Defense Returns As Huskies Steamroll Arizona Washington Looks Sharp In Win; Key Matchup With Usc Looms Ahead
The Rose Bowl race heated up a bunch on Saturday.
Washington looked good, USC looked bad and they meet this week at Husky Stadium with some serious ramifications in the Pacific-10 Conference race.
“We’re like a train,” said linebacker Ikaika Malloe, who took the ball away from the Wildcats twice in leading a suddenly imposing Washington defense. “As we keep winning, we’re building momentum.
“We’re picking up some more gears, and hopefully we’ll keep rolling over people.”
The formerly dormant big-play defense was the new gear that overpowered the Wildcats 31-17, as Washington matched USC’s 4-0 league record.
“We’re getting better every week - that’s what important,” defensive tackle David Richie said. “Our offense is getting better, and our defense had to get better, too.”
For the Huskies, what makes the victory all the more significant and encouraging in their quest to get to the Rose Bowl, was that they throttled Arizona with a defense that had previous rated as one of the worst in University of Washington football history.
In a nutshell, the much-maligned Washington defense proved to be too much for the even-more-maligned Arizona offense Saturday night.
There were a lot of points scored in the game, but the Huskies took the ball away from the Wildcats often - including Richie’s 31-yard touchdown run with a fumble caused by Malloe.
Against Arizona, the Huskies tackled more surely than they had shown all season.
They made more big defensive plays than they had all season.
They frustrated starting Arizona quarterback Brady Batten, sending him out of the game. They flattened backup quarterback Dan White, knocking him out of the game for a while. And they played the Arizona rushing attack like a team full of Steve Emtmans.
Yes, they were playing against one of the least-threatening offenses on the continent, but that does not explain the way the Huskies took the ball away five times, scoring the one touchdown and setting up two others.
This is a Washington defense, remember, that had been giving up more yards than any defense in school history, and more points than any respectable Husky defense in years.
The Wildcats mustered a net 28 yards on 29 rushes, including three sacks. Arizona wound up with 338 yards passing, but most of them came after the outcome was decided.
Because of the defensive effort, Washington rolled up 31 points while managing just 231 yards of offense and 13 first downs.
Quarterback Damon Huard passed for two first-quarter touchdowns, tailback Rashaan Shehee bolted 48 yards for a third-quarter score.
Just as he did last week, Huard completed each of his first eight passes, this time covering 54 yards an two touchdowns. He was spreading the ball all over, completing passes in the opening quarter to six different receivers.
Washington 14 3 14 0 - 31
Arizona 0 10 0 7 - 17
Was-Conwell 17 pass from Huard (Wales kick)
Was-Pathon 5 pass from Huard (Wales kick)
Was-FG Wales 32
Ari-Metzler 23 pass from White (Prasuhn kick)
Ari-FG Prasuhn 32
Was-Shehee 48 run (Wales kick)
Was-Richie 31 fumble return (Wales kick)
Ari-Williams 36 pass from White (Prasuhn kick)
A-58,471.
Was Ari First downs 13 19 Rushes-yards 42-84 29-28 Passing 147 310 Return Yards 22 29 Comp-Att-Int 17-27-0 23-51-3 Punts 7-42 6-36 Fumbles-Lost 4-1 2-2 Penalties-Yards 4-30 8-69 Time of Possession 32:08 27:52 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHINGWashington, Shehee 17-90, Thomas 10-26, Kelaho 5-5, Hollimon
1-3, Fortney 5-(minus 9), Huard 4-(minus 31). Arizona, G. Taylor 16-40, Myles 3-9, Hooper 1-1, White 3-(minus 4), Williams 1-(minus 8), Batten 5-(minus 10).
PASSINGWashington, Huard 17-26-0-147, Fortney 0-1-0-0. Arizona, White 22-44-2-305, Batten 1-7-1-5.
RECEIVINGWashington, Coleman 5-71, Shehee 3-17, Janoski 2-15, Cleeland 2-10, Pathon 2-8, Conwell 1-17, DeSaussure 1-5, Thomas 1-4. Arizona, Nadeau 5-71, C. Taylor 5-60, Williams 4-70, Sprotte 2-10, Schmidtke 2-9, Holmes 1-24, Metzler 1-23, Lucky 1-21, G. Taylor 1-13.