Pac-10 Recap: QB injuries keep mounting

The violent second-quarter collision, helmet on helmet, was felt throughout the Pac-10 Conference.

Jake Locker, Washington’s sensational redshirt freshman quarterback and one of the future faces of college football, was the recipient, left motionless on the turf at Oregon State’s Reser Stadium for several minutes. A clean yet terrorizing hit by Beavers linebacker Al Afalava was responsible for this horror. The opposing crowd of 45,629 in Corvallis, Ore., turned uncomfortably silent, unsure of Locker’s fate as the gifted athlete was lifted and strapped to a stretcher with great care, loaded into an ambulance parked in the middle of the field and hustled off to a nearby hospital.

It was two hours before anyone learned that Locker had passed every test administered his spinal column and the worst hadn’t happened. Shortly thereafter, he stepped out of a state trooper’s car in a stadium tunnel and gingerly walked to the Washington team bench wearing sweat clothes and a thick neck brace. With each step, he was surrounded by TV cameras crowding him while the fans gave him a resounding ovation, and he watched the final three and a half minutes of the Huskies’ 29-23 loss to Oregon State in what had become a wild, emotional game in his absence.

The frightening injury involving Locker, who suffered a neck sprain and may have been knocked unconscious though information provided was sketchy, obscured an abbreviated Pac-10 schedule full of plenty of heroics elsewhere. At the Rose Bowl, the Arizona State Sun Devils bounced back from their first defeat of the season and stayed in the thick of the conference race with a hard-pressed 24-20 victory over the UCLA Bruins; in rain-drenched Berkeley, Calif., Chauncey Washington rushed for a career-best 220 yards and a touchdown, leading the USC Trojans to a 24-17 win over the demoralized California Bears; and in frigid Pullman, Wash., Alex Brink passed for 449 yards to carry the Washington State Cougars to a 33-17 decision over the Stanford Cardinal. Oregon and Arizona had the week off.

Locker went down on a third-and-six play, skirting the right side and running smack into Afalava, who was in a full sprint when he made contact. The quarterback didn’t move after everyone else got up, left face down on the field.

“It was fair,” Afalava said of the big hit that forced a punt. “I just came through and wrapped up and he was hurt.”

Locker’s facemask was unscrewed and removed but his helmet stayed on his head. Huskies fans cried and held instant prayer vigils. Beavers fans stood and watched with concern. Upset Washington players surrounded the injury scene. The game was delayed for nearly 20 minutes before resuming.

Emotions were raw and unrestrained for both teams for the remainder of the evening. Three fights broke out between the Huskies and Beavers, with four players drawing ejections: Oregon State’s Bryan Payton, Brandon Hughes and James Dockery, and Washington’s Ryan Tolar.

The Beavers nearly blew a game-long lead as UW back-up quarterback Carl Bonnell threw 41- and 86-yard touchdown passes and the officiating crew made a highly questionable call with 2:43 left to play. On the latter play, Oregon State tailback Yvenson Bernard was ruled to have fumbled on the opposing 1 as he reached out the ball toward the goal line, trying to break the plane. Much of Bernard’s body appeared to be touching the ground before he gave up possession. Washington cornerback Roy Lewis picked up the loose ball and ran it to his 38. Oregon State was out of timeouts. The officials inexplicably chose not to look at a replay.

“It was either a touchdown or a fumble caused by the ground,” Beavers coach Mike Riley said. “Either one would have been all right.”

The Huskies moved to the Oregon State 29 before running out of downs with 1:17 left to play.

“That was just a strange football game,” Washington coach Ty Willingham said. “There was no other way to describe it.”

The Beavers survived this one with sophomore quarterback Lyle Moevao making his first start, replacing fellow sophomore Sean Canfield, who was out with a shoulder injury. Moevao was adequate, completing 10 of 22 passes for 109 yards. However, he supplied a highlight reel moment by leveling Washington defensive end Greyson Gunheim with a crackback block on a reverse.

“I did OK,” Moevao said of his overall effort. “It could have been better, but for the first start to get a win, that’s not bad at all.”

Lost among the injuries and fisticuffs were the postseason possibilities ferreted out: Oregon State (6-4 overall, 4-3 Pac-10) qualified for a bowl game, while the last-place Huskies (3-7, 1-6) were eliminated from any consideration for the fifth consecutive season.

The availability of Locker, who flew home on a private plane for further tests while his teammates traveled the 240 miles back to Seattle in charter busses, for Washington’s remaining games against Cal, Washington State and Hawaii is unclear.

In Los Angeles, Arizona State (9-1, 6-1) had to regroup twice. The Sun Devils overcame the disappointment of losing to Oregon in a first-place showdown the week before and then raced back from a 10-0 and 13-10 first-half deficits to UCLA (5-5, 4-3) in front of a Rose Bowl crowd of 78,890.

Dimitri Nance’s 11-yard touchdown run five minutes into the second half put ASU ahead for good, and fellow tailback Keegan Herring kept momentum in the Sun Devils’ favor with a 71-yard scoring run, his third TD over 70 yards this season.

Herring finished with a team-best 116 yards on 22 carries, quarterback Rudy Carpenter supplied 200 passing yards and a TD on a 16-for-31 outing, Chris McGaha caught nine passes for 123 yards and Thomas Weber kicked a career-best 53-yard field goal.

“This team believes they’re going to win,” Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said. “It doesn’t always look pretty. Obviously, it didn’t look very pretty to me. It looks pretty when it says nine wins on it, though.”

