Pasadena, Calif. – It was the type of situation defenses dream of. The type of situation that gave a struggling Washington defense a chance at redemption.
After being pushed around for three quarters at the Rose Bowl Saturday night, the Huskies were still hanging around thanks to an interception on UCLA’s previous possession. On that play, the one that set up the touchdown that cut the Bruins’ lead to seven, quarterback Patrick Cowan injured his knee.
Cowan, who was playing because of a head injury to regular starter Ben Olson, was now on the sideline as well, meaning a third-string walk-on, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, was the new quarterback.
Leading 24-17 with their third-string quarterback in the game, the Bruins were going to run. They knew it. The Huskies knew it. And everyone in the stadium knew it. A stop for Washington would keep the Huskies in the game.
Instead, after stopping the Bruins for a three-yard loss on first down, the Huskies gave up a 12-yard run, followed by a two-yard run that gave the Bruins a first down. Bruins running back Chris Markey then broke off a spirit-crushing, 72-yard touchdown run.
The Huskies knew the run was coming, “We just didn’t stop it, though,” said linebacker E.J. Savannah.
It was that kind of night for Washington’s defense.
Two games into the season, after a pair of wins against Syracuse and Boise State, Washington’s defense was emerging as a strength of the team. They weren’t exactly dominating, but they had seven sacks against Syracuse, and held high-scoring Boise State to 10 points. Now, two weeks after that Boise State win, the Huskies are 2-2 and have allowed 1,018 yards and 77 points in their past two games.
“We had a couple of situations where they scored and it seemed to take the life out of you, then all of a sudden our guys came right back and scored and you say, boom, one more play and we’re in this football game,” said Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. “But we couldn’t come up with those one more plays to stop another drive.”
Markey’s long touchdown run in the fourth quarter wasn’t the only rough spot for Washington. The Huskies allowed 333 rushing yards and an average of 6.5 yards per carry, as the Bruins had two 100-yard rushers (Markey with 193 yards and Kahlil Bell with 109).
Some of Washington’s defensive woes were the result of players making mistakes and being out of position. Other times, it seems like the Bruins were just the physically superior team.
“It’s hard to say you physically match up with somebody if you give up 200 yards rushing,” Willingham said after the game, unaware yet that the final total was much worse.
Unhappy homecoming: Huskies cornerback Byron Davenport, who played at UCLA before transferring for non-football related personal reasons, saw his first significant playing time of the season against his old team.
A pair of hamstring injuries has sidelined Davenport of the season so far, limiting him to four plays, all against Boise State.
After playing mostly in nickel defense packages in the first half, Davenport played almost all of the second half at cornerback opposite Roy Lewis, perhaps indicating a change at the other staring cornerback position.
“I felt good,” Davenport said of his return to the field. “I wasn’t supposed to play as much as I did. I was only supposed to play nickel and some other packages, but after halftime, we made a few adjustments, they asked me if I felt good, and I told them yeah.”
Davenport didn’t get to enjoy the game as much as he would have liked, however, thanks to the 13-point loss his old team hung on his current one.
Matt Mosley started at cornerback along with Lewis, marking a change from the first three games in which freshman Vonzell McDowell Jr. was the starter.
Cowan connection: For the first time as UCLA teammates, quarterback Patrick Cowan and his brother Joe connected on a pass play. Joe Cowan was injured last season when younger brother Patrick played eight games in place of an injured Ben Olson. Joe caught his first pass from his brother in the first-quarter, a 13-yard gain for a first down. Joe finished with three catches from his brother for 28 yards.
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
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