdowns, we knew we’d better put the ball up and get on the board,” said Colorado offensive coordinator Karl Dorrell.

And so one play after it became 14-0, Carruth sprinted down the left sideline and showed UW cornerback Jermaine Smith why the NFL is expected to take Carruth as one of the first dozen draft picks in April.

Detmer heaved the ball to him, and it was a 76-yard touchdown play. That got the Buffs off their duffs.

Colorado never really lost the momentum, scoring when defensive end Nick Ziegler deflected and then caught a Huard pass, returning it 36 yards to tie the score.

Even though Pathon returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a TD and 21-14 lead, the Buffs didn’t blanche.

CU never did solve the UW rushing defense. But it never really found the need to run the ball, since Detmer’s passes were so productive.

His first six passes covered an astounding 180 yards - 30 yards a play. By halftime, he’d thrown for 241 yards. With 5 minutes left in the third quarter, Detmer had 310 yards.

And the Huskies were helpless.

“That was kind of the idea,” said Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel. “I wanted to put the game in our quarterback’s hands. He was capable and he was prepared, and he’s got an awful lot of weapons to throw the ball to, too, out there.”