Huskies rout Cougars 30-0 in Apple Cup

Throughout his first season, Steve Sarkisian kept repeating that what happened during Washington's miserable 0-12 season a year ago was a distant memory and rarely mentioned.

Except this past week. At the conclusion of every film session, Sarkisian made sure the clip of Washington State's fans rushing the field a year ago in Pullman became an ingrained image to his players.

"We hated that. That really got under everyone's skin," Washington defensive end Darion Jones said. "Last night in the meeting coach Sark played it and everyone was like, 'Would you please stop playing that?' No body wanted to see that again and sparked a fire for us to play hard."

Washington did more than just make up for the biggest embarrassment from last season. It made a little history.

Jake Locker threw for 196 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 94 yards and a score, and Washington posted its first shutout of rival Washington State in 45 years with a 30-0 Apple Cup victory over the Cougars on Saturday night.

Washington beat Washington State at home for the first time since 2003 and posted its first shutout since a 27-0 win over Southern California in 1997.

The Huskies did it with a battering defense that knocked out WSU quarterbacks on three different occasions and an offense that dominated the second half on the ground.

"We weren't dwelling on the past, we were letting it motivate us," Washington defensive tackle Cameron Elisara said. "'This happened last year, don't let it happen again.'"

The Cougars (1-11, 0-9) awful season ended with their only shutout loss, but the fourth in Paul Wulff's two years at WSU. He also was forced to deal with even more injuries to his beleaguered roster, this time having to turn to a fourth-string quarterback - and backup punter - for part of the second quarter.

"We had opportunities. That first drive, we dropped a touchdown pass. We just had too many mistakes," Wulff said. "I thought we could score, obviously."

While the Cougars were searching for a healthy QB, the Huskies leader was making it look easy. Locker was potent with his arm and feet. He completed 16 of 28 passes, including a 50-yard TD to Jermaine Kearse, and averaged nearly 10 yards on his 10 carries.

He capped the night with a swerving 15-yard TD run with 6:45 left as Washington posted its biggest victory over its rival since a 51-3 blowout in 2000. That was the only Apple Cup in the previous 14 to be decided by more than 10 points.

Chris Polk rushed for 130 yards and became the first Washington freshman to crack 1,000 yards in a season. His 1-yard TD plunge in the third quarter put the Huskies (4-7, 3-6) ahead by three scores.

Most impressive for Washington: the Huskies ran for 222 yards in the second half, easily more than the Cougars total yardage (163) for the game.

"We got bragging rights for the whole year. We just showed everybody we're the best team in Washington," Polk said.

Earlier in the week Washington tight end Kavario Middleton popped off that the Huskies intended to put up 50 on a Cougars team that ranked 118th in the country in scoring defense (39 per game).

While the Cougars said Middleton's words would motivate, the Huskies were inspired by last year's thud in Pullman when a late lead slipped away and the Cougars celebrated a 16-13 double-overtime victory.

And they took out that frustration on the WSU quarterbacks, adding to a season of wacky injuries.

How bad did things get? Backup punter and fourth-string quarterback Dan Wagner took the final four snaps of the first half after Kevin Lopina was knocked out for a second time.

Marshall Lobbestael took over after Lopina went to the bench in the first quarter with a stinger. But Lobbestael found himself wobbling to the sideline following an 11-yard run in the second quarter. Lopina returned and was immediately sacked and on the Cougars' next series was driven into the turf by Elisara, suffering a torn oblique.

With freshman quarterback Jeff Tuel out (sprained right knee), Wulff had no choice but to go with Wagner, listed as the backup punter. Wagner, a walk-on who doesn't take snaps in practice, didn't attempt a pass and Lobbestael returned in the second half, facing a 13-0 deficit.

Lobbestael finished 9 of 22 for 71 yards as WSU finished 0-9 in conference play for the first time and missed a chance for the school's first three-game winning streak in the series.

"Yeah, it's been that way. It's been that way for two years," Wulff said. "But our players played hard. Our guys played real hard."