Enough Talk, It’s Time To Play Defense Among Biggest Factors In Apple Cup ‘96

Corey Dillon this. Michael Black that. Brock Huard and Ryan Leaf the other thing.

As Washington State coach Mike Price put it for, oh, roughly the 50th time this week, “I just think it’s great Pullman can host this intercollegiate football game when you have the No. 1 rusher in the conference (Dillon) and the No. 2 rusher in the conference (Black), as well as two of the up-and-coming quarterbacks (Huard, Leaf).”

Defense, anyone?

The 89th Apple Cup, billed mostly as a showcase for some of the most exciting offensive players in the Pacific-10 Conference, will also be determined by talented defenders like Washington’s Jason Chorak and Ink Aleaga, or Washington State’s James Darling and Leon Bender.

Chorak, a QB-crunching linebacker, leads the Pac-10 with 13-1/2 sacks, even though he missed one game with an injury. “Chorak plays very inspired, plays as hard as any player that I’ve seen this year on tape,” Price said. “He caught a San Jose State guy that ran a flanker screen from behind 50 yards down the field.”

Chorak, linebacker Jerry Jensen (seven sacks) and defensive tackle David Richie (four) are the primary reasons UW leads the Pac-10 with 42 quarterback sacks.

“They have corner blitz, they strong-safety blitz, they rover blitz and they outside-linebacker blitz,” Price said. “They disguise it real well.”

Keeping Chorak out of Leaf’s face will be a fundamental concern for WSU, which allowed five sacks in last week’s deflating loss at Stanford.

On defense, the Cougars’ task is simple, if not easy. Basically, they want to keep Dillon from having his own segment on SportsCenter.

Dillon, Washington’s 6-foot-2, 225-pound tailback, has already set several school records. He comes barreling into Martin Stadium one week after setting the NCAA record for most yards rushing in a single quarter (222).

“He has the ability to get up in tight behind his offensive linemen and he just kind of hangs in there until the little seam opens somewhere, then he bursts through it,” WSU defensive coordinator Bill Doba explained. “He doesn’t panic. If it’s closed up, he doesn’t try to bounce outside.”

With Dillon leading the way, and Huard finding reliable targets in tight end Cam Cleeland and split end Jerome Pathon, the Huskies lead the Pac-10 in time of possession (WSU ranks last).

Might the Cougars have trouble stopping such a powerful attack? The answer comes in the complexity of Price’s reply:

“We would like to stop the run without sacrificing play-action pass and coming up too soon with our safeties and then getting burned with that tight end across the middle.”

In other words, “Yeah.”

As much as anything, recent meteorological history gives WSU reason to believe the 12th-ranked Huskies may be vulnerable. UW has lost two straight here, surrendering to the harsh elements as well as the traditionally fired-up Cougars.

As if on cue, a sheet of ice covered the Martin Stadium field Friday night, reducing the Huskies’ evening walk-through to little more than a night at the skating rink. WSU practiced indoors.

The cold is expected to continue. According to The Weather Channel, today’s high in Pullman should be 35 degrees.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Cougars vs. Huskies

MEMO: Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. APPLE CUP STARTERS Pos. No. Player Size Year Washington State (5-5, 3-4) Offense SE 17 Chad Carpenter 6-0, 198 Sr. LT 72 Scott Sanderson 6-6, 296 Sr. LG 66 Jason McEndoo 6-6, 300 Jr. C 71 Cory Withrow 6-4, 264 Jr. RG 68 Bryan Chiu 6-2, 284 Sr. RT 76 Ryan McShane 6-6, 308 Jr. TE 98 David Knuff 6-3, 237 Sr. SB 8 Shawn Tims 5-10, 179 Jr. QB 16 Ryan Leaf 6-6, 244 So. RB 5 Michael Black 5-11, 196 Jr. FL 45 Shawn McWashington 5-10, 183 Jr.

Defense SE 46 Shane Doyle 6-4, 250 Jr. T 91 Leon Bender 6-5, 312 Jr. T 95 Gary Holmes 6-7, 312 So. WE 90 Dorian Boose 6-7, 280 Jr. LB 22 Brandon Moore 6-0, 215 Jr. LB 33 James Darling 6-1, 250 Sr. LB 4 Johnny Nansen 5-11, 234 Sr. CB 6 Dee Moronkola 5-8, 190 So. SS 25 Duane Stewart 6-2, 218 Jr. FS 20 Derek Henderson 6-0, 202 Sr. CB 15 Shad Hinchen 5-9, 179 Sr.

