Kaufman’s 254 Yards Rescue Washington : Nonconference: In surprisingly close game, Huskies defeat San Jose State, 34-20.

In an otherwise unimpressive showing for Washington, Napoleon Kaufman rushed for a career-high 254 yards and three touchdowns in 27 carries to lead the 12th-ranked Huskies to a 34-20 victory over San Jose State on Saturday.

It was the most yards rushing in a game by a Washington running back since Hugh McElhenny ran for 296 yards against Washington State in 1950.

Washington (4-1), a 42-point favorite, needed Kaufman’s performance to beat the Spartans (1-5).

“He just took the game and won it for us,” Washington Coach Jim Lambright said.

Kaufman scored on a 91-yard run on the Huskies’ first offensive play of the day with 49 seconds gone. He put the surprisingly close game out of reach with a 76-yard touchdown run with 6:07 left.

San Jose State, shut out by California, 55-0, last week, battled the Huskies to a 14-14 halftime standoff and closed to within 27-20 on Joe Nedney’s 36-yard field goal with 7:01 remaining.

Kaufman recorded his third 200-yard rushing game of the year and fourth of his career.

His previous best rushing day was 227 yards against UCLA last week.

In winning their fourth in a row after a season-opening loss to USC, the Huskies needed almost three quarters to finally go ahead to stay.

Earlier in the season, San Jose State gave up 54 points to Baylor and 51 to Stanford.

Napoleon Kaufman’s Rushing Statistics

Opponent Car. Yds Avg TD USC 26 152 5.8 1 Ohio St. 32 211 6.6 1 Miami 28 80 2.9 0 UCLA 34 227 6.7 1 San Jose St. 27 254 9.4 3 Totals 147 924 6.3 6