Washington Aware It Can’t Look Ahead

John Robinson can’t decide whether Quincy Woods or John Fox should play quarterback at USC. Mike Bellotti’s choices are Jason Maas or Akili Smith at Oregon. Bruce Snyder ponders a decision between Steve Campbell and Ryan Kealy.

Bellotti also wonders about his defense. “Its the youngest I’ve ever seen it at Oregon,” he says.

Dick Tomey does, too, at Arizona, where the “Desert Swarm” is a distant memory.

Tyrone Willingham is trying to decide who his defensive backs are going to be at Stanford.

Bob Toledo worries about his defensive line at UCLA, and Mike Riley wonders what he has left to work with at Oregon State, the same problem Tom Holmoe has at California. Mike Price can’t understand why everybody doesn’t like his Washington State team as much as he does.

Jim Lambright sits back at Washington and considers the future, doing his George Santayana imitation: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The future, says a media football poll released Thursday at the Pacific 10 Conference media day, is a trip to the Rose Bowl. The future, say several preseason football publications, is a national championship.

“But nothing like that can happen unless we win the first game,” Lambright said. “That’s what I’ve been telling our players, and it’s what I’ll tell them again. Nothing happens until we play Brigham Young.”

It’s the kind of nonconference worry any coach with his sights set on great things has to deal with, and Lambright puts it in perspective with a history lesson.

“Look at what happened last year,” he said. “Look at what Arizona State got from its opener.”

The Sun Devils’ Robert Nycz made a 38-yard field goal with two seconds to play to beat Washington, 45-42, and begin a season in which Arizona State played in the Rose Bowl and came within 19 seconds of a national championship.

If the field goal had been missed and Washington had won in overtime, the Huskies would have been in Pasadena against Ohio State. It’s a scenario that haunts Lambright and gives him motivational fodder, should visions of grandeur cloud the Huskies’ heads before the first football is kicked off.

“We played BYU last year, and remember what happened to BYU?” Lambright added.

BYU lost to Washington, 29-17, and to nobody else, and that cost the Cougars a shot at an alliance bowl and national acclaim.

“You think they won’t remember that?” Lambright said.

They will, and the game is at Provo, Utah. It’s the sort of thing that will help keep Washington from looking past BYU and San Diego State to what appears to be a showdown game with national implications against Nebraska in Seattle on Sept. 20.

Still, the three nonconference games--two at home--before the Huskies begin Pac-10 play is a “blessing,” Lambright said.

So, too, are the predictions of a national championship. “It’s a heck of a lot better to be favored than not even having your name printed, which is what happens when you have sanctions,” Lambright said.

It’s a sign that Washington has recovered from two seasons spent in the Pac-10 and NCAA’s doghouse for violations involving improper jobs for players and other rules transgressions.

“I think what everybody wants is to have a program respected enough to be in the top 10,” Lambright said. “For us, after being on sanctions for two years, and then recovering for two years, it’s a sign that we’re back to where we were.”

Pac-10 Notes

UCLA has lost two recruits, freshman receiver Freddie Mitchell of Lakeland, Fla., and junior college transfer Andy Kassotis of Glendora and Citrus College, because they could not qualify academically. . . . Defensive back Mitchell Friedman has been reinstated at Arizona State after being kicked off the team by Coach Bruce Snyder.

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Pac-10 Media Poll

Votes are from 31 reporters regularly covering Pac-10 teams, and points are awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. First-place votes are in parentheses.

1. Washington (28): 306

2. Stanford (3): 263

3. USC: 228

4. UCLA: 217

5. Arizona State: 175

6. Arizona: 151

7. Washington State: 142

8. Oregon: 114

9. California: 74

10. Oregon State: 35