PACIFIC 10 FOOTBALL / MAL FLORENCE : Washington-Cal Is Bigger Than the ‘Big Game’

It’s “Big Game” time in the Bay Area, even though it’s not the traditional meeting between California and Stanford. This means more.

Unbeaten and third-ranked Washington will play unbeaten and seventh-ranked California today at Berkeley in a game that could determine the Rose Bowl representative.

These are heady days for Cal, which hasn’t started 5-0 since 1952. The Bears have a prolific offense, featuring quarterback Mike Pawlawski and tailback Russell White, and an improving defense.

However, Washington, also 5-0, has a defense that is in another class--closer, perhaps, to the NFL.

The Huskies lead the nation in rushing defense with a 44.8-yard average and in total defense (220.2), scoring defense (6.2) and turnover margin (plus-14.)

Washington has yielded only one touchdown in the second half, Nebraska scoring after recovering a fumble at the Husky two-yard line in the third quarter.

The Huskies have outscored opponents in the fourth quarter, 68-0, and in the second half, 106-7.

Said Kansas State offensive coordinator Del Miller, whose team lost to the Huskies, 56-3: “I’ve been coaching college football for 14 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen an assemblage of guys with that kind of strength and quickness. If they’re not the best I’ve seen, they’re the equal of any.”

Stanford offensive coordinator Ron Turner, whose team lost to Washington, 42-7, told the San Francisco Chronicle that there’s no comparison between the Husky defense and two other ranked teams the Cardinal has played this season, Notre Dame and Colorado.

“It’s like night and day,” he said.

The Huskies line up in an eight-man front, with the threat of blitzing. Cal has copied Washington’s defensive scheme, but can’t clone its personnel.

The Huskies’ Steve Emtman, a 6-foot-4, 292-pound defensive tackle, has 10 tackles for losses, including four sacks, even though he often is double-teamed.

“If he isn’t the first player taken in the (NFL) draft, he should be the second,” Cal offensive coordinator Steve Mariucci said of Emtman, a junior. “Calling him a blue-chipper is an underestimate.”

Trivia question: What was significant about Cal’s 54-49 victory over Washington in 1973?

Even though California ranks second in rushing offense in the Pac-10, averaging 237 yards, Coach Bruce Snyder obviously is aware of the difficulty of running against the Huskies.

“Nobody has been able to run (consistently) on them for two years,” he said. “I don’t know if we can. But I do know this: If they are going to lose to a team this year, it will be to a team that establishes the run, because it takes them out of their pass rush.”

Washington has lost only one of its last 13 games dating through the 1990 season. UCLA upset the Huskies, 25-22, last Nov. 10 in Seattle.

Snyder says it’s important to go into the game without fear.

“We need to look at this as a great opportunity and enjoy the challenge and don’t be afraid of it,” he said.

The impact of the game is not lost on White, who said: “I’m going to take this game more seriously than I’ve ever taken any game in my life. This is the big one.”

Oregon Coach Rich Brooks, whose team lost to Cal last week at Berkeley, 45-7, says that the Bears have a chance for an upset.

“Anybody that can move the ball as well as they did against us, play that good on defense, has a chance against anybody in the country,” he said.

Oregon, with eight returning starters on defense but with an unsettled quarterback situation because of an injury to Danny O’Neil, has been the league’s most disappointing team.

The Ducks are 1-2 in the Pac-10 and 3-3 overall.

Brooks on the status of his team: “Right now we’re an ugly football team. . . . I mean, we’re terrible.”

Trivia answer: It was the most points scored by a losing team in Division I-A until San Diego State lost to Wyoming, 52-51, in 1990.

Pac-10 Notes

This will be the first time that Washington and California have played as unbeaten, untied teams in a series that began in 1904. . . . Cal has lost 10 games in a row to Washington. . . . Arizona State (2-0) is the only unbeaten team in conference play besides Washington and Cal. . . . Washington is beating opponents by an average score of 47-6. . . . Washington hasn’t had an unbeaten, untied season since 1915.