UW Notebook | Sooners' defense stifles Locker

USC quarterback Todd Marinovich once famously said, "All I saw was purple," after a shutout loss to Washington at Husky Stadium in 1990.

Jake Locker left the same field Saturday with a similar feeling, just a different color — red.

"You were getting hit by two-three guys all the time," Locker said after Washington's 55-14 defeat to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday.

"I don't know if they hit harder than other teams that we played, but what they did was rally to the ball. You'd shake a tackle from one guy and then you'd get hit right away. That was the tough part — they caught you when you wanted to break away."

One big hit sent Locker to the bench in the second quarter when he had the wind knocked out of him. Locker finally went to the sideline for good midway through the third quarter with Oklahoma ahead, 48-7.

But Locker said he emerged with no major aches and pains and will be fine when the Huskies return after a bye week to play Stanford on Sept. 27.

What ailed Locker most was the knowledge that he lost a fumble late in the first quarter that began the onslaught. Locker was stripped of the ball after a 17-yard gain that was his longest of the day.

"We hurt ourselves in the first half," Locker said of three fumbles.

He was particularly frustrated because he felt UW's game plan — predicated on throwing short and intermediate passes out of the spread offense — was working. Locker finished 16-for-24 passing for 154 yards, one of the most efficient passing outings of his college career.

"We had success with it," Locker said. "They were so fast and so physical, we were able to spread them out and give them a lot to look at so they were not able to play as fast. And we were able to fire the ball in on a lot of that intermediate stuff and we moved the ball well. Then the fumbles killed us."

Ronnie Fouch replaced Locker after he was hurt in the second quarter and again in the second half and finished 7-of-13 passing for 95 yards.

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham, asked if there was a chance to see both Fouch and Locker on the field at the same time after the bye week, said everything would be explored. But there is no indication there is anything resembling a quarterback controversy at hand.

"I thought he threw the ball accurately with all the intermediate and short stuff," said offensive coordinator Tim Lappano of Locker. "His timing was pretty good. We couldn't get the deep ball on them — they were way too athletic. But I thought he did pretty well. We just took him out of there after he took a couple of hits."

Sooner speed kills

The Huskies tried to simulate Oklahoma's no-huddle offense in practice last week, but it was nothing like what they saw Saturday.

"What we saw in practice wasn't what we saw on the field," strong safety Nate Williams said. "The actual speed of the game is two completely different things. We showed we have a lot of work to do."

The Sooners gained 591 yards, 1 fewer than what they had last week against Cincinnati.

Field-goal struggles

After famously losing a game last week on a blocked extra point, the Huskies proved even worse in the kicking game Saturday, missing all three field goals they attempted. Jared Ballman, usually the team's punter but also employed for longer field goals, missed kicks of 47 and 48 yards while Ryan Perkins — whose extra point last week was blocked — missed from 28. All were simply wide of the goal posts.

"It's very concerning," Willingham said of the field-goal woes. "We didn't have either of those guys give us what we need."

Washington also has redshirt freshman kicker Erik Folk, but he has had a hip injury.

Tip drill works

Redshirt freshman Brandon Yakaboski saw the first action of his career and made it a memorable night with a 38-yard TD pass off a tipped pass in the fourth quarter. Yakaboski raced into the end zone and caught a pass that bounced off teammate Alvin Logan and a defender in the end zone.

"I was just running over there to see if I could catch it if it got tipped, and it did," said Yakaboski, a graduate of Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie.

Notes

• Senior center Juan Garcia, one of the most experienced Huskies, made at least five low snaps while the Huskies were in the shotgun formation. The low snaps forced Locker to reach low, led to one fumble and often threw off the timing of passing routes.

• Seven of Washington's first nine drives started inside the UW 22.

• Locker, who ran for 44 yards on 12 carries, led the Huskies in rushing for the third time this season. Freshman David Freeman, making his first start, finished with nine carries and 42 yards.

• Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops earned his 100th win Saturday. He accomplished the milestone in 123 games, tying Tennessee's Philip Fulmer as the 11th fastest coach to reach the century mark.

• Willingham said there were no significant new injuries. Cornerback Quinton Richardson was the only player to leave the game and not return after suffering a bruised knee.

• Tight end Kavario Middleton didn't catch a pass after catching a total of eight the first two weeks. Willingham said he saw less playing time because of the return of senior Michael Gottlieb and not because of a knee injury that Middleton suffered last week.

• Washington has played 10 true freshmen this season after Johri Fogerson's start at free safety. That's thought to be the most in team history.

• UW's game captains were Jake Locker, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Luke Kravitz and Mesphin Forrester.