Huskies try to break Bruin dominance
SEATTLE – Even with the Huskies’ struggles of the last two seasons, few teams in the Pac-10 Conference can claim a history of dominating Washington.
UCLA would be one. The Bruins have taken great satisfaction in recent seasons, with kick-in-the-gut, come-from-behind victories that left the Huskies shocked.
The Bruins have won five in a row and eight of the last nine against Washington, and will try to extend the streak today when the Huskies host UCLA, opening the Pac-10 season for both.
But the last three seasons have provided record-setting, season-propelling wins for the Bruins that only added to Washington’s downward slide.
“There can be a correlation, but I hope our football team realizes that what happened in the past really doesn’t have anything to do with what happens (today),” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said.
In 2003 at the Rose Bowl, Washington led 16-7 at halftime, only to be outscored 39-0 in the second half of a 46-16 rout. Two seasons ago, in Seattle, Washington led 24-7, then watched Maurice Drew spin, sidestep and sprint his way to a UCLA-record 322 yards rushing and five touchdowns in a 37-31 victory.
Last season, with Washington desperately seeking a victory to stem a flow of negative momentum – and nine straight conference losses at the time – the Bruins scored 14 points in the fourth quarter for a 21-17 win.
The Bruins converted on fourth down early in their game-winning drive, then Marcus Everett caught a short pass, slipped free of a tackle and raced 39 yards to help set up Drew’s 1-yard TD plunge with 1:08 left to give UCLA the win.
UCLA leads the all-time series 35-28-2. The only other Pac-10 team with a winning record against Washington is Southern California.
“We know we can play with these guys,” Washington safety C.J. Wallace said. “Last year, we felt like we gave them a cheap win. We beat ourselves.”
The Huskies enter Pac-10 play with their confidence at its highest level in two seasons after last Saturday’s 21-20 win over Fresno State. Washington has matched its win total from last year and talk around Montlake is of practices in December and warm-weather bowl games following what some players consider a program-turning victory.
UCLA hasn’t played since Sept. 9, a lackluster 26-16 win over Rice. In his second career start, quarterback Ben Olson threw for just 124 yards against the Owls, a week after making an impressive debut with 318 passing yards and three touchdowns against Utah.
UW quarterback Isaiah Stanback rebounded from a poor performance against Oklahoma two weeks ago to throw for 151 yards and two touchdowns and run for 91 yards and another score against Fresno State.
UCLA linebacker Christian Taylor called Stanback the “Michael Vick” of college football this week.