Thanks.
Live from Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami
and the King TV studios in Seattle.
This is the Husky Orange Bowl postgame show
brought to you by Rainier Bank.
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Now from Seattle, former Husky quarterback
Sonny Sixkiller and Tony Ventrello.
Hi everybody.
Well, who said the Oklahoma Sooners could stop the rush?
It just didn't happen today, Sonny,
as the Huskies win the Orange Bowl 28-17,
running, running and running some more.
That had to be a surprise, I'm sure,
that they ran the ball so easily.
It wasn't easy, but come on, 200 yards combined
for Rick Finney and for Jock Robinson today.
Well, I'm sure if you ask them tomorrow
and for the next three or four days,
they're going to be awful sore.
There's no doubt about that.
Oklahoma did hit them very hard,
but as you say, it's a surprise to everybody
sitting here in the audience,
I'm sure at home watching the game,
that Washington can come out and outrun Oklahoma.
We are going to be talking a little bit
about the number one controversy.
Tomorrow, by the way, everyone finds out
who's number one in the nation.
As the sports writers and sportscasters
make their final poll of the season,
we'll see if it's BYU or the Washington Huskies.
At this point, there isn't a Husky fan
watching or listening to the radio or anyplace else
who doesn't think the Huskies should be number one.
We're going to take a look first at highlights
from the ballgame, the scoring plays,
the plays that made it possible for tonight's 28-17 win,
first and 10 from the Oklahoma 29,
Paul Sicaro to Danny Green.
Perfect pass, perfect catch,
seven-nothing Huskies, first quarter of play.
And they do the dance in the end zone.
The Huskies took a 14-nothing lead in this game.
We'll get to it in a minute.
Jock Robinson rushing for 145 yards tonight
as he picks up 14, down to the 14-yard line,
picks up 13, down to the one.
Watch here as Jock Robinson punches it in, 14-nothing.
The Huskies up 14-nothing in the first quarter.
Sooner fans at this point were saying,
wait a minute, weren't we favored?
Well, they were.
11 from the 21, it's Sicaro intercepted by Jim Rockford.
The Rockford files tonight.
Jim Rockford almost created some problems for us tonight,
Sonny, in this game, intercepting two key passes
and turning the game around a couple of times.
Steve Sewell running from 12 yards away for the first down.
First half, as I mentioned, it was 14-14 to tie.
Here it becomes 14 to seven as Oklahoma scores.
Bradley, a keeper from one yard away.
And then finally, with eight seconds to go on the half,
this kind of disappointed me,
and I know, Sonny, you were upset.
Bradley to Derek Shepherd for the 56-yard touchdown
to tie at a 14-14 after a 61-yard field goal
was missed by Jeff Jagger.
That's perhaps the only thing you could question tonight
from Coach James.
14 to 14 at halftime.
You can comment on these highlights, Sonny.
Wow, you're doing such a great job, Tony.
There's a key play right there.
Ron Holmes tipping the ball,
and Joe Kelly, of course, making the interception.
I was kind of worried here that we might get too conservative,
but Rick Finney does a great job here
of powering his way in the end zone.
Well, Rick rushing for 65 yards tonight
and showing a tremendous power and strength.
They tried to strip the ball away from Finney
a lot near the end of the game,
because frankly, they had to try to do it.
28-17, the final score.
We're gonna go right to Miami now,
live with Luke Ellis and Don James.
Thank you very much, Tony.
Danny Green is right here with us,
stepping outside the locker room.
It's just Bedlam here.
Danny, you've been quiet the last couple of games
at the end of the season,
but you picked a good game to turn it on.
Was the offense directed toward you in the first half?
Were you working a lot to have them throw the ball to you?
Was that the plan?
Well, we were just trying to hit the open man,
and fortunately, I was open,
and we found a lot of loose leaks in there,
and there was secondary, and we exploited them.
Tell me about your first play of the ball game,
the one that was the big one for you.
Well, I tell you, what happened was I ran out and up,
and it was so wide open.
I couldn't believe how wide open it was.
I gave him my out move.
He bit on it, and I went right up on top of him.
Were you surprised that you were able
to work the ball through the air against them?
