Husky Upstart May Be in Lead Against UCLA

This was supposed to be a red-shirt year for Cary Conklin, Washington’s sophomore quarterback. This was supposed to be the year that Chris Chandler proved himself as the standout quarterback of the Pacific 10 and made his bid for the Heisman Trophy.

But all that changed last Saturday when Chandler went down with a hip injury in the first quarter of Washington’s game at Arizona.

Coach Don James had to decide, then and there, with his Huskies trailing, 10-0, and with their record at 5-3, whether to forfeit the season and use a lesser quarterback or to forfeit Conklin’s year of eligibility and let him try to salvage the season in the last three games.

The coach called upon Conklin, who went in cold and completed 18 of 31 passes for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns--good enough for a 21-21 tie.

Not bad for a quarterback who hadn’t played in a year and who had played only sparingly then. Still, it was no secret that Conklin was not a bench player, but a star on hold. Two years ago, when Conklin was at Eisenhower High School in Yakima, Wash., UCLA Coach Terry Donahue considered him the best prospective quarterback in the nation and did his best to make Conklin a Bruin.

So Donahue says that he doesn’t consider it much to UCLA’s advantage if Washington goes with the sophomore in their game at the Rose Bowl today instead of with the senior.

James does not intend to announce his starting quarterback--Chandler or Conklin--until just before the kickoff.

Donahue’s opinion of Chandler? “He hasn’t had the numbers this year that everyone expected him to have, but I know that when they came back to tie us (17-17 at Washington) last year, he hit everything he threw. Against us, he was brilliant.”

And Donahue likens Conklin to his own quarterback, Troy Aikman, who now ranks first in the nation in passing efficiency. “He’s quite similar to Aikman in stature and arm speed,” Donahue said. “He’s just not as old and experienced. They’re like bookends, if you see them together.”

Conklin, who practiced all this week figuring it was best to assume that he was preparing to start, said: “It’s not positive, but I’m definitely excited about the possibility. You know, when I was deciding where to go to school, it came down to Washington or UCLA. It was really close, and I knew I could be happy either place, but I finally decided to stay close to home where my mom and dad could go to all my games.”

Although Chandler was able to practice Wednesday and Thursday, James said that Chandler would not play if he wasn’t 100% mobile at game time.

Chandler obviously suffered a serious injury last Saturday, or he would not have come out.

In the Huskies’ third game of the season, at Texas A&M;, Chandler had the wind knocked out of him and aggravated some strained muscles in his chest. He knew that if he took himself out of the game and Conklin had to take over, it might end up costing Conklin his redshirt year. Instead, he called time out and recovered as best he could in 30 seconds.

No one wanted to waste a year for a quarterback such as Conklin unless it was necessary.

Even this week, Conklin said: “It is kind of disappointing to lose the year, but Coach James sat down with me in August and we tentatively planned that I would red-shirt only if I wasn’t needed to win games. It’s unfortunate that this happened so late in the season, but it’s exciting to be playing, finally.”

As a senior in high school, Conklin completed 62.6% of his passes for 2,040 yards and 26 touchdowns.

But Chandler got into Heisman Trophy consideration on the strength of his passing, too, so there really should be no difference in the Husky game plan as they go from one quarterback to the other.

Washington has been a tough assignment for the Bruins recently. Over the last four years, Washington has a 2-1-1 edge. Which means that Washington has hurt UCLA in the Rose Bowl race.

UCLA is the Pac-10’s only unbeaten team with a record of 8-1 overall, 6-0 in the conference with today’s game and next week’s showdown with USC remaining.

Washington is 5-3-1 overall, 3-2-1 after losing conference games to Oregon and USC.

James has said all along that UCLA was the strength of the conference this season, and he sure hasn’t changed his mind. “UCLA has excellent athletes and excellent coaches,” he said. “We always used to say about USC that any year they have a quarterback, they’re unbeatable. I think that goes for UCLA now. Troy Aikman has given them that edge.”

Bruin Notes Because UCLA officials are anticipating about 71,000 at the Rose Bowl, they are again encouraging fans to park in the Parsons Engineering lot at Walnut and Fair Oaks in Pasadena and ride the free shuttle buses to the Rose Bowl and back.

Tailback Gaston Green, fullback-tight end Mel Farr and tight end Charles Arbuckle all practiced this week after missing games with injuries. Terry Donahue planned to wait until game time to decide which of them might be ready to play. Offensive lineman Russ Warnick, who is coming back from both a sprained ankle and a sprained knee, and wide receiver Mike Farr, who is coming back from a knee injury, are both expected to play today.

UCLA has won seven straight games since losing at Nebraska, and a victory today would give the Bruins their best start since 1976, when they went 9-0-1 before losing to USC, 24-14. The seven-game winning streak is the longest since Donahue became head coach in 1976.

The UCLA-Washington series is tied at 23-23-2, but the Bruins are just 1-2-1 in their last four games with the Huskies. Last season, they played to a 17-17 tie at Washington when the Huskies kicked a field goal on the last play of the game. . . . The last time these teams played in the Rose Bowl, UCLA won, 27-24, with Rick Neuheisel setting a completion percentage record of .962, completing 25 of 27 passes. . . . One of the stars of the Washington defensive line is 302-pound tackle Dennis Brown, a sophomore from Long Beach Jordan. . . . Washington linebacker David Rill leads the Pac-10 in tackles with 138.