Stopping UCLA's Drew a must for UW

By Ben Miller

Sep 30, 2005, 12:00 AM

Early in the game against UCLA last season, hope was palpable for the Washington football team. It was coming off of a competitive loss to Fresno State and led the Bruins, a team it had lost three straight against, 24-7. Then came Maurice Drew. Led by touchdowns of 62, 58 and 15 yards, Drew single-handedly turned the 17-point Husky lead into a three-point deficit. It brought flashbacks of DeShaun Foster's 301 rushing yards game against the Huskies in 2001. Only this time it ended up worse. Going into the locker room at halftime, the sophomore running back had racked up 235 rushing yards -- a number that would have been amazing for the entire game --and Drew was not finished yet. In the second half, he scored two more touchdowns and finished with 322 yards while the UW offense came up two yards short on the final play of regulation to fall 37-31. "He is amazing. You read so much stuff about the other guy across town from him (Reggie Bush). He almost becomes kind of a forgotten back," said coach Tyrone Willingham. "I think anyone that plays [against] him, walks away clearly impressed with his toughness, with his speed, with just his all-around running ability." One year later, his performance against the Dawgs still awes. Did he really do that? Did he really abuse the UW defense for 322 yards rushing? Unfortunately, it may not be out of the question for him to do it again. UCLA and UW are headed in completely different directions this season. The Bruins are currently 3-0 and ranked No. 20 in both polls. With their win over Oklahoma, they finally look like they are going to live up to the high expectations they have failed to find over the last couple of seasons. As it stands, the Huskies are just a steppingstone for the Bruins to the path to contend with USC for the conference crown. If Washington is going to have any chance of walking out of the Rose Bowl with an upset victory, it is going to have to control the running game, something it has been unable to do all season. In fact, last Saturday against Notre Dame, Darius Walker rushed a career best 142 yards against the Husky defense. Let's just hope that Drew doesn't equal or exceed Walker's achievement this week. "People kind of seem like they just missed him," Willingham said. "We emphasize all week how important it is to tackle. When you watch the video of this guy, a shoulder tackle won't get the job done." The strength of the team coming into the season was supposed to be the solid trio of linebackers Scott White, Joe Lobendahn and Evan Benjamin. Last year, the three were all ranked in the top 10 in the Pac-10 in tackles, but so far this season, they have looked mediocre at best. This week, they will be the key to a Washington upset. If they can snap out of their funk and tackle on Saturday to hold the Bruins running attack in check, a Husky win may be a possibility. However, if they cannot step up to the challenge, we may see Drew make a stab at 400 yards on the ground.

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