Irish rough up downtrodden Huskies

SEATTLE – A swarming, rejuvenated defense. Five wide receivers with empty backfields while leading big in the second half. Then, a fake punt that led to more points and more angst for a coach who needs no more.

Notre Dame humbled Tyrone Willingham yet again, this time with its defense and some second-half trickery.

James Aldridge ran for 84 yards and a career-high two touchdowns and Notre Dame’s previously shaky defenders easily handled Washington in a 33-7 victory on Saturday night.

The Fighting Irish (5-2) looked rusty on offense following their bye, with quarterback Jimmy Clausen frustrated and often misfiring. But against woeful Washington, rusty was good enough.

Clausen completed 14 of 26 passes for 201 yards, with a 51-yard touchdown pass to Michael Floyd on the game’s first series, and an interception.

“I feel like we could have scored more, but we never want to embarrass a team,” said Irish wide receiver Golden Tate, who ran 21 yards for his first career touchdown on an end around in the opening quarter. “I think we let up once we had them 14-0.”

Washington’s score with 2:56 left prevented its first shutout loss at home since 1976.

The Huskies (0-7), with redshirt freshman quarterback Ronnie Fouch making his third career start, did not cross midfield until 6 minutes remained. The Huskies had just 51 total yards on 35 plays entering the fourth quarter. They had 5 yards passing at halftime, when the game was essentially over with Notre Dame up 17-0.

“That was almost unbelievable that we would be in that position,” said Willingham, who dropped to 11-32 in three-plus seasons at Washington.

Notre Dame fired him at the end of 2004 for going 21-15 in three seasons. Another dismissal from Washington seems inevitable and imminent.

The Irish led 24-0 late in the third quarter and faced fourth-and-13 at their own 37. Harrison Smith took a direct snap on a fake punt and ran 35 yards to set up the second field goal of the game by Brandon Walker.

As the crowd booed, Willingham remained stoic.

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, who exchanged a handshake and appeared cordial with Willingham on the field after the game, said he wanted to run that play late in the first half but the clock ran out on him. His team had practiced against a certain look he planned to exploit on Washington’s punt-return unit. It was heavy on defenders outside, setting up for a return. That left Smith free and “excited,” the linebacker said, in the middle.

Asked if he thought about what the perception of such a play would be coming with a 24-point lead on an obviously overmatched opponent, Weis said: “No. It’s the third quarter. … It’s not 50-0. I’m not that type of guy. … We yanked guys at the start of the fourth quarter. Their only touchdown at the end was against guys who never play.

“No, that’s not our deal.”