SEATTLE – Washington had UCLA on the ropes a year ago. Or so it seemed to the Huskies, who led the Bruins 24-7 with about 21/2 minutes to play in the first quarter.
Then Maurice Drew announced to everyone that USC’s Reggie Bush and LenDale White weren’t the only talented running backs playing in Los Angeles.
Drew, who already had a 47-yard touchdown run, bolted 62-yards for another TD and followed that with a 58-yard scoring scamper. Suddenly, Washington’s lead had dwindled to 24-20 and Drew was ushering out the first quarter with 169 yards rushing. He was far from done.
Drew opened the second quarter by scoring on a 15-yard run to give UCLA the lead. Then came a 37-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and the Bruins were off to a big comeback, beating Washington 37-31 in a game that started the Huskies’ tailspin to a 1-10 record.
Drew set UCLA single-game records with 322 yards (on 26 carries, an astounding 12.4 average) and five touchdowns. His rushing yardage and TDs also were single-game highs by a Husky opponent in the 2004 season.
“He took it to us,” safety C.J. Wallace said. “It seemed like every time we looked up, he was scoring.”
UCLA’s talented tailback again is on Washington’s mind. The Huskies travel to Los Angeles to play UCLA at 7:15 p.m. Saturday and preparing for the game means figuring out how to handle Drew.
“The biggest thing is, we can’t let him break those big plays,” Wallace said.
Washington wasn’t the only school that Drew, a 5-foot-8, 205-pound junior from prep power De La Salle High School, victimized in 2004. A year after leading the Bruins in rushing and touchdowns as a true freshman (582 yards, seven TDs) and averaging 26.7 yards on kick returns, he ran for 1,007 yards and eight touchdowns. He averaged 6.3 yards a carry despite missing all of one game and parts of two others.
Drew also caught 18 passes for 262 yards and three scores, averaged 26.4 yards on kick returns and 15.2 yards on punt returns. Every time he touched the ball he was averaging 8.2 yards, and five of his eight touchdown runs went at least 47 yards. He had 25 plays of at least 20 yards.
Drew did indeed show he should be considered on the same level as USC’s Bush and White.
“He’s a hard runner and he makes big plays,” UW linebacker Joe Lobendahn said. “He’s strong, he’s quick, he finds holes. We have to try to contain him, that’s the biggest key to (Saturday’s) game.”
Drew has been even better this year. In three games for the 3-0 Bruins, he’s averaging 7.5 yards per rush and has four touchdowns. He also leads the Pac-10 (third nationally) in punt returns (30.2 average), returning two for touchdowns. In the season opener at San Diego State, Drew took UCLA’s first play 64 yards for a touchdown, and later returned a punt 72 yards for a score. He’s averaging 10.04 yards every time he touches the ball.
So, slowing Drew down is an important focus for the Huskies this week.
“He’s amazing, to be very honest about it,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “You read and you hear so much about the other guys across town from him, and I think he almost becomes a forgotten back. But I think everyone who sees him walks away being thoroughly impressed with his toughness, with his speed and with his all-around running ability. Watching some of his video, I watched him do a move that you don’t see a lot of people do and take a punt return 60 or 70 yards. He does it all.”
For a Husky team that has struggled with its run defense, allowing 183.2 yards a game (ninth in the Pac-10), the prospect of dealing with one of the nation’s top backs on the road is daunting. Washington had a hard enough time against Notre Dame’s Darius Walker (128 yards) last week, and California’s duo of Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett before that (286 yards) while playing at Husky Stadium.
Willingham said trying to account for every gap is key to playing the top running backs, but it isn’t always easy.
“We did some good defensive line play in terms of maintaining some of our gaps,” Willingham said of is team’s play against Notre Dame. “But when you face a good runner that uses the entire field, sometimes if you don’t have that one gap covered, he finds it.”
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