Apple Cup
UW still has QB turmoil

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Huskies QB Casey Paus has the NCAA's worst pass-efficiency rating.

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There could be a perfect symmetry to this.

As the Washington Huskies have reached new lows week after week, the seasons of 1976 — the last time UW had a losing record — and 1969 — the last time they began a season as poorly as this — have been referenced.

And guess what else those seasons have in common? The number six, as in six touchdown passes.

In all but two seasons since 1969, the Huskies have thrown for more than six TDs — usually a whole lot more (a record 28 in 2002, for instance).

But in 1969 and 1976 they threw for just six, the same number they have thrown this season as they head into tomorrow's Apple Cup in Pullman.

At least those years came with some caveats. The Huskies began the 1969 season running the wishbone and rarely tried to throw until late in the season. In 1976, Warren Moon's second year as a starter, the Huskies had Robin Earl, Ron Rowland and Joe Steele — three of the best running backs in school history.

This year, sadly, the number six simply speaks to the inability of the Huskies to settle their quarterback position.

UW has changed starting QBs four times since the start of the season and has made 10 in-game changes.

Hoping to stop the carousel, Washington coaches finally settled on Casey Paus four games ago, deciding his experience and superior knowledge of the passing game made him the safest option.

But Paus, who has the worst pass-efficiency rating in the NCAA (83.59), doesn't have a hold on the position as a new coach takes over next season.

In fact, the inability of any of the three quarterbacks to assert themselves as the team's unquestioned signal caller of the future ranks as one of this season's biggest disappointments.

Paus, a junior, has played better in recent weeks, however, throwing for a career-high 328 yards last week against California, the most allowed by the Bears this season.

But Paus undid much of the good with three interceptions, one of which led directly to a Cal touchdown that began the Bears' second-half scoring onslaught. Paus has thrown 14 interceptions this year, second most in the Pac-10 behind only Oregon State's Derek Anderson, who has 16. Anderson, however, also has 179 more pass attempts than Paus.

"We definitely did some good things on offense last week and we've got to harness those things and carry that over to this week," Paus said. "But we had some turnovers that hurt us and I'm responsible for those."

Still, the fact that Paus has given the Huskies at least a semblance of a passing game since becoming the unquestioned starter leads some to wonder if the Huskies wouldn't have been better off picking one QB at the start of the season and letting him grow into the position.

"It's hard to say," Paus said. "I don't really want to get into that. But at any position, the more you play the more confident you get, you grow into that position and the better you play. But we weren't winning games so we didn't have that luxury to sit back and let people grow."

Therein was the quandary to the season. When Paus — who started the first three games — struggled, UW coaches were ready to give the position to redshirt freshman Carl Bonnell for good. But then Bonnell got hurt after starting two games, throwing everything up for grabs again. Paus regained the job, lost it for a game to Isaiah Stanback, then took it back when Stanback struggled at USC.

Bonnell eventually got healthy, but by then, Huskies coaches decided he had fallen too far behind in learning the system, something that also has proven a stumbling block for Stanback.

"Both of those guys have a lot of potential, but both of them have a lot to learn," said Washington offensive coordinator John Pettas of Bonnell and Stanback. "I think Isaiah thought he could just go out there and play. But now he knows he has to spend more time in the film room, so he's been starting to do that."

Coaches have said Bonnell also needs to work more on his own.

Whatever the case, the Huskies can only hope for a QB turnaround next year like they had after those 1969 and 1976 seasons. Sonny Sixkiller took over in 1970 and threw for a then-school record 15 touchdowns. And Moon, in 1977, led the Huskies to the Rose Bowl.

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

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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