Shehee May Miss 3 Games
College football
The No. 6 Washington Huskies are facing the remainder of November with the possibility of playing without Rashaan Shehee and with a less-than-100-percent Brock Huard.
Shehee, Washington’s starting running back, and Huard, the No. 1 quarterback, were injured in the Huskies’ 27-0 victory over Southern California on Saturday.
“We don’t have a problem with depth,” All-America guard Benji Olson said.
Shehee had to leave the USC game in the first quarter with a sprained left knee and Huard left in the third period when he re-sprained his left ankle.
Huard is expected back. Shehee may be lost for Washington’s final three games. His sprained knee is considered an injury that will take two to four weeks to heal.
“All the backups are confident,” freshman quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo said.
If Huard is held out Saturday against Oregon at Husky Stadium, the Huskies will give Tuiasosopo his first college start. He replaced Huard against the Trojans and completed 6 of 6 passes for 77 yards, including a 41-yarder to Jerome Pathon to set up a field goal by Nick Lentz.
When Huard sprained his ankle in the opening quarter against No. 1 Nebraska Sept. 20, Tuiasosopo came in and played well in a 27-14 loss.
Until Shehee returns, Washington will go with 215-pound sophomore Maurice Shaw as its running back with junior Jason Harris moving up to be Shaw’s backup.
Showdown coming up
Florida State and North Carolina have done their part.
Third-ranked Florida State (8-0, 6-0 ACC) stayed perfect with an imperfect performance in a 48-35 victory over North Carolina State on Saturday to set up this weekend’s historic showdown against the fifth-ranked Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, N.C.
It’s the most important game in ACC football history: the first time two of its teams ranked in the Top 5 nationally will meet in November.
“For the first time a game of this magnitude will have national interest,” Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Sunday.
North Carolina (8-0, 5-0) took care of its end of the deal last Thursday night with a 16-13 victory at Georgia Tech.
“We’re getting exactly what we need,” Bowden said. “We’re probably a lot better conference than people realize.”
The ACC has spent the last six seasons catching up with Florida State, which is 45-1 in the league including 16 straight victories.
Air Force 34, Hawaii 27
Frank Staine-Pyne recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for one touchdown and returned another blocked punt 19 yards for another score late Saturday night as Air Force (8-2, 4-2) outscored Hawaii (3-6, 1-6) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Honolulu.
Staine-Pyne scored his first TD in the opening period when he pounced on a punt blocked by Charlie Jackson in the end zone. In the second quarter, Staine-Pyne picked up a punt blocked by Kevin Runyon and raced untouched into the end zone.