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A Locker-full of emptiness With 3:53 left on the clock and the ball on its own 24, Washington's offense had a chance to break a 35-all tie. Instead, it went three-and-out and Washington State took possession on its own 16 with 2:18 remaining in the game. Seven plays later, Alex Brink completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson to give the Cougars a 42-35 victory in the 100th playing of the Apple Cup, in a game held at Husky Stadium. Gibson was all alone in the end zone on what appeared to be an unforgivable defensive lapse. So, blame the loss on Washington's defense? Not entirely. The offense gets some blame. On the Huskies' last-ditch effort from their own 24 with the scored knotted at 35, Jake Locker ran for 6 yards, Louis Rankin ran for 2 yards and then a Locker pass fell incomplete. It was the real story of the Apple Cup, the infamous three-and-out that has plagued the offense all season. The story of the Cup, though? The Huskies ran for 225 yards and posted 464 total yards; they won time of possession 35:05 to 24:55. Isn't that the story of the Cup?; therefore, UW's defense sucks big time. Not entirely. Two key stats stand out among the rest, in my mind. (1) Locker's pass efficiency number was a deplorable 86.05, this number based on 35 passes that went for 12 completions and 224 yards, with 1 touchdown and 2 picks. Hence, the incomplete pass on the last-ditch effort. (2) Louis Rankin ran 23 times for 74 yards, averaging 3.1 yards per carry. Hence, his anemic two yards on a second and four during the last-ditch effort. Basically, the Cougs stopped the run, especially on first down, and forced Locker to win the game with his passing arm and his feet. Locker played his heart out, taking charge of the game in its latter stages. Overall, he ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns, passed for another TD, and averaged 7.3 yards running the ball. His second pick came off a desperation heave into the end zone on the last play of the game. It was a game full of Locker, a Locker-full of emptiness. By that I mean, Jake can't do it all alone. Mistakes cost the Huskies big time in the form of penalties (8-65) and turnovers (3). WSU had 40 penalty yards and no turnovers. A dumb-luck pass deflection that resulted in a Brink completion and subsequent touchdown was a killer. Brink's passing efficiency on the game was an outstanding 192.54 -- he completed 27 out of 40 for 399 yards, with 5 touchdowns and no interceptions. Christoph Ivory ran more effectively than Rankin, averaging 8.1 yards per carry on 14 carries for 114 yards. The Cougs ran and passed more effectively than the Dawgs, with fewer mistakes. Really, that was the story of the game.
Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at
malamute@4malamute.com |
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