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Dawgs mash Spuds in one half Huskies suffer another listless first half By: Malamute, 20 September 2003 On a picture-postcard day in Seattle, the Washington Huskies defeated the Idaho Vandals, 45-14, improving its record to 2-1. Idaho has lost 4-straight games on the season, and has lost 8-straight games overall. Washington rushed for 231 yards and accumulated 502 total yards on offense while holding the Vandals to 206 total yards. Turnovers figured into the first two scores of the game. Receiving the opening kickoff, the Huskies drove the ball to the Vandals’ 33, when on fourth down, Garth Erickson pooched a punt which was downed inside the one. On the Vandals’ first play from scrimmage, Shaw Malfred had the ball stripped away by LB Tim Gallaway and DT Terry Johnson recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. Most charitable to Keith Gilbertson's golfing partner, Idaho's head coach Tom Cable, Washington's forces returned the bogey. After an Idaho drive stalled, Charles Frederick fumbled the Idaho punt, which was recovered by Ben Allen on the Washington 29-yard line. Idaho capped a 29-yard drive for a score, when QB Michael Harrington hit Zach Gerstner on a 3-yard touchdown, which tied the game at 7-7. Washington took a 14-7 lead, when Rich Alexis ran in from the 8-yard line, capping a 65-yard drive in 9 plays, with 3:15 left in the first quarter. Idaho had a chance to make the score closer in the second quarter. After driving to the Huskies’ 11, Idaho’s Mike Barrow missed a 28-yard field goal, and Husky fans breathed a sigh of relief. But it was dé·jà vu for the fans, like in last season's opener against Michigan, but this time with the field-goal situation reversed after the coaching error. After an illegal substitution penalty took the Huskies out of a short-yardage, fourth-down situation on the Vandals’ 16 yard line, Ev Knudson kicked a 37-yard field goal with 7:18 left in the second quarter. That made the score 17-7, Washington. With 1:47 left in the half, Washington got the ball back on the Vandals’ 43-yard line with two timeouts left. A sack on Pickett and personal foul called on Washington on the same play resulted in a net -2 yard drive for the Dawgs. Sloppy play proved nettling to the Huskies' head coach, and he took it out on a reporter. During a half-time interview, Husky fans got a glimpse of what it might have been like when Gloomy Gil Dobie coached Washington. Gilbertson (from Gloomy Gil to Grumpy Gilby?) snapped at a sideline reporter who asked him a tough question, replying with a question of his own, "Who made you the coach?" End of interview. To start the second half and on its own 20, Idaho drove to the Dawgs’ 45-yard line, stalled, and punted the ball away. On the UW 14-yard line, the second play of the drive, Pickett fumbled the ball away and Idaho’s Ida Murhpy recovered it on the Washington 18. Seizing opportunity, QB Michael Harrington hit Jimmy Labita with an 18-yard TD pass, which made the score 17-14. Later in the quarter, starting at midfield, Rich Alexis capped a 7-play scoring drive, running the ball in from 25 yards out, on a play in which Idaho was looking for the pass. At that point in the game, Alexis had run for 111 yards on 19 carries. That made the score 24-14. After an Idaho three and out, the UW got the ball back at the Idaho 47. Scoring the first touchdown of his Husky career, FB Matt Tuiasosopo ran the ball in from 12 yards out, and the Dawgs took a 31-14 lead on a 5-play drive. Scoring on its third-straight possession, Washington made the score 38-14 when Cody Pickett ran the ball in from 9 yards out with 11:42 left in the fourth quarter. The drive was highlighted by a 48-yard pass/run combination from Pickett to Reggie Williams, which took the ball to the Idaho 13-yard line. With 9:42 left in the fourth quarter, Casey Paus replaced Pickett at quarterback and partially engineered an 80-yard, 15-play drive, which gave the Dawgs the game winning score of 45-14. On that drive, Isaiah Stanback replaced Paus at quarterback and completed a 13-yard pass to Corey Williams, which took the ball to the Idaho 26. Shelton Sampson ended the scoring on the day with a run from 5 yards out. --------------------------- Notes: The Huskies are now 31-0-2 against Idaho at Husky Stadium. Idaho hasn't beaten Washington since 1905. The UW has transitioned from lawyerly to blue-collar coach in a span of a few months. At half-time, a radio announcer asked Gilby about Washington’s lack of discipline—considering the penalties and the one turnover—and Gilby replied, “Who made you the coach?” End of interview. From a PR standpoint, the Dawgs are going to miss Rick Neuheisel, who would have had a litany of coaching clichés at his disposal from which to choose an appropriate reply. You know, you bore and confuse the media with your put-them-to-sleep prose. That’s what lawyers are so skilled at doing. Hint for Gilby: If somebody asks you a tough question at a news conference, give him a rambling answer that'll leave him walleyed at first and then sleepy eyed at the finish. Think, sleepy-time Gil, not Grumpy Gilby. WR Reggie Williams was suspended for the first half of the game because he missed a mandatory treatment session on his knee during the week. TE Joe Toledo didn’t play because of back spasms. Manase Hopoi suffered a sprained, left ankle in the second quarter. Going into this game, Huskies’ coach Keith Gilbertson needed some statistical reassurance, like is his team all on track for next Saturday’s Pac-10 opener with Stanford? Idaho was surrendering 211 yards rushing per game, and Gilby’s running backs needed to duplicate the number or better it, considering last year’s abysmal running attack that ranked 113th in the nation. The 236 yards the Dawgs amassed on the ground should make Gilbs happy. Expectations were for the UW to improve its kickoff returns and punt returns. In the game against Idaho, the Huskies returned 6 punts for 35 yards and returned 2 kickoffs for 31 yards. That goal was not met. The Dawgs passed for 352.4 yards per game last season, fourth in the nation, and, in comparison, were averaging a desultory 275 yards per game this season going into the game. Husky passers accounted for 271 yards on the game, and considering Washington's balanced offense, Gilbertson should be happy with that passing number. Most of all the UW needed to start faster than it did in its last game with Indiana. The Huskies trailed the Hoosiers in the third quarter before a 4-touchdown outburst sealed a 38-13 win. In its past few games against weak opponents, the Huskies have started lethargically, and this game was no exception, where numerous penalties and a critical turnover by the Huskies marred the first half. Idaho (0-4) was averaging 5 points per game in previous losses to WSU, Eastern Washington and Boise State. Coach Tom Cable should be happy with the Vandals' 14 points. Coming off an injury, WR Justin Robbins adds some balance to what was a top-heavy receiving corps, featuring, in the main, Reggie and ET. An assortment of injuries has kept Robbins mostly sidelined since his freshman season in 2000. In that season, Robbins participated in one of the most memorable moments in recent Husky history, on a rain-swept Saturday (“as though Neptune himself had spun the spume of some torrential wave”), when he caught a touchdown pass thrown from Marques Tuiasosopo to enable a comeback win, 31-28, over Stanford in the last few seconds of the game, a game that appeared hopelessly lost, a game whose import sent the Huskies to the Rose Bowl to face Purdue, and a game in which Curtis Williams suffered a devastating injury. * --------------------------- * “As though Neptune himself had spun the spume of some torrential wave,” is taken from the poem, “Rain-Swept Sunday,” by Michelle Cameron. This website is dedicated to the memory of Curtis Earl Williams (# 25, May 4, 1978--May 6, 2002) and to the memory of Anthony Vontoure (#23, July 8, 1979--May 31, 2002) ----------------------------
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