SEATTLE — Falling snow wasn’t the only Seattle oddity at Husky Stadium on Saturday.
Washington’s starting quarterback Cody Pickett– the team’s one constant this season — left the game at halftime with an unspecified “serious head injury” and didn’t come back out on the field.
He didn’t need to.
The Huskies were down 10-7 when backup quarterback Casey Paus took over at the beginning of the third quarter.
Paus threw eight pass attempts in the second half, doubling his season total. It was the first time since high school that he played at least a quarter.
“Once I got that first throw in me and watched Kenny (James) break that run, everything went away, and I just focused on the game,” Paus said.
In his first series of the game, Paus completed his only pass attempt and had four handoffs. Three went to James, the fourth went to Shelton Sampson, who ran an 8-yard sweep to the right side of the field for a touchdown.
Paus completed his first three passes for 44 yards. On his seventh pass attempt, he found Charles Frederick for a 10-yard touchdown, Paus’ first touchdown pass of his Husky career.
In the fourth quarter, Paus found an open Reggie Williams for a 63-yard touchdown.
“It was a lot of fun (to get my first touchdown),” Paus said. “I like getting excited. I’m a very upbeat player — especially when we’re doing things and getting in guys’ faces. Just being able to throw that pass and have it caught and run into the end zone makes it easier for me.”
Paus didn’t seem fazed by playing for an entire half. He went in at the beginning of the third quarter and everything flowed for the Huskies.
On Paus’ first three drives, Washington scored two touchdowns and a field goal. In the fourth quarter, he led the Huskies to two additional touchdowns.
“It feels good to get in there again,” Paus said. “I was having a lot of fun out there.”
Paus finished 5 of 8 for 117 yards and two touchdowns. In the first half, Pickett went 11 for 21 for 97 yards.
Pickett’s injury came on a bootleg attempt toward the end of the second quarter when he took a hard hit. In the locker room at halftime, Pickett told the trainers he couldn’t remember anything about the first half of the game.
After the game, Washington head coach Keith Gilbertson said Pickett had a headache, was a little nauseous and had a loss of memory of the first half he played in.
“I thought Cody was still going to play because Cody’s a tough, tough guy, he can probably play through most anything,” defensive lineman Terry Johnson said. “It was real surprising to see him go out, but it was very encouraging to see Casey Paus to go in there with so much poise. He was leading those guys in the right direction.”
Paus is the No. 2 quarterback for the Huskies. No. 3 quarterback Isaiah Stanback has taken more reps as receiver than quarterback.
“Depending on how Cody is doing and how he recovers, (the backup competition) is something we are going to have to go back and re-evaluate,” Gilbertson said. “But I thought Casey played an inspired game tonight. I thought he was sensational.”
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