Miami Football Visits Washington In Seattle Showdown
Sept. 8, 2000
SEATTLE – The Washington Huskies are favored to win the Pac-10,areranked No. 15, and are playing at home Saturday.
They’re underdogs, nonetheless, against Miami.
“This game is one the entire nation will be looking at,” MiamiquarterbackKen Dorsey said. “A lot of people come to the UM to play in these types ofgames. With this team, everything is intense.”
The No. 4 Hurricanes (1-0) will try not to spoil their national titlehopeswhen they face Washington (1-0) at Husky Stadium on Saturday in the schools’second football meeting in history.
Washington ended Miami’s NCAA record 58-game home winning streak in1994 atthe Orange Bowl.
“It’s probably not since 1995 when we went out to UCLA that we’ve beentested this much this early in the season,” said Hurricanes coach ButchDavis,whose team is favored by 1 1/2 points. Davis’ sixth Hurricanes team is being billed as his best.
On offense, Davis has wide receivers Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne, andrunning backs James Jackson and Clinton Portis.
On defense, he has the nation’s top secondary plus a linebacking corpsthatincludes Dan Morgan, Chris Campbell and the nation’s No. 1 recruit, D.J.Williams.
Still, Miami has every reason to worry about the Huskies, who werenarrowpicks over USC to go to the Rose Bowl in a Pac-10 media poll taken beforeWashington beat Idaho 44-20 in its season opener.
“If you go and absolutely stink the joint up and everything breaks downandyou lose, then certainly it won’t leave anybody any positive thoughts,”Davissaid. “But you could play outstanding and still lose. Any time you play areally talented team, there’s that chance.”
Of course, even if the Hurricanes win in Seattle, they have No. 2FloridaState and No. 10 Virginia Tech coming up on their schedule, both at home.
A crowd of 70,000-plus will try to make life miserable for Dorsey, whowillbe making his fifth career start. Dorsey and the Hurricanes handled I-AAMcNeese State 61-14 in their opener.
“It’s a metal stadium and people pounding their feet can make noise,”Davis said. “But we deal with noise everywhere.”
While Washington’s defense is suspect, its huge, experienced offensiveline,led by 6-foot-5, 335-pound senior guard Chad Ward, is not. The Huskies hopetocontrol the ball and keep it out of the hands of Moss and company.
The Huskies’ offense features option quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo andsophomore tailback Paul Arnold.
By Jim Cour
AP Sports Writer
