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A "DE-licious" Apple, er, Cup Cougars lose 9th straight, fail to score Malamute, 28 November 2009 Jake Locker threw for one touchdown and ran for another as Washington recorded its first shutout in the Apple Cup in 45 years, drubbing Washington State, 30-0, at Husky Stadium. "The difference in the game was number 10 on their team," WSU coach Paul Wulff was quoted as saying. "Jake Locker, he runs it, throws it, runs it, throws it. He's almost a one-man show out there." Wearing purple, number 10 completed 16 of 28 passes for 196 yards and ran for 94 yards. In the second quarter, Locker threw a 50-yard touchdown strike to Jermaine Kearse and, in the fourth quarter, ran the ball in from 15 yards out. His one interception in the third quarter by Xavier Hicks resulted in a 6-play, 22-yard Cougar drive that stalled at the Washington 37. The Huskies' defense played superbly, holding the Cougars to just 163 yards in total offense. The Dawgs' offense, on the other hand, accumulated 461 total yards. Chris Polk ran for 130 yards to become the first freshman to run for 1,000 yards, posting 1,019 yards on the season. For much of the day the UW offense motored its 2009 Sark-mobile -- with a converted Elway transmission -- in high gear. Its steel-shrouded Holt-mobile played like a converted Sherman tank, recording five sacks and mothballing two Cougar quarterbacks along the way. WSU starter Kevin Lopina was knocked out of the game twice and his replacement, Marshall Lobbestael, suffered a concussion in the second quarter, but was able to play the second half. WSU's defense, which managed to hold UW to just 13 points in the first half, was aided by UW penalties and the Huskies' poor field position early on. Washington received the opening kickoff, but its drive was stalled by a personal-foul penalty. UW's punting team was called for a 15-yard kick-catching interference penalty, which gave the Cougars the ball on its own 42. WSU drove to the Huskies' 34-yard line, its farthest penetration of the game. The Huskies got the ball back on their five and managed two first downs before punting the ball away. An interception off WSU QB Kevin Lopina resulted in a 24-yard field goal to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. After another Cougar possession fizzled, UW got the ball back on its 15. Then a 3-play, 85-yard drive, capped by Locker's 50-yard touchdown pass to Kearse, gave UW a 10-0 lead in the second quarter. Trailing just 13-0 to start the second half, with its hopes still alive, WSU received the opening kick off and submissively went three-and-out. On UW's subsequent possession, Chris Polk's one-yard touchdown run, which capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive, gave the Dawgs a 20-0 lead at 6:11 in the third quarter, effectively putting the game in the freezer considering Washington's "dominating defense," which has been an oxymoron for much of the season. The Huskies' pulverizing defense knocked WSU quarterbacks out of the game on three separate occasions. It held WSU to just 47 yards rushing and recorded 5 sacks. The Huskies rushed for 265 yards and dominated time of possession, 32:53 to 27:07. "We made a huge emphasis on making this a physical football game, playing for 60 minutes relentlessly, and not worrying about what the score is," head coach Steve Sarkisian said. Washington (4-7, 3-5) hosts California next week to complete its season. Meanwhile, the Cougars (1-11, 0-9) ended their season on a sour note, on what has turned out to be a disastrous year. Washington's performance in the Apple Cup plus a "relentless" effort against Cal next week just might be looked back upon as significant milestones in its return to excellence.
Richard Linde, aka Malamute can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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