Defense Finally Gets Praise

Saturday’s 23-20 overtime victory against Washington represented a return to previous form for the Bruin defense, putting the unit in position to finish positively after recent poor showings.

Holding the Huskies’ option-minded quarterback, Marques Tuiasosopo, to only 15 yards in 14 carries, a figure that includes sacks for 10 yards each by Ricky Manning Jr. and Rusty Williams, was impressive. Washington came in second in the conference in rushing, but its longest run was 13 yards.

“A fabulous job,” Bruin Coach Bob Toledo said of his defense. “They stopped the option and took Tuiasosopo out of the game, and he’s a great player.”

Said senior linebacker Ali Abdul Azziz: “This is the best the defense has played in two years. We made them one-dimensional. We took their option game away and we forced Tuiasosopo to be a passer. And then our DBs played great.”

Indeed, the Huskies had 12 catches for 134 yards--an average of only 11.2 yards. And the biggest Washington gain of the day was a screen to Willie Hurst out of the backfield in the second quarter.

The unit that gave up 588 yards to Arizona and 559 to Oregon State in its two previous outings and came into Saturday giving up 469.4 per outing, second worst in the conference, surrendered only 236 to Washington. Only 76 of those came in the second half and an overtime period.

“We didn’t give up big plays,” said Manning, who created one with his sack that caused a fumble and led to the second Bruin touchdown. “No 40-yard plays, no missed tackles.”

Just plenty of credit.