Huskies Are Taking A Run At Smash-Mouth Football After Getting Trampled By Nebraska, Washington Wants To Control The Line

Washington made a mistake against Nebraska. The Huskies corrected it against Arizona State.

Returning to power football, specifically putting the run before the pass, Washington downed ASU 26-14 Saturday.

Get used to it, UW coach Jim Lambright said at his weekly press conference Monday.

“It was a matter of determining what we lacked in the Nebraska game (a 27-14 loss) and going back to the belief that you have to control the line of scrimmage,” Lambright said.

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan was more direct.

“I made a bad mistake in calling plays against Nebraska,” he told a Seattle newspaper. “We saw what Central Florida did to Nebraska with the long pass and we figured let’s go out and run the ball against them after we had hit them with the big throw. It was the wrong order.”

It was reversed against ASU. Rashaan Shehee ran for 146 yards on 29 carries. Maurice Shaw had 17 attempts and gained 94 yards. Before, UW had become too cozy trying for the big play instead of mounting more established, time-consuming drives.

“In becoming a big-play team, you give yourself a lot more third-down-and-long and medium situations, which are much harder to convert,” he said. “We have to get ourselves in third-and-short more, and that comes with a better running game.”

Eager reader

Cal, UW’s opponent Saturday, opened with two impressive wins before losing to USC and Louisiana Tech.

“We know they pointed to two things in the off-season, beating USC and the last time they beat Washington,” Lambright said. “It’ll be interesting for me just to read what comes out of the San Francisco papers and how the players are handling it because this is dramatic, all of sudden getting hit with two losses.”

UW has dominated the series with Cal, winning 14 straight. The teams haven’t played the last two years.

Huard scare

Quarterback Brock Huard was just 8 of 19 for 150 yards against ASU. He was returning from an ankle injury sustained against Nebraska.

“He did tweak his ankle in warmups when he stepped on another player’s foot,” Lambright said. “We didn’t know about it and he didn’t tell us about it. But he was rusty, and the wind affected both sides’ passing games.”

Huard remains tops in Pac-10 passing efficiency at 182.9. UW freshman Marques Tuiasosopo, who filled in against Nebraska after Huard’s injury, is second at 181.7, UCLA’s Cade McNown is third at 175.2 and Washington State’s Ryan Leaf is next at 157.5.

Book ends

Jason Chorak gets most of the publicity, but opposite end Chris Campbell is putting up better numbers.

Chorak, the Pac-10’s defensive player of the year in 1996, has three sacks and seven tackles for loss. Campbell, a coverted linebacker, has a team-high five sacks and 12 tackles for loss.

“Am I surprised by the year Chris is having? No, I’m very pleased because I know his work ethic and commitment,” Lambright said. “I know what it was like for him to listen to Jason getting all the accolades, and they were deserved, but Chris is on the other side saying, ‘If he can do it, so can I.”’

Notes

The Washington-Arizona game on Oct. 18 will be televised by ABC. Game time will be 12:30 p.m… . Saturday’s game features two of the Pac-10’s top receivers. Cal’s Bobby Shaw is third nationally with 8.25 receptions per game and fourth in yardage per game at 149.25. UW’s Jerome Pathon is third at 149.5. … Benji Olson moved from strong guard to weak guard to make room for freshman Chad Ward against ASU. That way, Ward only moved from strong tackle to strong guard, instead of the more difficult switch of flopping sides. “Benji proved one more time what a good all-around athlete he is,” Lambright said. “He played an excellent game, same for Chad.” … For the first time since 1988, UW will play three consecutive road games (Cal, Arizona and Oregon State). Three of UW’s four games in November are at home, capped by Washington State’s visit Nov. 22.

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