For Huskies, Even The Coach Looks Healthy

Right or wrong, Jim Lambright has a credibility today he didn’t have last week, a liberation from carping criticism.

Win or lose, his job was never in jeopardy. But his ability to recruit the athletes he needs would have been.

In the light of Washington’s dominating 51-23 Aloha Bowl victory, much will be made of the way Lambright prepared his Huskies this time, the balance between work and play, the defense devised to suffocate Michigan State’s running game, the offense that was balanced and beautiful, the daring of a fake-punt run for a touchdown, even the meaning of the ‘90s ritual of dousing the coach with Gatorade.

“When you’re losing, people put an emphasis on the coach not having control of the program and everything is going haywire,” quarterback Brock Huard said. “We put all those questions aside today. When we poured Gatorade on Coach’s back, that monkey came off and drowned.”

Lambright has improved as a coach. His practices were better here than they were before the Sun Bowl in ‘95 and the Holiday Bowl last year. He used the time the way he was taught by Don James, changing up the defense to use Jerry Jensen as another down lineman, moving Huard outside the pocket to relieve pressure, preparing a fake-punt play and then using it even though it was fourth-and-11.

The stuff, really, that enabled James to win 10 of the 15 bowl games he coached at Washington.

But while Lambright’s approach to practice was nearly perfect - resisting the panic, after three losses, to turn himself into a Big Ten control freak - he won this big game for the same reasons he lost to Oregon, UCLA and Washington State.

“When we are healthy and we come to play, we are a top-five team,” said Fred Coleman, who caught two touchdown passes.

Lambright got smarter as the Huskies got quicker and stronger.

“Flat out, they’ve got a lot of great athletes,” said Michigan State linebacker Ike Reese, a third-team All-American. “When you’ve got players in key positions who make plays, it makes all the difference.”

Huard, running back Rashaan Shehee, tight end Cam Cleeland, defensive end Chris Campbell - all missing in action down the stretch - made the difference against Michigan State.

MSU coach Nick Saban talked about how focused, even angelic, his team had been - and certainly free of the mo-ped caper that got Huskies receiver Jerome Pathon cited by the local police.

The Michigan State players went so far as to chide the Huskies about their lax preparation as the two teams waited to take the field.

“Thanks for the motivation,” Huskies center Olin Kreutz said later.

“Half the time they were out there with us partying,” said teammate Tony Parrish. “They just had earlier bed checks.”

All that stuff is overrated. Lambright had curfew the final few days, and his players knew the implication of losing four straight to end a season.

Saban found a more plausible reason for the rout when he said his team just didn’t have the speed to keep up with a top Pac-10 team.

“We play against great backs,” he said, “but not with the ability to bump outside and accelerate like Shehee. No. 24 (Pathon) and No. 4 (Ja’Warren Hooker) are very fast. We haven’t played against guys in the Midwest who can run that way.”

Shehee broke off a 33-yard touchdown run the first time he touched the ball since going down early in the USC game Nov. 1. Huard, at full speed for the first time since the Nebraska game, was able to roll away from pressure.

“People had been pinching down on us,” Lambright said. “They knew we couldn’t get outside.”

Reese thought the game turned for the last time when Mike Reed, the blocking back for punter Sean O’Laughlin, took a short snap and roared 64 yards for a touchdown.

“It was a great call,” Reese said. “It caught us totally off guard. Before that we thought we had a chance to come back and win. My hat’s off to coach Lambright; he called a great play at the right time.”

Reed, a senior fullback, spotted the gap in the defense, and, with Lambright’s approval, called the play.

“He’s a great coach,” Reed said of Lambright. “He tried his best in those last three games (of the regular season), but we just didn’t have the players.”

Now Lambright has to go out and get some more. He can talk to recruits about being the next Rashaan Shehee or Brock Huard or Tony Parrish, with Thursday’s bowl victory as testimony, and without the debilitating talk back home about why he can’t win the big game.

“Sure the criticism bothered me,” said Lambright, a lei around his neck and a smile across his face. “You would like to think people would give you credit for struggling against the sanctions and realize that it might take a year or two to get all the way back.”

Now they just might.