UW Football Notebook | For seniors, it's back to where it all began

Washington receivers Corey Williams and Quintin Daniels made their college debuts at "The Horseshoe," the unofficial nickname for the home of Ohio State football, Ohio Stadium.

Now their careers come full circle, with Ohio State finally returning the visit to Husky Stadium for a 12:30 p.m. game Saturday.

They're now a fifth-year seniors, and they're the only two Huskies who played in that game, a 28-9 Buckeyes win in 2003.

And they marvel at all that has happened since that game, the first for Keith Gilbertson as head coach after taking over the previous month for Rick Neuheisel, who had been fired.

"It's definitely mind-boggling," Williams said.

The Huskies were ranked No. 17 that week, but they haven't been that high since, with the loss to the Buckeyes kicking off a 6-6 season that began a streak of four consecutive nonwinning seasons for a program that had previously had winning records 25 of the previous 26 years.

The game itself was pretty nondescript; Ohio State took a 21-0 first-half lead and cruised to an easy win. Williams didn't catch any passes in the game but Daniels did — an 11-yarder in the late going.

"I remember everything was moving so fast," Daniels said. "I was nervous. I had the ball and I was like, 'What do I do?' "

Daniels said he first noticed this year's game on the schedule last year and immediately thought of how his career had begun with Ohio State, and how in this rematch he has a chance to "get some payback."

Keeping Locker safe

Coach Tyrone Willingham says it's simply part of the game that Jake Locker is going to get hit running the ball and that Willingham doesn't "cringe" when he sees it about to happen.

"We know that any time you have an athletic quarterback there are going to be some shots," Willingham said. "And in some cases, he is going to give some shots. But you always want him to be smart and intelligent in how he plays."

Specifically, getting out of bounds if it makes sense.

Still, UW offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said the team will take some precautions to not "run the kid into the ground," because he will, if allowed.

Lappano said that's why the Huskies backed off calling some runs for Locker after he had four carries on the first drive Saturday against Boise State. He said Locker had some trouble with cramps.

Lappano said he talks to Locker after every series to assess how he feels, adding that Locker took a hard shot to the shin at Syracuse, which also called for a brief move away from quarterback runs.

Notes

• UW officials say there are "a few thousand" tickets remaining for Saturday's game.

• Fullback Luke Kravitz, out last week with a broken knuckle suffered against Syracuse, said he will "definitely" play this week. He said he had a cast fitted that will allow for catching and running.

• Guard Casey Bulyca clarified that his injury is a case of bruised ribs, and he said he will play.

• Jimmie Cain, a UW All-America running back in 1936 who played in the 1937 Rose Bowl, died last month in California. He was 94. Cain was a Pacific-8 Conference football official, working two Rose Bowl games and 14 East-West Shrine games. He is a member of the UW Hall of Fame as well as the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.