Don’t blame Bonnell

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, October 21, 2006

BERKELEY, Calif. – Washington offensive coordinator Tim Lappano wants to make one thing clear: the Huskies’ 31-24 overtime loss to No. 11 California Saturday was not quarterback Carl Bonnell’s fault.

“This isn’t on Carl Bonnell,” Lappano said. “This is on our inability to get one foot a couple of times on third-and-1. (If we do that) we might not be having this conversation. Carl Bonell played good enough for us to win. This isn’t on Carl Bonnell.”

Making his first start since 2004, Bonnell, a junior from Kent, was 17-for-31 for 284 yards and two touchdowns, but was also intercepted five times. The school record is six, thrown by Sonny Sixkiller against Oregon State in 1970. Bonnell added 64 yards rushing and scored on a 7-yard run.

Bonnell said his play was marred by the turnovers.

“The interceptions were at critical times,” he said. “A couple times close to their end zone.”

Bonnell made the start after last week’s season-ending injury to Isaiah Stanback and despite the turnovers seemed poised throughout the game.

He was 8-for-11 in the first half and converted a couple of key plays. He was hindered by the loss of starting running back Kenny James to an ankle injury in the first quarter.

“There’s some very good things that he did,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “The interceptions hurt. But it’s not a lack of desire or will on his part. Some of them were thrown into places that we expect them to be thrown, and we just didn’t get it done.”

Bonnell led the Huskies on a scoring drive on his first possession. The 44-yard drive included a 23-yard pass to Robert Lewis and a 16-yard run, as the Huskies scored on a 33-yard field goal.

Bonnell’s first interception seemed to be a miscommunication between quarterback and receiver. The pass intended for Marcel Reece, was intercepted by Cal’s Daymeion Hughes.

“I was expecting him to go outside, he went inside,” Bonnell said. “That happens.”

Bonnell showed his arm off several times, once on a 49-yard scoring pass to Anthony Russo and on the 40-yard bomb that Marlon Wood caught to send the game to overtime.

One of Bonnell’s five interceptions was in overtime when he tried to slip a pass to tight end Johnie Kirton. Cal’s Desmond Bishop picked off the pass to end the game.

“I picked up a majority of the things they brought at us,” Bonnell said. “We moved the ball. We did what we came here to do, we just didn’t score enough points.”

Bonnell’s teammates said they were comfortable with Bonnell and said he was poised and calm in the huddle, even in the most critical parts of the game.

“He was cool,” Wood said. “He’s calm throughout the game, just little jitters. He’s going to be pretty good.”

“The whole game he was calm,” running back Louis Rankin said. “He made some great plays for us. The bomb he threw to Russo, a lot of the check downs that he had. Carl had a great game. I’m looking forward to next week.”

The turnovers were a change for Washington, which had just three interceptions by Stanback. But Bonnell also showed some of the same mobility and play-making ability that Stanback displayed.

And Husky coaches made it clear that Bonnell would remain the starter for next week’s home game against Arizona State.

“He’s good enough to win every game we have left on our schedule,” Lappano said. “Obviously, I’m disappointed with a couple of the throws down field that were intercepted. We can’t throw five interceptions. But overall, first time in the situation, the type of team we played against, I thought he proved to everybody he’s good enough to win a lot of games with.”