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A Holiday "shucker" Texas paradigm key to Husky win Malamute, 30 December 2010 Dominating both sides of the line of scrimmage, the Washington Huskies beat the 18th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, 19-7, in the Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego. First of all, please forgive the corny headline, all you Nebraskans, and the pun on "shocker." It was a game of long awaited firsts for Washington (7-6): its first winning season since 2002; its first bowl win since 2001; its first recorded safety since 2003, its first time to win four consecutive games since the 2001 season; and its first win in the Holiday Bowl in four tries.
Fourteen-point underdogs and statistical zombies, nothing seemed to be in
Washington's favor going into the game except for this one
glimmer of hope, which gave me the courage to write my article, "Holiday
hope for last-play Huskies." Similarly, Washington rushed for 261 yards, while holding UNL to 91 yards on the ground. Although Martinez completed 7-9 passes for 53 yards and 1 touchdown against 1 interception, his replacement, Cody Green, completed just 3 of 12 passes for 45 yards. Passing-wise, the Huskers ended up completing 10 of 21 passes for 98 yards and a mediocre passing efficiency of 93.01. The Huskies registered 5 sacks, dumping Martinez four times and Green once. Martinez rushed 14 times for just 23 yards. Losing Martinez to an ankle injury late in the third quarter had to be a blow to the Huskers -- but not a knockout blow. The Dawgs' defense had his number for most of the night. However, in fairness to Nebraska, Martinez's passing efficiency rating was 141.69, this against 56.5 for Green. Some will wonder what might have been? Washington's QB Jake Locker completed just 5 of 16 passes for 56 yards. However, he rushed for 83 yards and 1 touchdown to go along with Chris Polk's 177 yards on the ground and 1 touchdown. No turnovers and only 30 penalty yards helped key the victory. Meanwhile, UNL was flagged 12 times for 102 yards and lost the ball twice, the first a fumble that led to UW's first touchdown and a 7-0 lead. If Albert Einstein had been physically gifted and had played quarterback, he wouldn't have been any more cerebral than Locker was in the Holiday bowl. Locker played a brilliant game against a dominating pass defense that for most of the night blanketed his receivers -- and who made several drops when they managed to get open. Hyped as the Huskies' savior when he signed with Washington in 2006 and touted this year as a Heisman Trophy candidate, Locker's surrounding cast this season was partly made up of a nucleus of players leftover from the wretched 0-12 team of 2008.
Add a sixty-sixth ranked recruiting class and
coaching change to the cadre of leftovers from 2008 and it's obvious
that Locker's scaffolding for success was partially undermined from the
beginning. In this, his last game for the Huskies, this gutty nucleus of players, some questionable in ability, came together to win one for Jake. It's a testimony to their character and coach Steve Sarkisian's ability to motivate his players. It was a just, fitting finish for Locker, who turned UW back into a winning program after its wretched season just two years ago.
As a starter, Jake has gone 9-5 over his last
fourteen games dating back to the 2009 Apple Cup and 7-3 in the Pac-10
over the same period. Nebraska (10-4) joins the "Big-Ten-Plus-Two" next season, leaving "The-Big-12-Minus-Two" conference. Why don't those two antediluvian conferences just switch names?
Reference Bob Condotta's nuts
and bolts.
Richard Linde, aka Malamute can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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