Mush, you Huskies

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 28, 2007

SEATTLE — Jake Locker has maintained all season long that individual numbers don’t matter to him.

His reaching a big individual milestone could have a lot to do with Washington’s chances this weekend, however.

Locker needs 90 yards against Hawaii to reach 1,000, which would give Washington two 1,000-yard rushers for the first time in school history. He and Louis Rankin would also be just the fourth 1,000-yard tandem in Pacific-10 Conference history.

And while reaching 1,000 yards might not be of the utmost importance to Locker, a big day running the ball is just what the Huskies need against Hawaii.

That’s because the Huskies are facing one of the nation’s best offenses, one that leads the nation in scoring and seemingly marches up and down the field at will. Moving the ball and scoring might not be enough for the Huskies. They’ll have to not just score, but take their time doing it, which is where the running game comes in.

If Rankin and Locker, who rank fourth and sixth in the Pac-10 in rushing yards per game, can run the ball successfully, that will leave less time for Warriors quarterback Colt Brennan and his receivers to victimize a struggling UW defense.

“We’ve got to be able to run the football,” offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said. “It’s really important that we’re able to run the football and manage the clock. You’re not going to be able to shut them out. You try to slow them down, and I don’t think anybody has done that, that I’m aware of. So it’s really important that we stay on the field and convert third downs.”

Even Locker, who never talks about his stats, likes the idea of 1,000-yard season. Of course, there’s a catch.

“If it’s something that would help us win, then yeah, that would be awesome,” he said.

But no matter how well the Huskies run the ball, and no matter how much they score, they still know that Hawaii will score points. The pressure is on the offense to respond with some big numbers of its own.

“We definitely feel we have to step up on offense,” receiver Anthony Russo said. “They’re going to put up some points and some yards, so we need to do the same and stay on the field.”

Lappano not talking about WSU job: If offensive coordinator Tim Lappano is a candidate for the now-vacant Washington State head coaching position, it’s news to him. And if he is interested, he’s not going to talk about it right now.

Lappano’s name is one of many that has come up as a possible candidate to replace Bill Doba.

“I’m not talking about that right now,” he said. “I just want to talk about beating Hawaii. Somebody said it was in the newspapers (Tuesday), but it’s news to me.”

Lappano, who is from Spokane and coached at Washington State from 1987 to 1991, acknowledged that being a head coach is a goal of his.

“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to be,” he said. “I wanted to be a head coach 15 years ago. I think any competitor that’s in this business wants to be a head coach. Some guys don’t, but most guys want to run their own show.”

Taking it inside: The Huskies practiced in the Dempsey indoor facility on Tuesday, and plan to stay indoors all week to prepare for the warm temperatures in Hawaii. It was a move that seems to be OK with players and coaches.

“That’s a good thing, because it’s cold out,” said Lappano, who joked that they’ll try to simulate the 80-plus degree temperatures they’ll experience this weekend. “We’ll try. We’re going to go in there and rent a couple of space heaters and crank it up a little bit.”

A pair of freshmen All-Americans: Locker and guard Ryan Tolar were both named second-team freshman All-Americans by Rivals.com. Both are listed as sophomore by Washington, but redshirted last year and have three years of eligibility left after this season.

Five earn gold: Locker, Ryan Perkins, Jared Ballman, Dan Howell and Chris Stevens were awarded gold jerseys at practice for their play last week.

A final chance for Bonnell? Lappano said he wanted to get backup quarterback Carl Bonnell in the game against Washington State, and would like to give the fifth-year senior once last chance to play if he can this week.

“I wanted to play Carl in that Apple Cup, I wish we could have,” Lappano said. “I’m not saying that we can’t play him a little bit against Hawaii. I think he deserves to play one more time before it’s all said and done. There’s a chance you could see Carl out there a series or two. I don’t have any problem with that. I don’t think Jake would either.”

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog