Huskies, Cougars Showed Differences In Feet, Not Hearts

To review:

After throwing 24 interceptions in 1987, a bewildered Timm Rosenbach trudged into Washington State coach Dennis Erickson’s office to request a move from quarterback to linebacker.

As Saturday afternoon begat evening, it seemed prudent to discuss Ryan Leaf’s options in a similar context.

Defensive end?

Kicker?

Blindfold and a cigarette?

But if the Cougars have taught us anything over the years - great years, awful years and this one - it’s the folly of any rush to judgment. Not that this season was much of a rush. More like a helpless slide into terminal illness.

And then - overtime!

Harrowing, heart-swelling overtime. Bizarre, holdyour-breath overtime. Early-departing-fans-bustingtail-to-run-back-to-their-seats overtime.

If 1995 was the best Apple Cup, then 1996 was the best window to the emotions in play and the magic of sheer will - to say nothing of the only endorsement the NCAA will ever need for the necessity of breaking ties.

This game deserved two winners - and had it ended 24-24, only the Cougars would have felt like one.

Instead, it was 31-24 and the cup stays with Washington because Jerome Pathon got his feet down in the end zone and Chad Carpenter did not. The Huskies can mop their brows in relief and pack for their bowl game, whether in Dallas or San Diego. The Cougars will mourn a season gone wrong - while taking comfort that the patient, quite miraculously, is somehow still alive.

Well, maybe not much comfort.

“So many close games we wound up losing,” said senior wide receiver Chad Carpenter, looking back on five seasons and not just one. “The only close game I remember we ended up winning was Cal. We felt we were due that.

“In fact, we were due a little more.” Possibly. Then again, you are due only what you earn a lesson the Huskies apparently learned this fall, while the Cougs agonized over accounts receivable.

“To have had the momentum and then lose it and then be mature enough to come back as competitors and win it in the end is the most important thing,” said Husky coach Jim Lambright.

“We couldn’t have done that early. We had a chance against Arizona State and we couldn’t early in the season put anyone away. We are a much better team now because of lessons like this.”

The Cougs? Well, they can be a much better team later.

“Take away four plays against Arizona, USC, Stanford and Washington and it’s a different game - a different season,” reasoned guard Jason McEndoo. “But in this game, you can’t take one play back and make everything better. “You’ve got to take the opportunities as they come to you, and we didn’t. We missed a lot of opportunities. We missed them this game and we missed them the last half of the season.”

This game? Three first-half Husky errors - a fumble, a long kickoff runback allowed and a blocked field goal - gave Wazzu chances from the UW 41, 38 and midfield. The Cougs made one first down - on a Husky offsides penalty.

That, the relentless bulldozing of Husky tailback Corey Dillon and two second-half fumbles by Leaf accounted for Washington’s 24-0 lead with 23 minutes to play. It could have been worse, but Husky kicker John Wales couldn’t have - missing two more field goals besides the one blocked.

The turning point?

“When Corey Dillon had to leave,” said WSU defensive coordinator Bill Doba.

He is the most candid of coaches, and truly when a hamstring forced Dillon to the sidelines some of Washington’s will went along with him.

But something else happened.

Call it Re-Leaf.

A year ago, the Apple Cup was Leaf’s coming-out party. He was spectacular - whether winging the football or merely winging it - and only a freshman, the recipe for unbridled expectation.

In the space of three quarters Saturday, Leaf did all he could to undo that expectation. He completed just 5 of 20 passes, though once again his receivers were eager co-conspirators. It all seemed like the final step backward for a quarterback who had talked all week of Wazzu’s slide being his fault, of his inability to do the job, of the need for Price to look hard at sending in a replacement.

Leaf loves his hair shirt, though on inspection it is revealed to have short sleeves.

“My confidence was fine,” Leaf insisted. “The media was saying I have no confidence, but that is bull. I have confidence in everything. We just weren’t winning.”

And that all came to a head in the fourth quarter. From deep in his own territory, Leaf cocked his arm to pass - and had the ball slip from his grasp. On the next play, he found Shawn Tims wide open over the middle - and saw the ball go through his fingers.

Four plays later, Wazzu was in the end zone. Minutes later, the Cougs were in overtime.

“I don’t think anybody was going backward,” Carpenter said. “Leaf got down on himself a little too much, put a lot of it on himself like any good quarterback does. But he came out and played like the true competitor he is.

“You can’t say anything about anybody’s heart, ours or Washington’s. And it was good for this team, especially for the guys coming back next year.”

A good reminder, he meant.

It costs extra to carve “quitter” on a tombstone.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 color photos

MEMO: You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review