Apple Cup Notebook | Huskies offense benefiting from system diversity

Washington offensive coordinator Tim Lappano had just one thought when he got to Husky Stadium on Saturday and felt some drops of rain and a chill in the air.

"We would have liked for it to be colder," he said after the Huskies' 37-23 win over California.

Lappano is in just his third year with the Huskies, but he knows well UW's tradition of taking victories against warm-weather schools once the weather turns nasty.

It's one reason he has resisted turning his offense completely into a spread-option attack, like that of Oregon.

When the Huskies struggled at midseason, some observers wondered if the Huskies weren't trying to do too much, mixing in elements of the spread option (which calls for a lot of quarterback runs out of the shotgun and was implemented to take advantage of Jake Locker's mobility) with the more traditional one-back passing attack and two-back power running scheme.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti helped fuel the conversation when he pointed out the week the Ducks and Huskies played that he thought one reason his team was having success was that it had bought in completely to the spread option and basically scrapped the rest.

On Saturday, when Locker was out with an injury and UW bludgeoned Cal by going primarily with a traditional power running attack to the tune of 334 yards, Lappano felt some vindication for his all-encompassing philosophy.

"This is why I've always said you don't want to be one-dimensional and don't want to just be Oregon and be in the spread [option]," Lappano said. "You want to be able to get in two backs when your quarterback goes down.

"This is my vision, being able to get in two backs this time of year. The wind is blowing, it's raining sideways, you've got to be able to run the football. When we can get this part going and then the stuff we were doing with Jake a couple of weeks ago, you've got something now."

Indeed, Saturday's win had the Huskies thinking a corner might have been turned. Washington has rushed for 300 yards three times this season for the first time since 1983, and the Huskies rank second in the Pac-10 and 26th nationally at 195 rushing yards per game — the highest since the 2000 Rose Bowl team (211.7). Washington hasn't rushed for more than 135 yards per game in a season since then.

And while Locker has understandably gotten a lot of credit, Saturday showed the improvement is teamwide, especially up front with an offensive line that has only one senior with no remaining eligibility in right tackle Chad Macklin.

"We always say, 'We keep coming, we keep coming,' " Lappano said. "Today, we finally knocked the door down with the big guys playing more consistent. Today up front, we played four quarters, and the backs played four quarters. That's what we've got to be able to do, and hopefully we are getting there."

No distractions

The Washington State campus is a ghost town because students are away on their one-week Thanksgiving break.

That's fine with Cougars senior safety Husain Abdullah, who won't have to deal with the aftermath of the 52-17 loss to Oregon State.

"After the performance we put on yesterday, it might be a good thing," he said. "It will just be us. No outside distractions. It might be a good thing rather than going to classes and having people just stare at you and whisper behind your back."

Said tight end Jed Collins: "We have a week where all we have is football. It's kind of like we're in the NFL this week. We have no school, no distractions. ... Everybody is gone. Guys are going to be focused."

Notes

• Cougars TE Tony Thompson saw duty as a blocking back on Kevin McCall's 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter Saturday.

• After giving up 52 points against Oregon State, the Cougars are 97th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 32.3 points a game.

• The Cougars were given Sunday off and will practice this afternoon.

• Collins, on the Cougars and Huskies attending a special luncheon Friday to commemorate this being the 100th game in the Apple Cup series: "I hear we have to put on a tie."