SEATTLE — So little went right for the Washington Huskies Saturday night that the bright spot was a player with four catches for 35 yards.
While those stats were modest, Husky fans hope the promise shown by freshman tight end Kavario Middleton will lead to bigger and better things as the year goes on.
Middleton, the Huskies top recruit in the class of 2008, got the starting nod with senior Michael Gottlieb still nursing a hamstring injury.
And while his production wasn’t spectacular, his ability to get open over the middle and his soft hands — he was one of the few Husky pass catchers not to drop a ball or two — gave Washington coaches at least a little something to be happy about following an embarrassing 44-10 loss to Oregon.
“I did like Kavario Middleton over the middle,” said offensive coordinator Tim Lappano. “We got him the football a little bit. That was probably the real bright spot for us. He’s a big weapon over the middle. He made some nice plays, caught the ball with his hands and I thought he played pretty well for his first game.”
It wasn’t to long ago that the Huskies cranked out NFL-ready tight ends every year, but in recent seasons, the production has gone down at that position. UW coaches and fans hope Middleton might be the long-term answer at that position. In 13 games last season, the Huskies never got four receptions out of the tight end position, let alone one player.
Middleton didn’t know for sure that he was starting until the morning of the game, though he figured to get ample playing time with Gottlieb out.
“I tried to do whatever I could do to help the team out,” he said. “Whenever my opportunities came I tried to capitalize… It hurts that we lost, but I’m not too down about it. We’ll come back next week.”
Young Dawgs: Middleton was hardly the only freshman thrust into the spotlight Saturday. Chris Polk started at tailback, and couldn’t find much running room as he gained only 19 yards on 14 carries. Jermaine Kearse, Devin Aguilar, and redshirt freshman Alvin Logan saw lots of playing time at receiver, while freshman receiver Jordan Polk returned kickoffs and had one catch.
Redshirt freshman Quinton Richardson got the start at cornerback, and had an interception and two pass breakups in his first college game. Three freshmen, Senio Kelemete, Alameda Ta’amu and Everett Thompson all played on the offensive line.
Though not a freshman, Tripper Johnson had a busy first game as a Husky. Johnson, a 26-year-old walk-on safety who joined the program in the spring, started as the Huskies opened the game in a formation featuring three down lineman, three linebackers and five defensive backs.
Speaking of that 3-3-5: New defensive coordinator Ed Donatell was asked about the somewhat unusual defensive alignment his team used at times Saturday, and said it was done in part to try to limit Oregon’s big plays, though that obviously didn’t always work, and in part to limit the burden on the freshmen linemen. He said it’s a formation the Huskies could use more again this year. The Huskies also used four linemen sets throughout the game.
“It’s something that we could possibly use during the year,” he said. “We looked at our personnel and what we had available in that game. With a lot of young guys playing, you don’t have to play them as much with a three-down look. Our intentions were to give [Oregon] both looks, which we did throughout the game, it just didn’t play out the way we wanted it to.”
Injury report: In what was the only bit of good news for Washington following the game, the Huskies came away healthy, Tyrone Willingham said after the game.
A few players left the game briefly and returned such as Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Johnie Kirton and Mason Foster, but Willingham said there were no serious injuries.
Jake Locker said after the game that his hamstring was fine, and that it did not limit his running ability. Ronnie Fouch’s appearance in the fourth quarter was to give the redshirt freshman a chance at game action, and not because Locker was hurt, Willingham said.
Ducks running it up?: Oregon’s final touchdown drive started with 3:36 left in the game and the Ducks leading by 27 points. Oregon ran the ball on all eight plays of the drive, but did stay in a hurry-up, no-huddle offense, leading to a 2 minute, 50 second drive.
Tyrone Willingham, if he was bothered by Oregon’s last score, didn’t admit it after the game.
“I think they were consistent all day with how they ran their offense,” he said. “I don’t think there was a deviation from the beginning to the end.”
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
No. 21 Oregon 44, UW 10
Washington01000—10
Oregon140723—44
First Quarter
Ore—J.Johnson 4 run (Evensen kick), 10:20.
Ore—Scott 60 pass from Roper (Evensen kick), 5:13.
Second Quarter
Wash—FG Perkins 35, 12:15.
Wash—Homer 1 run (Perkins kick), 3:17.
Third Quarter
Ore—J.Johnson 13 run (Evensen kick), 10:55.
Fourth Quarter
Ore—FG Evensen 41, 14:28.
Ore—Williams 48 pass from Masoli (kick failed), 11:02.
Ore—Maehl 25 pass from Masoli (Evensen kick), 7:21.
Ore—Harper 2 run (Flint kick), :46.
A—58,778.
WashOre
First downs1823
Rushes-yards43-9544-256
Passing147240
Comp-Att-Int17-35-016-28-1
Return Yards(-1)78
Punts-Avg.10-35.64-43.8
Fumbles-Lost2-12-0
Penalties-Yards4-448-85
Time of Possession35:4324:17
Individual statistics
RUSHING—Washington, Locker 16-57, C.Polk 14-19, B.Johnson 7-13, Goodwin 2-4, Homer 3-4, Fouch 1-(minus 2). Oregon, J.Johnson 15-124, Harper 12-60, Masoli 4-23, Blount 4-21, Maehl 3-19, Alston 4-17, Larkin 1-0, Team 1-(minus 8).
PASSING—Washington, Locker 12-28-0-103, Fouch 5-7-0-44. Oregon, Masoli 9-17-0-126, Roper 7-11-1-114.
RECEIVING—Washington, Goodwin 8-67, Middleton 4-35, Kearse 2-17, Logan 1-11, Aguilar 1-10, J.Polk 1-7. Oregon, Scott 6-117, Maehl 5-49, Williams 4-61, J.Johnson 1-13.
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