SEATTLE — When Washington traveled to Corvallis last season to play Oregon State, the game nearly escalated into the rumble at Reser Stadium.
Jake Locker took a hard hit from safety Al Afalava and left the stadium in an ambulance after experiencing brief numbness in his left arm. Locker’s injury didn’t turn out to be serious — he returned to the stadium wearing a neck brace late in the game — but the loss of their star quarterback clearly fired up some of the Huskies.
There were multiple altercations the rest of the night and three Oregon State players as well as Washington guard Ryan Tolar were ejected from the game.
And while plenty of fans probably remember that game and Afalava’s hit on Locker, coaches and players on both sides say they don’t expect a repeat of last year’s craziness.
“That’s a distant memory,” said Oregon State senior cornerback Brandon Hughes, one of the three ejected Oregon State players. “It’s funny, because the first time I’ve thought about it since it happened was (Tuesday) when a reporter asked me about it. It’s not really that big of an issue, at least I hope it won’t be, but I’m sure some people will use it to try to bring an extra spark to the game. But at the end of the day it’s just a game.”
Hughes and teammate Bryan Payton were ejected on the same play as Tolar when a scuffle broke out on a goal-line play. A year later, Hughes is able to laugh when asked what happened on the play.
“It was just an altercation that got a little sloppy,” he said. “They saw fit to throw a couple of people out and leave a couple of people in, let’s just put it that way.”
And while Hughes is confident there will be no carryover from last year to Saturday’s game, it’s something that can still be a concern for coaches.
“I think there is always some concern about that, especially with the way things happened down there, and who they happened to,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “I think that has a little impact on that. But we will try to get our guys focused on playing the game. Hopefully they play it with great emotion but never cross that line.”
Adds Oregon State coach Mike Riley: “I think it’ll be a hard-hitting, passionate game. I would anticipate that. I don’t know if there will be any fallout from last year. That’s usually kind of overrated. It’ll be just about these two new teams. There are a lot of the same guys but a lot of different guys, so I don’t know if there will be any carry over or not.”
The offensive line, which seemed to be the most angry unit of Huskies in last year’s game after Locker was hurt, will have Tolar in the starting lineup for the first time all season now that Casey Bulyca is out with a knee injury. And while UW coaches won’t try to use revenge as a motivation, a little anger from last year could help so long as things don’t get out of control.
“That’s the Catch-22,” UW offensive line coach Mike Denbrock said. “We’ve got a lot of things to be angry about. That just adds to the list, I think, of things that should make sure these guys are nice and motivated to go out and play good football on Saturday. That’s really what we’re aiming for. I don’t know it’s something you bring up or throw in their face or mention. They’re fully aware of what happened down at Oregon State last year. I don’t to remind them, they remind me.”
Locker comeback “highly unlikely” this season: Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said today that, while Locker’s broken thumb should not present any long-term problems past this season, he’s not expecting to have the sophomore quarterback back on the field this year.
“No, he’s not going to miss spring ball or anything like that,” Lappano said. “There’s no way. It’s not like that. But is he going to play before the season is over? Who knows? It’s highly unlikely I would guess.”
Locker is scheduled to meet again with a hand specialist today.
Bulyca had knee scoped Tuesday: Senior guard Casey Bulyca had knee surgery Tuesday and could still play this season depending on what doctors found.
Both Lappano and offensive line coach Mike Denbrock said Bulyca could play again this year if the damage discovered is not too serious.
“It depends when they get the scope in there and look around and how much damage there is,” Denbrock said. “If there’s a bunch, or just a piece of cartilage floating around … I’m not a medical professional, but maybe it’s a little shorter period of time. But if there’s serious damage in there, then, you know it possibly could be. Hopefully it’s something minor they can clean up and we could get him back.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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