PACIFIC 10 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL / DAN HAFNER : Malauulu Fumbles, Doesn’t Crumble

Arizona’s victory over Washington last Saturday was vindication for Coach Dick Tomey’s faith in his quarterback, George Malauulu.

Probably no quarterback on a major college team has been more maligned than the fifth-year senior from Carson High. He has been called a poor passer and a mediocre runner. He has also been cited for mistakes under pressure.

His rating probably hit bottom a year ago, when the Wildcats were humiliated by the Huskies, 54-0. The quarterback was blamed for six of the seven turnovers, including an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

When he fumbled on the Washington four-yard line early in last Saturday’s upset at Tucson, the critics were on him again.

But this was no repeat performance. After Washington had tied the score, 3-3, during the third quarter, Malauulu drove the Wildcats to the field goal that put them in front to stay. In the last minute he sneaked over for the only touchdown, clinching the upset and completing his turnaround. His statistics--he completed five of 12 for 54 yards and ran for 37 in 10 carries--weren’t impressive, but he complemented the powerful Wildcat defense perfectly.

“You don’t always judge a quarterback’s performance on yards,” Tomey said. “It’s victories that count, and George has gotten them for us. In the last six games (five victories after a one-point loss to No. 1 Miami), he hasn’t thrown an interception.

“He has been just what we needed on a team that relies heavily on defense. He has moved the ball, giving the defense breathing space. He has seldom turned over the ball and he’s shown leadership.

“His only error against the Huskies was the fault of over-eagerness. He had a touchdown in his sights, a receiver wide open, and he just dropped the ball. He didn’t let that bother him and came back to make some big plays.”

Shortly before Malauulu’s fumble, the Wildcats thought they had a touchdown when Heath Bray, a star on special teams, picked up Napoleon Kaufman’s muffed punt and went into the end zone. Muffs cannot be advanced, however.

Malauulu fumbled on third down.

“I said to myself, ‘This can’t happen again,’ ” Malauulu said.

“I have to go out there every week and show the team this is my job and my job to keep.”

The 17-play, 72-yard drive that followed the Huskies’ field goal consumed half a quarter and led to the three-pointer that put Arizona ahead to stay and should have convinced the doubters.

Stanford Coach Bill Walsh would like to straighten out, once and for all, the misunderstanding about his feelings for USC.

Last January, during his first news conference after returning as Stanford coach, in answer to why he came back to college coaching, said, “College coaching has its redeeming qualities--except for USC.”

“I have many friends at USC,” Walsh said this week, “and I said that to tease them. It was a facetious remark. Unfortunately, some Bay Area media took it seriously. It also upset some USC people.

“Then last week, I was kidding again when I said, ‘Oh, by the way, I apologize for my remarks about USC at the press conference.’ ”

Walsh wants everyone to know he has a high regard for USC.

“Nobody knows more about Trojan lore than I do,” he said. “I grew up in the shadow of the USC campus. I was even a ball boy. My heroes were Ralph Heywood, Grenny Landsdell and many other Trojan football players.

“I’m just sorry there was this misunderstanding.”

The Washington State Cougars will try to forget they have a chance to go to the Rose Bowl and concentrate on today’s game against Stanford.

The Cougars know that if they beat the Cardinal and Washington in their last two games, both at home, and Arizona loses to either USC or Arizona State, they will go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1931.

“We can’t even think of going to a bowl game,” Coach Mike Price said. “We have to be ready for a team that whipped USC. Seven victories won’t mean much if we lose the last two games.

“I watched the films of Stanford’s win over USC and the Cardinal was great. I don’t see how we can get a first down.”

The Cougars figure to have some success in the air. Drew Bledsoe passed for 251 yards against the Cardinal last season during a game in which the Cardinal had a 35-point second quarter.

Despite their loss to Arizona, the Washington Huskies could clinch their third consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl today.

By beating Oregon State and Washington State in their last two games, the Huskies will win the Pacific 10 title outright. But they can clinch no worse than a title tie this week.

To do that, the Huskies will have to beat the Beavers, who couldn’t beat the crippled Bruins. Then, Stanford will have to knock off Washington State and USC will have to beat Arizona.

“If those three results occur, we’re in,” Coach Don James said. “But if the Cougars and/or Wildcats win, it will go down to the final week.”

It is largely because the Huskies figure to make it again to the Rose Bowl that the team is recovering rapidly from its first defeat in 23 games. Many of the players never faced defeat in college.

“There is so much left to do in the season that we don’t figure to have a problem,” James said. “We know we have to beat the Beavers.”

James praised the Wildcats for turning their program around after the crushing loss to the Huskies a year ago.

“We had three good chances to pull it out,” James said of the loss. “If we score late in the half, it might have been different. Despite the fumble on the field goal try, we just missed a touchdown, when an Arizona player tipped the desperate pass.

“But give Arizona credit. They played great defense and their offense didn’t hurt them. We needed to get ahead to put pressure on their offense, and we didn’t.”

Although his team lost, Arizona State defensive end Shante Carver turned in another tremendous game against Washington State.

He blocked a field-goal attempt, blocked a punt, tipped two passes, one of which was intercepted, sacked Bledsoe once, threw two runners for losses of nine yards and recovered a fumble.

At least two coaches think he should be an All-American--his own coach, Bruce Snyder, and Cougar Coach Mike Price.

“We had a chance to win big, but Carver turned in more great plays than anyone I’ve seen,” Price said. “I would have been glad to escort him out of town.”

Pacific 10 Notes

With the ineligibility of Billy Joe Hobert, quarterback Mark Brunell played the entire game for Washington against Arizona. It was the first time Brunell went the distance since Nov. 10, 1990, the Huskies’ previous loss. . . . The Arizona Stadium crowd of 58,510 was only five under the stadium record and the first sellout against any team except Arizona State since the stadium was expanded in 1976.