SEATTLE, Wash. “”mdash; Ten penalties, six touchdowns, two
turnovers, a missed extra point, and a fake punt. A 24-20 score.
And that was just the first quarter.
While the game clock only confirmed 15 minutes had passed by,
the first quarter actually took more than an hour of real time to
complete, with UCLA and Washington producing more twists and turns
than any of Maurice Drew’s five touchdowns.Â
The Bruins are certainly thankful the game had three more
quarters to go. They opened the game with numerous costly mistakes,
that without Drew’s exceptional performance, would have put them in
an insurmountable hole.
Instead, the parade to the endzones left the Bruins only down by
four at quarter’s end and still very much alive.
"This was Coach Dorrell’s call to them since last Sunday,"
offensive coordinator Tom Cable said. "(The Huskies) are coming off
a hard loss to Fresno (State). They had a bye and had an extra week
to prepare for us, and we’re coming off a win. They’re going to
come out feeling like their backs are against the wall. They’re
gonna come out and fight."
On the first drive of the game, Washington marched down the
field exclusively on the ground before being stopped at the UCLA
20-yard line. But on the ensuing field goal attempt, junior
linebacker Spencer Havner skyed over the line of scrimmage for the
block but landed on a Husky lineman, a fifteen-yard personal foul
penalty under a new rule this year that returned the ball to
Washington. Four plays later, Husky quarterback Casey Paus
connected with receiver Anthony Russo for the game’s first
score.
The Bruins tied the score almost immediately with the first of
Drew’s five touchdowns, a 47-yard rumble where Drew bounced outside
after the first of what turned out to be many broken tackles.
Sophomore kicker Justin Medlock then sent the kickoff out of
bounds, an illegal procedure giving Washington good field position
to start its second scoring drive. Twice, UCLA appeared to have the
Huskies stopped. First, Washington executed a fake punt on fourth
and one to extend the drive. Next a third-down offsides penalty on
an incomplete pass allowed Paus another play, which he capitalized
on with a 44-yard strike to wideout Charles Frederick.
Then, in what was the one minor blemish on his banner day, Drew
fumbled the kickoff return, giving Washington the ball on the UCLA
34-yard line, which the Huskies quickly turned into a field
goal.
"Someone wrapped my legs up, and I was trying to get out and
someone came from behind and just poked it out," Drew said. "I was
pretty upset, but coach Bieniemy and coach Dorrell told me just
brush it off and do something to make up for it."
Before Drew would be able to heed his coaches, on its first
play, UCLA again turned the ball over which again led directly to
Husky points. This time a tipped-ball interception preceded running
back Shelton Simpson’s 12-yard touchdown run on the next play. And
just like that, with two minutes left in the quarter, the Huskies
held a 24-7 advantage.
"I said to them, you have to handle that first six or seven
minutes, and we didn’t really handle that well," Cable said.Â
"But we had great results and that’s what great teams do."
But, as the Washington crowd went bananas from this latest
highlight and dreams of 100 points, UCLA, and more specifically
Drew, went back to work.
Two more fifty-yard-plus touchdown runs sandwiched a
Medlock-missed extra point and a surprising three-and-out defensive
stop. Each time Drew broke through huge holes and was off to the
races, effectively deflating all the momentum Washington had
built.
And with that, the roller-coaster first quarter came to a close
with the an eye-popping 24-20 on the scoreboard.
"We felt real comfortable with the offense," junior quarterback
Drew Olson said. "We have a lot of confidence, and we never felt we
were going to be out of it."
"To start a game with so many turnovers and miscues, that really
wasn’t customary to what we’ve been doing those first few games,"
Dorrell said. "Usually a team can falter with things like that. And
our kids really showed something today to comeback from a huge
deficit like that and didn’t even bat an eye."
INJURY REPORT:
A host of Bruins got banged up at Washington on Saturday. Here’s
a list of some of the major injuries suffered.
DT Kenneth Lombard ““ left shoulder sprain.
ILB Justin London ““ reaggrevated sprained left ankle.
SS Dennis Keyes ““ stinger left arm.
OLB Aaron Whittington ““ left hip bruise.
WR Craig Bragg ““ right shoulder dislocation.