UW Football | Porous defense left openings for UCLA

Washington and UCLA played deep into the Pasadena night Saturday, a contest that ended after 11 p.m. and lasted 3:33.

Funny, that's the same amount of rushing yards (333) the Bruins had in a 44-31 win over the Huskies at the Rose Bowl — though no one on the UW sideline was laughing.

That 2-0 start that seemed so promising has now devolved into a 2-2 team with lots of questions and distracted by the thought of having to take on No. 1 USC on Saturday at Husky Stadium, followed by Arizona State and Oregon — teams that are a combined 12-0.

Many questions after Saturday's game focused on a suddenly sievelike defense that was blistered for 537 total yards. The 333 rushing yards were the most allowed by UW since the 2004 UCLA game (424).

The Huskies have allowed 77 points and 1,018 yards in the past two weeks.

Saturday's numbers were particularly disconcerting considering UCLA was playing without four offensive starters (and seven starters overall), including quarterback Ben Olson.

UW coach Tyrone Willingham said the team's biggest problem was "probably just our inability to execute our defense. I don't think there was that much structure that was wrong, but they [UCLA] just kept grinding and making plays. They took advantage of their third-down situations and kept drives alive. We had one that I remember in the first half that was a third-and-20, and gosh, you can't give those up, and we did."

UCLA converted 11 of 19 third downs, including seven of 10 in a dominating second half. The Bruins outscored UW 34-21 in the second half, the second consecutive game UW has been tied or ahead at the half, only to come undone after the break. Ohio State outscored the Huskies 30-7 in the second half last week.

Asked whether the game showed UW was outmanned physically by UCLA's offense, Willingham said, "It's hard to say you physically match up with somebody if you give up 200 yards rushing."

Willingham was pleased that the Huskies at least kept trying, scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and twice cutting UCLA's lead to seven.

"I felt our team kept fighting," he said. "But again, the execution and the consistency [weren't there]. The coaches have to help them. We have to get them in the perfect position. And then we've got to get the execution."

Each time UW cut the lead, however, UCLA came storming back.

The most discouraging turn might have come after UW cut the lead to 24-17 after a Dan Howell interception. UCLA quarterback Patrick Cowan, who was subbing for regular starter Ben Olson, was hurt on the play and replaced by walk-on redshirt freshman McLeod Bethel-Thompson, making it obvious to everyone that the Bruins would run the ball.

But the Huskies couldn't stop it, allowing Chris Markey to run up the middle for a 72-yard touchdown. After UW again cut the lead to seven on one of Jake Locker's career-high four touchdown passes, UCLA's Matthew Slater returned the kickoff 85 yards to make it 38-24 and put the game away.

The defensive problems masked some recurring offensive issues.

The Huskies again couldn't mount a rushing attack — aside from Locker, who had 92 yards on 15 carries. Locker had 63 of his yards on runs of 30 and 33 in the first half, however, and UCLA held him to just 18 yards rushing on eight carries in the second half.

Louis Rankin, meanwhile, was held to 42 yards on 14 carries, the same yards and attempts as last week against Ohio State, and he now has just 129 yards on 45 carries in the past three games.

UW offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said he considered giving another running back a try, and that it might have been a good idea to give Rankin some rest. But he also said there didn't appear anywhere for Rankin to go. "I'm not seeing a lot of big seams," he said. "I don't see a lot of room [to run] out there right now."

Lappano said UW might have to limit its offense to "three or four runs" to see whether simplifying things might help the execution. Locker also was off-target more than desired, especially early on, before catching fire late.

Lappano said he thought Locker was pressing at times and that "we've got to get him relaxed." But he said that, too, is a multipart problem; he said he didn't think the receivers got a lot of separation from UCLA's defensive backs early in the game.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com