Game Daily: This week in Husky history

Sep 24, 2015, 7:33 PM

In the only matchup in school history between the Washington football team and Miami University, Ohio, the then-No. 6 Huskies earned a 53-7 victory at Husky Stadium on Sept. 29, 1984. Dominant from the beginning, the Huskies took the lead with 6 minutes and 53 seconds of play left in the first quarter. Tailback Jacque Robinson started the scoring for the Huskies with a 1-yard run and his first of two touchdowns. Immediately after the leading touchdown from Robinson, with the clock still at 6:53, Eric Lambright, son of then-defensive coordinator and future UW head coach Jim Lambright, recovered a fumble in the end zone on the kickoff. The two-point conversion attempt failed, putting the Huskies ahead 12-0. “The problem was, it was evident right away that there wasn’t going to be any pressure on us,” then-UW head coach Don James told The Seattle Times. “It’s kind of a fun way to play, but you don’t get that advantage … that you get from a pressure-type game.” On the first play of the second quarter, Robinson, the father of UW basketball star Nate Robinson, scored his second touchdown on an 11-yard sweep. Up 19-0 with four minutes left before the half, kicker Jeff Jaeger hit a 20-yard field goal, grabbing three of his total of 11 points on the day. Jaeger also scored a 33-yards field goal and five of six extra points. However, the UW didn’t stop after the first half, ending its first five offensive series with scoring drives. The remaining touchdowns came from quarterback Hugh Millen on a 1-yard run, fullback Rick Fenney on an 8-yard run, and two from tailback David Toy. After Toy’s two touchdown runs in the first two series of the fourth quarter, the Huskies led 53-0. “They are an awfully big, imposing football team,” Tim Rose, then-Miami head coach told The Seattle Times about the Huskies. “They seem to do what it takes to win.” Finally, Miami put numbers up on the board with a 16-play, 70-yard touchdown drive against a defense consisting of reserves. Even though his team ended with only one touchdown and was shutout for the majority of the game, Rose was proud of their effort. “I thought we tried and played hard,” Rose told The Seattle Times. “I didn’t think we quit.” The Huskies ended the game with 350 yards rushing and 32 first downs, 24 by rushing. The UW’s six rushing touchdowns is still tied for 5th most in Washington single-game history. The UW allowed zero passing first downs from Miami and held them to only eight rushing. “It’s like any other game,” James told The Seattle Times. “It’s a win.” Millen, a walk-on transfer who beat out Chris Chandler for the starting quarterback position, started 17 of the 20 games that he appeared in from 1984-85. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the third round of the 1986 NFL Draft and went on to play in the NFL for 10 years, predominantly as a backup. With the game against Miami ending the nonconference portion of the season, the 1984 Huskies went on to have a winning year, finishing with an 11-1-0 record and No. 2 ranking in James’ 10th year as head coach. The team spent four weeks at No. 1 in the country and beat No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1985. The 1985 Orange Bowl champions will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s contest against California as part of a week-long reunion and celebration. Reach Editor-in-Chief Kathryn Altena at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @kkaltena

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