Huskies No Match for Irish

Autry Denson speaks so softly that some of his teammates might not have heard him say Notre Dame’s season didn’t end with its loss to Ohio State.

So he went out and showed them.

Denson rushed for 137 yards and one touchdown--including a 47-yard carry that was Notre Dame’s longest this season--as the No. 11 Fighting Irish rolled over No. 16 Washington, 54-20, Saturday.

Ron Powlus also threw for three touchdowns. He finished eight for 12 for 194 yards.

The loss to Ohio State two weeks ago dealt a severe blow to Notre Dame’s hopes for a national championship. But Denson said earlier this week there was still something left to attain.

“Ohio State was a wake-up call,” he said. “We knew what we could do, we just went to our strength. . . . You put it together on Saturday no matter what.”

The victory was Coach Lou Holtz’s 96th at Notre Dame, second only to Knute Rockne’s 105. Ara Parseghian is third with 95 wins.

Holtz had spent the last two weeks worrying whether his team could recover. But any doubts he might have had were answered in the first series of the game, when freshman safety Deke Cooper intercepted a Brock Huard pass at the Husky 38. Two plays later, Denson scampered 33 yards for a touchdown, and the Irish led, 7-0.

The Irish (4-1) rolled from there, running all over the Washington (3-2) defense with a rejuvenated offensive line and stopping the Husky offense cold. Notre Dame finished the day with 650 total offensive yards, the most since gaining 617 yards against Michigan State in 1991.

“I told the team they’d find out a lot about themselves, things that I already knew but they had to find out,” Holtz said.

The game would have been even more lopsided if not for some careless mistakes by Notre Dame. The Irish held Washington to 29 yards rushing in the first half, only to give up 14 points in the final five minutes. The Huskies finished with 257 total offensive yards.

The Huskies’ Huard, who left the game with a concussion in the third quarter, was eight for 28 for 99 yards.