Two days after the game, UCLA’s Maurice Drew is still impressing Washington coach Keith Gilbertson.
“I don’t want to take anything away from what he did, but I don’t think we played worth a darn defensively,” Gilbertson said on Monday, after spending the past 48 hours digesting Drew’s record-setting 322-yard rushing performance in Saturday’s 37-31 UCLA win.
“I think that guy is special.”
Drew’s game just added to a mountain of questions already surrounding the 0-2 Huskies, who led 24-7 before the Bruins rattled off the next 27 points. The schedule doesn’t give any immediate reprieve as Washington travels to South Bend, Ind., this week for a matchup with 2-1 Notre Dame.
In their season opening loss to Fresno State, it was the Huskies passing offense that was cause for concern. But the defense was strong, holding the Bulldogs to just 252 yards of total offense and only two offensive touchdowns.
That makes what UCLA’s offense did to the Huskies’ defense all the more baffling.
Drew’s performance was the most rushing yards ever given up by a Washington defense, eclipsing former Bruin DeShaun Foster’s 305 yards in 2001. Drew’s five touchdown runs also surpassed Foster for the most rushing scores against the Huskies, and the 424 rushing yards by UCLA was the sixth-best performance ever.
“We were stunned by just the pure volume of numbers that UCLA got,” Gilbertson said.
Problems for Washington began along the defensive line, where players were out of position or were simply pushed around by UCLA’s offensive line, Gilbertson said. The lack of force along the line of scrimmage allowed UCLA’s linemen to move upfield and get clean blocks on Washington’s linebackers and safeties, giving Drew an open field to break a number of big runs.
“We had one mistake on each play, and that’s what really hurt and they took advantage,” linebacker Evan Benjamin said. “They did a good job, but it was more on us.”
Despite their struggles on the defensive side, Washington still had a chance to win the game. Quarterback Casey Paus was far more consistent than the opener against Fresno State, and drove Washington 58 yards in the final 39 seconds before wide receiver Charles Frederick was tackled at the 2-yard line on the final play of the game.
“When people rush for the amount that UCLA rushed for, you’re lucky to even be in the game,” Gilbertson said.
Against Notre Dame, Washington will face a rushing attack with a similar blocking scheme to UCLA’s, Gilbertson said. Freshman Darius Walker has been impressive, rushing for 115 yards two weeks ago against Michigan and 98 against Michigan State last Saturday, both Irish victories.
Notre Dame has won all four previous matchups with Washington, the last being a 54-20 pounding in 1996 in South Bend, where the Irish rolled up 650 yards of offense.
Gilbertson is hoping not to repeat the Huskies’ last trip to Notre Dame.
“If you were 2-0, it’d be tough to go in there,” Gilbertson said. “0-2, 2-0, it’s obviously been a tough place to play for generations.”