SEATTLE — The pass-happy, dink-and-dunk stylings of Eastern Washington and Hawaii might not have been best-suited for University of Washington 337-pound defensive tackle Alameda Ta’amu.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian admitted as much after a narrow win over Eastern that saw the Eagles throw the
ball 69 times.
“As a 340-pound nose tackle,” the coach said of his senior run stuffer, “that’s not your cup of tea.”
Maybe not. But it could be said that Saturday’s matchup with Nebraska is like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“I can’t wait to play the run,” Ta’amu said this week, practically licking his chops at the thought. “I hope they run up the middle.” With a big smile, he added: “I’ll try to stop it.”
The last time the Huskies and Cornhuskers went to battle, Ta’amu did that and more. The 2010 Holiday Bowl may well have been the finest game of the defensive tackle’s career, and it’s a safe bet that the Cornhuskers noticed.
“Hopefully they know about me,” Ta’amu said this week, more than eight months since he had a sack and a fumble recovery and helped set up a safety at the Holiday Bowl. “I feel they’re going to get after me this game, so I’m ready for it.”
In two meetings with the Cornhuskers last season, Ta’amu was ready only once. He was virtually non-existent when Nebraska piled up 383 rushing yards in a blowout win over the Huskies last September, then he controlled the line of scrimmage almost single-handedly in the Holiday Bowl win.
“When I was going into the game, I felt like they thought they were going to kill me in the middle like they did the first game,” he said of the latter performance. “I felt good. I wanted them to not expect what I had planned for them or how ready I was.”
This Nebraska team has an altered offense under new coordinator Tim Beck, but the Cornhuskers feature many of the same weapons as last season. The key once again will be how Ta’amu and the Huskies contain quarterback Taylor Martinez.
As a freshman last year, Martinez had 137 rushing yards and three touchdowns against UW. He’s already rushed for 301 yards in two games this season and scored five touchdowns in the ground.
“The quarterback’s still fast — fast as hell,” Ta’amu said this week. “He’s crazy fast still. And their offensive linemen are still huge. So not much has changed. We’ve just got to get after them.”
The key to UW’s run defense will be how much Ta’amu and his fellow defensive linemen control the line of scrimmage. Interior players like Sione Potoa’e, Semisi Tokolahi and true freshman Danny Shelton may see as much action as they have all season, while added pressure will also fall on strong safety Sean Parker and hybrid nickelback/linebacker Quinton Richardson to help contain Martinez. The Huskies are also expected to use defensive tackle Everette Thompson at end, where he’ll add size and fill in for hobbled starter Talia Crichton.
It will also be the biggest test for UW’s new outside linebackers. Princeton Fuimaono spent a good part of the first two games on the sideline while the Huskies ran a nickel defense against pass-happy EWU and Hawaii. Timu sat out almost the entire opener while safety Justin Glenn played in the nickel, then Fuimaono was the odd-man-out while Richardson played nickel last weekend.
The Huskies said the biggest difference between last September’s meeting with Nebraska and the Holiday Bowl rematch was that the UW defenders learned how to stay in their gaps. It’s been a well-worn mantra throughout the practice week and a focus again this week as UW prepares for another meeting with the Cornhuskers.
Ta’amu, who admits to falling out of his gaps in the September meeting with Nebraska, is focused on staying in his lanes this time — just like he did in the Holiday Bowl.
“I was doing my own job,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to make (teammates’) tackles. I was just staying in my gap and trying to dominate.”
Ta’amu did just that in San Diego last December. After two weeks of watching quarterbacks fire off quick passes on three-step drops and rollouts, he’s ready to get down and dirty.
“I love playing the run,” he said, looking up toward a yardage scoreboard at Husky Stadium earlier this week. “It gets me mad if I look up at that board right there and see that the rushing yards are over 100.”
That hasn’t been an issue in the first two games of this season. But the Huskies are ready for a different kind of challenge on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a totally different football game,” defensive coordinator Nick Holt said this week, “and we’ve got to get ready to go here.”
Notes
Starting free safety Nate Fellner (hamstring) has been ruled out of Saturday’s game, Sarkisian said. Glenn, a Kamiak High School graduate, is expected to start in his place. … Safety Taz Stevenson (knee) is doubtful for the game. … Tokolahi is expected to make his debut, Sarkisian said, after missing most of training camp and the first two games of the season with an ankle injury. … Crichton is “a little banged up,” Sarkisian said without elaborating. The senior defensive end was limited at Thursday’s practice. … The Huskies left for Nebraska on Thursday afternoon.
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