Huskies come up a bit short

SEATTLE — Husky Stadium yesterday was a lot like Montana open road. There wasn’t a stop sign or trooper in sight, and the Washington and UCLA football teams took turns trying to see who could keep the accelerator pressed to the floor the longest.

The Bruins won this Pac-10 street race.

They turned the ignition on a Porsche-like back named Maurice Drew, who scored from long distance the first two times he touched the ball and piled up a school-record five touchdowns and 322 yards rushing as the Bruins cruised to a 37-31 victory.

Despite their obvious generosity, the Huskies – now 0-2 for just the second time in 20 seasons – made it a contest to the final play, with senior wide receiver Charles Frederick wriggling 26 yards with a Casey Paus pass to the UCLA 2 as the clock ran out.

“It was a championship game; that’s what we called it all week,” Drew said. “That was a championship drive, and we held them.”

The UW barely got its arms around anybody. The Huskies thought they had problems on offense, but Paus and company were just fine.

No, the guys in the purple shirts need to check under the hood of their supposedly tuned-up defensive unit, especially with Notre Dame their next destination. There was oil leaking everywhere

The shifty 5-foot-8, 198-pound Drew had touchdown runs of 47, 62, 58, 15 and 37 yards, his last one providing a game-winner. “I don’t think that defense saw me the whole time, because they were going the opposite way that I was going with the ball and I don’t know why,” said Drew.

Early on, the Huskies were the ones making yards and making things happen. They rolled to a 24-7 lead in the opening quarter.

Once both teams got rolling, they made that first period seem like a half, ultimately stretching it out more than hour as they combined for 44 points and 360 yards of total offense.

The Huskies struck first, grinding out a 12-play, 80-yard opening drive, scoring on Paus’ 13-yard scoring pass to freshman Anthony Russo in the back of the end zone.

While the Huskies were patient for their points, UCLA couldn’t wait to get in the end zone. On the third play, Drew caught the other guys in a blitz and ran past them for his 47-yard score.

The UW responded with points on its next three drives. Paus, comfortable after a ragged opening against Fresno State, looped a 44-yard TD pass to Frederick, who made a basket catch over cornerback Marcus Cassel.

On the following kickoff, Drew fumbled it back to the Huskies when kicker Sean Douglas stood him up and freshman safety Darin Harris drilled the breakaway runner from the side, forcing the ball out. That resulted in a 29-yard field goal, good for a 17-7 edge.

On the first play of the next series, UCLA quarterback Drew Olson had his pass deflected at the line by Huskies defensive tackle Manase Hopoi and it landed in teammate Evan Benjamin’s arms. The linebacker returned the ball 19 yards to the Bruins 12. Back-up tailback Shelton Sampson scored on the first play, racing to the left corner.

Drew changed the momentum, changing directions and sprinting 62 yards to the end zone on UCLA’s first play of the next set.

The Huskies went three-and-out, and Drew hit them again.

On the third play of the series, the UCLA back broke up the middle and sidestepped safety Dashon Goldson, scoring from 58 yards out. The Bruins trailed just 24-20 with 9 seconds left in a very frenetic quarter.

Into the second period they went, and the teams traded a couple of possessions before Drew sniffed the goal line once again.

With 7:17 left in the half, he took a pitch around the right side and walked in from 15 yards out, giving UCLA the lead for good, at 27-24.