UW Big Favorite Over Army

Jim Lambright expects a good football game from Army today. Why? Because the Cadets are preparing for a profession where people have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

“When you play an Army, when you play any academy school, you better understand that every one of these guys is going to be a try-hard guy who is being taught to die for his country,” Lambright said.

Army’s athletes may be the best they can be, but Lambright’s No. 22 Washington Huskies (1-1) will be 26-point favorites to beat the Cadets (1-1) before a crowd of 70,000-plus at Husky Stadium.

While the Huskies have won 31 of their last 33 at Husky Stadium, the Cadets have won only three of their last 20 games on the road since 1989. Army last beat a Pac-10 team (Cal) in 1980. And Washington is trying to bounce back after a sloppy 30-20 loss to No. 8 Ohio State.

Army beat Lehigh in its season opener and lost to Duke last week.

Washington has 35 former players in the NFL. Army is not preparing players for pro football. The nation’s first service academy prepares players to be generals, not quarterbacks.

“It’s a different kind of recruiting than most Division I schools,” fifth-year Army coach Bob Sutton said.

But the Cadets could be 2-0 now. They lost to Duke 23-21 last Saturday on a 28-yard field goal by Tom Cochran with 4 seconds left.

“I think we deserved to beat Duke,” Sutton said.

Washington is eligible for the Rose Bowl again after a two-year bowl ban for NCAA rules violations, but the Huskies didn’t look like a Rose Bowl contender in Columbus, Ohio.

The Huskies defense couldn’t stop Eddie George, who rushed for 212 yards and two touchdowns, or Bobby Hoying, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. The Buckeyes had 451 of total offense and held the ball for 37:30. UW was called for 10 penalties.

One bright spot for Washington in the game was Leon Neal, Napoleon Kaufman’s replacement at tailback this season. Neal had his second straight 100-yard rushing game.

“We made a lot of mistakes that killed us,” Neal said. “We can’t afford to make those type of errors and expect to win against an Ohio State.”

Army’s wishbone rushing attack presents a major challenge to Washington. The Cadets rank third in the nation behind Nebraska (486.3) and Air Force (376.7) with 327.5 rushing yards in their first two games.