SEATTLE — Ronnie Fouch moved gingerly as he walked off the field at Husky Stadium.
The Huskies had just lost 33-7 to Notre Dame, and Saturday night was tough — both physically and statistically — for Fouch, Washington’s redshirt freshman quarterback.
Making his third start in place of the injured Jake Locker, Fouch was sacked four times and knocked down many others. He finished the night completing 11 of 25 passes for 98 yards, but for most of the night, the numbers were much worse. Fouch completed just one of nine passes for five yards in the first half, and heading into the Huskies final drive of the game, he was just five for 15 for 29 yards.
“I’m pretty sore,” he said. “That was a tough game. We knew coming in they were going to blitz 50 percent of the time, and they executed pretty well and got to me on multiple pass plays. They hit me when they could and we just couldn’t capitalize and fit the ball in those holes when they blitzed. It was tough, I’m pretty sore.”
Fouch managed to lead the Huskies on a nice drive at the end of the game, completing six of 10 passes for 69 yards and a score, but it was far too little too late.
“I had five passing yards most of the game, and my last series, we went out there and threw the ball around and had fun,” he said. “It seemed like we moved the ball well and guys made plays.”
Guys weren’t making plays for much of the night, as Fouch was hurt by several first-half drops. He wasn’t critical of his receivers for those drops after the game, however.
“These guys make a lot of great catches, so I can’t get on them,” he said. “It’s a part of the game. They can’t catch every pass and I can’t make every throw, so I’m not the kind of guy who gets on my receivers when they drop balls, because I miss as many throws as they drop.”
As bad as Fouch’s numbers were, offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said the rough night was the product of Notre Dame’s pressure, and that Fouch, who passed for 276 yards last week, did not take a step backwards.
“It was disappointing because I thought we were growing in the passing game,” Lappano said. “I thought we were ready to take the next step, and their pressure package disrupted it.”
More sacks: Daniel Te’o-Nesheim ended the Huskies season-long sack drought with three against Arizona, but the Huskies were again sackless against Oregon State.
On Saturday, Washington managed to sack Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen twice, and even more encouraging, other players besides Te’o-Nesheim got in on the act. Freshman defensive end Everrette Thompson sacked Clausen for a four-yard loss in the third quarter, and later in the same drive, linebacker Donald Butler threw Clausen down for an 18-yard loss.
A first for Bruns: Freshman receiver Cody Bruns, who played sparingly in Washington’s loss to Arizona then missed the last game with a hamstring injury, saw his most playing time of the year Saturday and had his first catch, a 21-yarder on Washington’s only scoring drive of the game.
Bruns has been the center of some controversy for the Huskies, as he did not play in the first four games, and did not go into the fifth game until the third quarter when the Huskies were down 31 points, costing him an opportunity to redshirt and preserve a year of eligibility.
Injury report: Freshman defensive tackle Senior Kelemete hurt his left knee during pregame warmups and was unable to play. He is expected to have an MRI on the leg today or tomorrow, Husky coach Tyrone Willingham said, to determine the severity of the injury.
Freshman tailback David Freeman, who started two games before suffering an ankle injury against Stanford, was back in action briefly Saturday, but re-injured his ankle and left the game. Safety Victor Aiyewa, who missed the first four games with a groin injury, suffered another groin injury and did not return to the game.
Road relief: Notre Dame’s victory may have come with relative ease, but it ended a good dose of road anxiety by the Irish.
They’d lost both of their road games this season _ 23-7 at Michigan State and 29-24 at North Carolina _ going into a road-heavy part of their schedule. Three of their final five games are on the road, including Nov. 29 at USC.
“It’s good to get it out of the way,” coach Charlie Weis said. “In the first two road games this year we turned the ball over seven or eight times. We had the one interception today. It was really important to get this one out of the way, especially with the number of road games we’ve got in the second half.”
Don’t take the Huskies lightly: The records indicated a lopsided matchup, but Notre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate didn’t look at Saturday’s game that way.
“We practiced like they were 10-0,” he said. “We came out and had a good game. I felt like we could have scored more points, but we never want to disrespect a team.”
Notre Dame did want to toss a shutout, which evaporated when the Huskies scored late in the fourth quarter against the Irish’s backups on defense.
“You always want a shutout, but at the end of the day it’s always good to get some other guys some experience,” linebacker Harrison Smith said.
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