SEATTLE — While no one was ready to build lifelike, gold-plated statues of Jim Owens, Steve Emtman, Jim Lambright and Don James, Washington’s 28-17 Pacific-10 Conference victory over Stanford Saturday did remind many of Washington Football Inc. of yesteryear.
The offensive line dominated and gave tailback Rich Alexis acres of running room, especially on a 53-yard burst in which he remained untouched until his jubilant teammates committed various unspeakable congratulatory felonies on his person. The passing game was efficient if not flashy, with Cody Pickett tossing a pair of TD passes to Reggie Williams, who turned an innocent mid-range pattern into an electrifying 74-yard score.
And the defense. Holy Stonewall, Batman.
Amped by a third-quarter goal-line stand in which they surrendered just three points, the 18th-ranked Huskies (1-0 in the Pac-10, 3-1 overall) shut out the Cardinal the rest of the way and remained unscored-upon in the fourth quarter.
In short, it was marvelously blue collar, a performance commendable in its simplicity and ferocity. It was grit over style.
"We just wanted to put the ball on the ground and just run over ‘em," tight end Ben Bandel said. "They were getting a little bit tired and slowing down toward the end of the game. I just wanted to keep pounding it down their throats."
This wasn’t the hit-and-miss quality Washington displayed in games against Indiana and Idaho. While having far from a perfect day (Washington had five fumbles, lost two and had eight penalties for 61 yards), the Huskies played even up with Stanford in the first half in a 14-14 tie, made necessary adjustments and controlled the second half.
"I feel very good about the effort," UW coach Keith Gilbertson said. "It wasn’t stylish. I get the impression that if we don’t go out there and score 45 points, everybody thinks you have a bad game. The game is four quarters long. When you play good teams and you go in 14-14 at halftime, you’re doing fine."
Washington had its hands full with redshirt freshman Trent Edwards, surely Stanford’s next great quarterback. Edwards completed 16 of 32 passes for 159 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, but was at his most impressive when he led the Cardinal offense to two long scoring drives.
He threw a 12-yard TD pass to tight end Alex Smith to cap a 10-play drive that took 3:39 off the clock and gave the Cardinal a 7-0 advantage. And after the Huskies delivered Williams’ 74-yard shocker to take a 14-7 second-quarter lead, Edwards again drove Stanford 82 yards on seven plays and hit Smith again for a game-tying 18-yard TD pass.
Edwards no more resembles a freshman than Catherine Zeta-Jones resembles Vince Lombardi.
"I thought he made some real good decisions and some real good throws," Stanford coach Buddy Teevens said. "It’s an ongoing educational process for a young guy, but he continues to show poise. Obviously, he can throw the football."
Edwards made only one major error, but it closed the show for the Cardinal. Down just 21-17 with 2:40 remaining, Stanford was in possession, third-and-10 from its own 27. Edwards tried to hit Luke Powell on a short pattern to the left sideline, but UW cornerback Derrick Johnson stepped in front of Powell and took it to the house 36 yards away.
"They had run that all day long," Johnson said. "I played outside of Powell. When he broke outside, I broke with him at the same time. I saw the ball coming and jumped in front of him."
As Gilbertson said, it wasn’t stylish, but it was efficient. Alexis, a senior, finished with 128 yards on 24 carries, his first back-to-back 100-yard game since he was a freshman. The offensive line continues to improve its run-blocking and turned in its most impressive showing of the season, given the opponent.
Inside linebacker Marquis Cooper piled up 13 tackles, eight unassisted, and defensive tackle Terry Johnson added three tackles for loss.
"It was a long and hard game," Johnson said. "Those guys fought real hard. It was a game we had to win and we came through. It was great for us as a defense, knowing we played well for four quarters."
After all, as Gilbertson said, it’s a four-quarter game.
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