SEATTLE – On the Tuesday before the USC game, Washington football coach Keith Gilbertson was asked if he was enjoying himself.
No, he said, he wasn’t. And he didn’t care to elaborate.
It’s SC week, someone from the UW sports information office offered.
‘Nuff said.
The SC game came and went, with bad results for the Huskies.
Now it was a week later. And the coach’s mood was much more cheerful. A win over the Oregon Ducks will do that for you.
It’ll put you in a dancing mood, which was what the Huskies did right there on the field after the game: They danced on the “W,” which was what the Ducks said they were going to do as payback for the Huskies frolicking on the field at Autzen Stadium a year ago.
But in order to dance, you’ve got to win and the only thing Oregon won Saturday night was the first half. Then the Ducks got plucked, the Huskies outscoring them 35-0 in the second half for a 42-10 triumph.
The only guys who were going to dance on the Husky Stadium turf, Gilbertson said afterward, were the ones wearing the purple shirts. But would the Huskies have been the ones dancing if they hadn’t changed quarterbacks at halftime? If Casey Paus hadn’t replaced starter Cody Pickett?
Who knows?
What we do know is that something happened when Paus stepped into the huddle to begin the second half. Perhaps it was the same thing that happened when Marques Tuiasosopo took over for Rich Gannon and almost rallied the Oakland Raiders to a win over the Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago.
Everything in sport is over-analyzed today with everyone an expert, so let’s offer a simple, non-expert guess at what might have happened to get each team revved up: a different face in the huddle.
“Maybe,” Gilbertson said when asked specifically about his own team. “Maybe.”
No disrespect to Pickett because he’s been a very good quarterback, but he wasn’t having a night to remember, and apparently he didn’t remember some of it. He took a shot to the head in the first half causing a concussion, which might have explained some of his errant passes, and the decision was made at halftime to replace him with Paus, who had played very little this season.
Offensive coordinator John Pettas grabbed Paus when he came in at halftime, told him he was starting the second half and gave him some simple instructions: “Be smart with the ball, don’t turn it over. “
Paus did as ordered. And then some.
He completed five of eight passes for 117 yards, two touchdowns and had no interceptions. He did make a bad pitch and was credited with a fumble for a loss of 16 yards, but other than that, he was everything and more a coach could ask for from his backup quarterback.
“He’s a smart guy who really knows what we’re doing,” Gilbertson said of the redshirt sophomore, who had a 4-point GPA at Lincoln Way High School in suburban Chicago. “The thing that helped him was we came right out at the start of the third quarter and Kenny James hit a long run and then we’re in the end zone. Now the pressure’s kind of off (Paus). Now he’s getting real comfortable.”
The one thing a backup doesn’t need is a bad start. Have that and things might go downhill fast.
“I think it’s always different if you come out and struggle for three plays and don’t make things happen,” Gilbertson said. But on the second play Paus called, he passed to Reggie Williams for an 8-yard gain, then two plays later James got loose for a 56-yard scamper before Shelton Sampson scored on an 8-yard run.
Suddenly, every move the Huskies made looked as if it had extra zip. The backs – redshirt freshmen James and Sampson, who both would rush for better than 100 yards – looked quicker and faster. The linemen were making better blocks. Even the defense – which had played well in the first half – was energized, limiting Oregon to 112 yards after intermission and forcing two fumbles and picking off one pass.
Could one man have caused all this? One backup quarterback who, in some people’s minds, didn’t even seem to be the clearly defined No. 2 guy, though he has been the first to go in when Pickett comes out.
Maybe it’s as simple as this. Change is sometimes good. A new quarterback is like a fresh start. Let’s see what this guy can do, his teammates say to themselves. So maybe they amp up their efforts a bit.
“The worst thing you can do is let him get hit early,” said junior tackle Khalif Barnes. “It’s one thing for Cody. He’s a vet. He gets hit early, he knows how to take it and go on to the next play. Casey is young. That’s a lot of pressure for him and so it was on us, the veteran line, to protect him.”
It gave both quarterbacks Secret Service type protection, not yielding one sack.
The way a quarterback conducts himself on the field can have an effect on how his teammates respond. An air of confidence helps, but then he has to back it up with results.
“He came in and was free-flowing, man, just like in practice,” Barnes said. “He was poised and kept his calm. He was great.”
During the game, Paus looked confident, but afterward, he didn’t appear to know quite how to react to all the media attention.
Sitting next to Reggie Williams, who has had plenty of experience in dealing with reporters, at a table on a stage, Paus said, “I’m laughing at him because I don’t know what to do.”
He sure knew what to do when he got in the game, though.
If Pickett is still affected by the concussion this week, Paus could get his first start against Arizona next Saturday.
Only then, he won’t be a new face in the huddle.
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