Huskies are no match for Bruins

By John Sleeper

Herald Writer

PASADENA, Calif. – If the term for a complete pasting is that one team “exposed” the other, that’s what happened to the University of Washington Saturday.

And as far as the Huskies are concerned, it was indecent exposure.

UCLA showed it is a legitimate player in the Bowl Championship Series, dismantling the Huskies, 35-13 before 70,377 at a sun-baked Rose Bowl Stadium. The seventh-ranked Bruins (5-0, 2-0 in Pacific-10 Conference play) got 301 rushing yards and four touchdowns out of tailback DeShaun Foster, sledgehammered the Husky offense and let it be known they are the team to beat in the conference.

“I told our guys going into the game that it was like a 15-round fight against the champion,” UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. “They were defending champions, and to be the champion, you need to knock out the champion. Our kids did that today.”

It was a decisive knockout. Foster scored on runs of 5, 21, 1 and 92 yards. When the 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior wasn’t plowing over hapless Husky tacklers, he was running around them. More often than not, though, he was showing them his heels.

“He’s by far the best back I’ve ever faced,” UW safety Greg Carothers said.

In all, it was a discouraging loss for the Huskies, whose 12-game win streak was snapped.

The Bruins took No. 10 Washington (4-1, 2-1) out of the game early with three quick TDs in the first quarter and were never seriously threatened. By halftime, the decidedly pro-Bruin crowd was chanting, “Over-rated, over-rated.”

But Foster was no more impressive than the UCLA defense, which allowed the Huskies just 7 rushing yards in the first half, an area of the game the Huskies considered vital if they were to have any chance at all.

The Huskies could muster just 16 yards on the ground. Quarterback Taylor Barton, in his first-ever start in a Husky uniform (starter Cody Pickett was out with a separated shoulder) was battered into a concussion, but still threw for 316 yards on 22-for-44 passing with an interception.

Barton did connect with Todd Elstrom on a 39-yard TD pass just before halftime, but that was the only bright spot for Washington, a completely whipped offensive unit that was under constant pressure by the UCLA defense.

UCLA defensive linemen Kenyon Coleman, Rodney Leisle and Ken Kocher shut down the inside, completely overwhelming Washington’s young offensive line. Although the Bruins were credited with just four sacks, their linemen and blitzing linebackers slapped Barton around virtually every time he went back to throw.

“Clearly, that’s the best front we’ve ever faced,” UW offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson said. “But the number of hits (Barton) took in the pocket really disturbs me. I’m real unhappy about that.”

Barton’s health certainly wasn’t helped by linebacker Robert Thomas, who seems destined to be the Pacific-10 Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. Thomas led the Bruins with 12 tackles, 11 unassisted, including three behind the line of scrimmage.

Even on the odd occasion when Washington was moving the ball, the Bruin defense would, more often than not, be up for the task. Once, Omare Lowe gave the Huskies a first down on the Bruin 37 on a fake punt, but four plays later linebacker Dave Ball sacked Barton, forced him to fumble and corner Matt Ware recovered.

The game in a nutshell: After Barton hit Elstrom on the second-quarter TD, John Anderson missed the PAT and nearly knocked down the left upright in the process.

“No excuses,” UW coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We’ll go back to Seattle and regroup and try to get better. Hopefully, we can play well against Arizona next week.”

Indeed, the Huskies have a slew of questions to answer this week in practice for Saturday’s home game against Arizona.

For instance, when will the young offensive line jell and become the unit promised?

Do Barton and Pickett have the skills to run the offense against teams not named “Idaho?” What kind of toll have injuries to tight end Jerramy Stevens, Kai Ellis, Justin Robbins and more had on the team?

Who’s teaching the defense how to tackle?

“It’s very sour right now,” safety Wondame Davis said. “It’s been a long time since we had our last loss. We were in this position a year ago, when we lost to Oregon. We felt bad, but we were able to rally back. I know the character of this team. We were able to come back last year. We’re a team like that.”