Specialists PK 47 Tony Truant 5-10, 184 Sr. P 12 Jeff Banks 6-0, 172 Jr. C 66 Jason McEndoo 6-6, 300 Jr. PR 8 Shawn Tims 5-10, 179 Jr. KR 6 Dee Moronkola 5-8, 190 So. KR 82 Nian Taylor 6-2, 189 So.

Washington (8-2, 6-1) Offense SE 24 Jerome Pathon 5-11, 180 Jr. LT 67 Tony Coats 6-7, 300 So. LG 72 Bob Sapp 6-5, 285 Sr. C 77 Olin Kreutz 6-4, 290 So. RG 76 Benji Olson 6-4, 310 So. RT 57 Lynn Johnson 6-3, 290 Sr. TE 85 Cameron Cleeland 6-4, 265 Jr. QB 7 Brock Huard 6-5, 220 Fr. TB 4 Corey Dillon 6-2, 225 Jr. FB 25 George Keiaho 5-9, 230 So. FL 19 Dave Janoski 5-10, 185 Sr.

Defense SLB 46 Jason Chorak 6-4, 255 Jr. DE 35 Chris Campbell 6-2, 240 Jr. DT 97 David Richie 6-4, 275 Sr. NT 78 Mac Tuiaea 6-6, 285 Fr. LB 54 Ink Aleaga 6-2, 230 Sr. LB 57 John Fiala 6-3, 230 Sr. WLB 40 Jerry Jensen 6-1, 230 Jr. ROV 8 Nigel Burton 5-9, 180 So. FS 7 Tony Parrish 5-11, 205 Jr. CB 25 Mel Miller 5-11, 190 Fr. CB 1 Jermaine Smith 5-11, 195 Fr.

Specialists PK 18 John Wales 5-9, 190 Sr. P 14 Hamid Sarshar 6-0, 180 Jr. C 40 Jerry Jensen 6-1, 230 Jr. PR 24 Jerome Pathon 5-11, 180 Jr. KR 4 Corey Dillon 6-2, 225 Jr. KR 24 Jerome Pathon 5-11, 180 Jr.

2. APPLE CUP SCORES 1900 TIE, 5-5 1901 WSU, 10-0 1902 UW, 16-0 1903 UW, 10-0 1904 - UW, 12-6 1907 - WSU, 11-5 1908 - TIE, 6-6 1910 - UW, 16-0 1911 - UW, 30-6 1912 - UW, 19-0 1913 - UW, 20-0 1914 - UW, 45-0 1917 - WSU, 14-0 1919 - UW, 13-7 1921 - WSU, 14-0 1922 - UW, 16-13 1923 - UW, 24-7 1924 - UW, 14-0 1925 - UW, 23-0 1926 - WSU, 9-6 1927 - UW, 14-0 1928 - UW, 6-0 1929 - WSU, 20-13 1930 - WSU, 3-0 1931 - UW, 12-0 1932 - TIE, 0-0 1933 - WSU, 17-6 1934 - TIE, 0-0 1935 - UW, 21-0 1936 - UW, 40-0 1937 - TIE, 7-7 1938 - UW, 26-0 1939 - WSU, 6-0 1940 - UW, 33-9 1941 - UW, 23-13 1942 - TIE, 0-0 1945 - UW, 6-0 1945 - WSU, 7-0 1946 - UW, 21-7 1947 - UW, 20-0 1948 - WSU, 10-0 1949 - UW, 34-21 1950 - UW, 52-21 1951 - WSU, 27-25 1952 - UW, 33-27 1953 - WSU, 25-20 1954 - WSU, 26-7 1955 - UW, 27-7 1956 - UW, 40-26 1957 - WSU, 27-7 1958 - WSU, 18-14 1959 - UW, 20-0 1960 - UW, 8-7 1961 - UW, 21-17 1962 - UW, 26-21 1963 - UW, 16-0 1964 - UW, 14-0 1965 - UW, 27-9 1966 - UW, 19-7 1967 - WSU, 9-7 1968 - WSU, 24-0 1969 - UW, 30-21 1970 - UW, 43-25 1971 - UW, 28-20 1972 - WSU, 27-10 1973 - WSU, 56-26 1974 - UW, 24-17 1975 - UW, 28-27 1976 - UW, 51-32 1977 - UW, 35-15 1978 - UW, 38-8 1979 - UW, 17-7 1980 - UW, 30-23 1981 - UW, 23-10 1982 - WSU, 24-20 1983 - WSU, 17-6 1984 - UW, 38-29 1985 - WSU, 21-20 1986 - UW, 44-23 1987 - UW, 34-19 1988 - WSU, 32-31 1989 - UW, 20-9 1990 - UW, 55-10 1991 - UW, 56-21 1992 - WSU, 42-23 1993 - UW 26-3 1994 - WSU, 23-6 1995 - UW, 33-30