Injury-riddled UCLA, losing for the fourth time in five games, was courageous but never really had a chance. In taking a 10-0 first-quarter lead, consider the following: Bruins wide receiver-turned-quarterback Osaar Rasshan handed the ball to walk-on tailback Craig Sheppard who followed the block of walk-on fullback Trevor Theriot for an 11-yard scoring run. The UCLA roster is razor thin coming down the stretch.

The guys without scholarships or pedigree did their best. Sheppard finished with 56 yards on 12 carries. Rasshan completed 14 of 27 passes for 181 yards and rushed 13 times for 41 yards.

“A lot hasn’t gone our way,” said UCLA linebacker Christian Taylor in great understatement.

In the Bay Area, the Trojans (8-2, 5-2) relied on a career outing by Washington to carry them past Cal in extra soggy conditions with a crowd of 72,516 watching. The senior tailback’s 36-yard scoring run in the second quarter put USC ahead for good, 14-10.

“Chauncey is big and he runs hard,” Golden Bears coach Jeff Tedford credited. “You saw how he carried the pile. He doesn’t go down with a lot of arm tackles.”

Washington won an individual rushing duel with Cal’s senior tailback Justin Forsett, who piled up 163 yards on 30 carries and scored once.

The Golden Bears (6-4, 3-4) wore 1975 throwback uniforms, honoring All-America quarterback Joe Roth, who died of cancer two years after that season, but the new wardrobe couldn’t alter their demoralizing second-half slide that has resulted in four losses in their past five games.

This game originally was touted as one that would determine the league championship, but with both teams stumbling and Oregon making its big move this season, USC merely won a tough battle to hold out hope.

Temperatures were near freezing at Washington State, sending many of its 31,110 spectators out of the stadium at halftime and seeking a warm place to watch the evening game on TV. However, it wasn’t too cold for Brink, the Cougars’ quarterback.

The senior completed 32 of 47 passes for his 449 yards and a touchdown against Stanford (3-7, 2-6), which was officially eliminated from bowl consideration. The outing marked the fifth time he’s thrown for 400 yards or more. Brink’s 12-yard TD pass to Ben Woodard in the second quarter provided a 10-0 lead and gave the quarterback 71 career scoring tosses, setting a WSU record and leaving him seventh all-time in the Pac-10.

“It’s obviously an awesome feeling getting a record like that and a win,” said Brink, whose team (4-6, 2-5) still has a slim hope of earning a bowl bid.

The Cougars’ offensive leader remains a rarity among Pac-10 quarterbacks, and numbers are only part of the equation. With Washington’s Locker going down with his neck injury and Oregon State’s Canfield unable to play, Brink and Arizona’s Willie Tuitama are the only starting QBs league-wide who haven’t been injured and missed time this season.

Player of the Week: USC RB Chauncey Washington
He’s been ineligible and injured throughout his career. He’s been buried among the Trojans’ bevy of talented tailbacks. But on Saturday, the senior tailback was never better, piling up 220 yards on 29 carries, 101 yards better than his previous best.

Game of the Week: Arizona State 24, UCLA 20
The Sun Devils hadn’t won at the Rose Bowl in 11 seasons, but rallied from a 13-10 halftime deficit with a gritty effort. Should Oregon stumble anywhere down the line, ASU could return to Pasadena for another outing on New Year’s Day.

Freshman Impact: Oregon State WR James Rodgers
Running mostly reverses and flanked out wide, this first-year speedster ripped off 85 yards on eight carries, including a 27-yarder. His presence allowed senior tailback Yvenson Bernard to collect 143 yards rushing.

Notable Injuries:
Locker’s neck injury was the most unsettling, and his situation will be re-evaluated on Monday. … Arizona State offensive tackle Michael Marquardt left the UCLA game early with an ankle sprain. Marquardt’s replacement, Jon Hargis, dislocated a shoulder shortly after entering the game, had it popped back in, received a cortisone shot and returned in the second quarter to finish the game. … Stanford center Tim Mattran left the Washington State game with a foot injury, and Cardinal linebacker Clinton Snyder had to leave with a shoulder injury. … Washington State tight end Jed Collins was helped off the field after a kickoff with a leg injury.
 
Additional Notes:
UCLA’s Matthew Slater returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown against Arizona State, his third scoring runback of the season. He set a school record and tied the Pac-10 mark previously set by USC’s Anthony Davis in 1974.

Washington State’s Michael Bumpus caught seven passes against Stanford, giving him a school-record 183, six better than Hugh Campbell (1960-62).

The Huskies won’t be unhappy to see Oregon State kicker Alexis Serna graduate. After kicking five more field goals Saturday night, Serna finished 18-for-18 on 3-pointers against Washington in his career.

Entering the Oregon State game, Locker needed just 23 yards to set a modern-day rushing record for a Pac-10 quarterback but his injury prevented it from happening. He has 809 yards rushing, six shy of UCLA’s Jeff Dankworth in 1976.

Washington State tight end Jed Collins came up with 10 receptions for 123 yards before his leg injury, tying a career best for catches.

Carl Bonnell, Jake Locker’s able replacement, started five games in 2006 as a replacement for the injured Isaiah Stanback while Locker redshirted.

Stanford sophomore quarterback Tavita Pritchard completed 22 of 40 passes for 263 yards against Washington State. His father, David, was the Cougars’ starting center in 1981.

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