Huskies Get Off The Mat Battered Washington Has Tough Wildcats Next

Jim Lam bright’s in recovery. Not the 12-step kind. Or the type that requires IVs.

No, the Washington head coach is in emotional recovery. Lose 55-7 to Nebraska and you too would feel his pain.

“It’s quite a devastating experience,” he said.

Now, he’s trying to “pick up the pieces and remains of what has been a tattered team.”

That’s a problematic task with undefeated Arizona pounding on the door of Husky Stadium.

But the players who suffered so mightily on the plain, began to recover on another plane.

“I was pleased with the way we hurt on the airplane home,” said Lambright, whose team has only suffered consecutive losses once (1997) in his tenure. “You hurt, but with your head up and with some pride.”

Not easy to do when you flying at 37,000 feet after just being put 6 feet under by the Huskers.

But the youth, which has been maligned by the media and team, may actually serve the Huskies well this week. Young players tend to have short memories.

Fans, on the other hand, probably recall that the Huskies are 1-6 against Top 10 teams since 1995. And that the shucking by the Huskers was the team’s worst in 23 years.

But those really ardent supporters might also recall what happened after the last Huskies blowout loss - a 54-20 shellacking under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus at Notre Dame in 1995. The next week, Washington dropped UCLA 41-21 and went on a six-game winning streak.

By the way, Washington’s next four games are at home.

But Lambright’s pointing to the first three games, not the next four, as motivation.

“I told our team that most of the press around this area would not have picked us to be 2-1 after our opening games, anyway. For us to come out 2-1 is all right. In fact, it’s better than most would have predicted.”

Speaking of predictions, Lambright predicted the Wildcats would be the third-best team in the Pac-10 in the preseason coaches poll.

Everybody Duck

Oregon had to take a week off, the calculators just couldn’t keep up. Heck, IBM’s Big Blue would have trouble tallying the offensive stats of these high-flying, 4-0, No. 17 Ducks.

“They do it so quick,” said Stanford’s Tyrone Willingham, whose team fell 63-28 at Autzen Stadium on Saturday. “You look up and they have got two touchdowns on you.”

Oregon, which is off until its Oct. 10 game at Washington State, is No. 1 in the country in total offense (543 yards per game). Kentucky’s second at 541.5.

The Ducks are second in scoring (50.5 points per game), ninth in passing (297.8 yards) and 10th in rushing (245.3). They are the only team in the country to be in the top 10 in both of the latter two categories.

The tailback, Reuben Droughns, is ninth nationally in rushing (145 yards per game) and tied for eighth in scoring (12 points per game). And the junior-college transfer has done that with a sprained right ankle.

“He just sort of slips and slashes and makes people miss,” said coach Mike Bellotti. “He came in and he was ready to perform.”

Then there is Akili Smith, the quarterback who has taken the headlines away from UW’s Brock Huard and UCLA’s Cade McNown. Smith is second in the country in passing efficiency (193.1 rating) with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions.

“He is playing as good as football as anyone in the nation right now,” said Bellotti, who made the call to have Smith be the full-time starter over Jason Maas after the first week of the season. “He played ordinary last year.

“But he spent the last year figuring out what he didn’t know about Pac-10 offenses and defenses.”

Bye Georges

The athletic administrations at Miami and UCLA are still debating whether to make up the game between the two schools that was canceled on Thursday because of Hurricane Georges.

UCLA coach Bob Toledo has said he would like to reschedule the game, but advised that that scenario doesn’t seem likely.

The only shared open date for both teams is Dec. 5. That’s after the USC game, and playing any game other than a bowl after playing the Trojans is something the UCLA administration frowns upon.

In addition, assistant coaches are scheduled to hit the road for recruiting on Dec. 1, a bevy of recruits have been lined up to visit the UCLA campus on Dec. 5, the football banquet has already been scheduled for Dec. 1, final exams begin Dec. 14 and lengthening the season would put more demands on the players’ time.

Toledo lamented the fact that UCLA missed out on East Coast exposure that could have been integral to its recruiting efforts.

He also noted that the missed game may push the Bruins out of the Pac-10 title race.

“If three teams finished tied and two of them were 3-0 in nonconference play and we were 2-0, the tiebreaker would be those other teams.”

Wild bunch

Arizona’s Dick Tormey isn’t impressed with his team’s 4-0 start.

“Up to this point we’ve given ourselves a chance to have a real outstanding season,” the coach said. “We certainly haven’t proven we are a cut above.

“We’ll wait until we get to the meat of the schedule and find out what we’re made of.”

The “meat” starts Saturday at Washington and continues with a home game against UCLA. These two games could go a long way in determining if the Wildcats end up in postseason.

“This point last year we were 1-3 and we ended up in a bowl game,” said Tormey. “And there are some teams who are 1-3 right now who are going to turn their season around.

“Then there are some teams who are 4-0, 3-1, who won’t make a bowl.”

Notes

Oregon’s Chris Vandiver, who replaced injured linebacker Peter Sirmon, will remain the starter following his 14-tackle performance … Arizona running backs coach Jeff Woodruff, the son-in-law of Don James, makes his return to Washington for the first time since he was fired as offensive coordinator when Lambright took over the program in 1993. Since being fired after earning four Rose Bowl rings and a national championship at UW, Woodruff has worked one year at Bank of America in Tucson, Ariz. and two as a coach with Cholla High School … The 7 p.m. game at Husky Stadium will be only the third in history … Receiver Troy Walters, Stanford’s best offensive weapon, is day-to-day with a sprained ankle going into the Cardinal’s game with Notre Dame.