No, I wasn't surprised.
I think we could have moved through the ball
on anybody this year, you know?
But like you've known already,
offense sputtered throughout the year.
Danny, thanks a lot.
We got some other guys right here.
Jim Rogers.
We're both in here.
Ah!
We can all talk at the same time.
Okay, Fred, Fred, tell us about the defensive effort
that you guys put together.
Tim Hammersworth is too, Fred.
This is the kind of group, our defense is the kind of group
where you can walk down a dark alley,
and you don't have to worry about nothing.
Anything, go down, the guy's right there.
You know, it's a hell of a defense right here.
I'm telling you.
What about the number one controversy?
Who's number one?
Hey, we're number one.
If you watch football, if you know football,
I don't see how you can deny us.
I mean, you know, BYU game, you've seen that.
You know, Oklahoma.
One thing Oklahoma got to remember,
the game is not played in the newspaper and in the media.
It's played on the gridiron out there.
Hey, as far as we can show, we woke up this morning,
we've read all week, no matter what happened,
if Washington wins, they can't win the AP sports writer poll.
Well, that's just fine, because I think most of these sports
writers never played down football in their lives.
They never played a sport.
The one poll I want to get to coach is poll.
They know who's number one.
They know who had the hardest schedule between BYU,
Oklahoma, and us.
They know who dominated the game today.
I take nothing away from BYU.
They're a great football team.
They didn't go undefeated.
I think they should get one, or we should get one.
You just can't deny this ball club the end team.
Even if they don't vote us number one,
we know we are number one.
Oklahoma know we number one, too.
OK, Jim Rogers, Jim, you had an outstanding game,
some really hard hits on Danny Bradley.
What's, how do you feel right now?
I feel great.
I don't care how they vote us.
We're 11 and 1.
We won the Orange Bowl.
We did the best we could, so.
You know, even halfway through the practice session down here,
people were saying to you that they
were afraid that your defense couldn't handle their wishbone.
But you were able to handle it.
Were you concerned about that coming into this game?
Sure I was.
I thought they'd come outside a lot more, too.
But they kept going up the middle.
And when they did come outside, they
didn't have too much success except for maybe one or two
plays.
There seemed to be a lot of talk going back and forth
between the lines of scrimmage.
You guys talking to their players and vice versa.
I really don't think so.
I thought they were a pretty classy team myself.
OK, Jim Rogers, thanks for joining us.
Fred Small, Tim Meember, Danny Green.
We'll have more.
Hugh Millen is here.
It's Bedlam here outside the Washington locker room.
Tony and Sonny, we'll come back as soon as we
can grab somebody else.
OK, Luke, thank you.
I think it's interesting, Sonny, how Tim Meember,
in Miami for just a week and a half, has developed
a southern accent already.
I will tell you, I can tell now why he's a leader on defense.
He was rather pumped.
Huskies winning the Orange Bowl.
We'll be back with more from here in our studio and Miami
in just a minute.
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A good part of this successful Husky season this year,
number 90, All-American Ron Holmes.
And he had an outstanding game today,
injured on the first defensive series, had a knee injury,
a slight one, thank goodness for that.
He was out for a couple of plays and then back in.
Let's take a look at what he did when he came back in.
Sunny?
Well, Ron Holmes is getting a lot of attention all day
out there.
I believe on this particular play he forces the fumble.
And I believe that Fred Small comes up with the recovery.
So Holmes injured just briefly, but doesn't show any of it
there as he forces the fumble, a big turnover, one
of 10 fumbles in the game.
This is a great job here.
Getting up in the air, of course.
Bradley not being a very tall quarterback,
it's a lot easier to deflect the pass.
But of course, Joe Kelly being in the right spot
makes the interception.
Different angle, same play.
They had a little stunt on there.
They had the outside guy coming in and Ronnie
Holmes going on the outside.
So another terrific game for Ron Holmes.
And we are going to go to Miami right now,
where Lou Gellos is standing by with Ron Holmes live, Lou.
Thank you.
Thank you, Tony and Sonny.
Ron Holmes is with us.
Ron, if there was a big play in the game,
and there were many, a lot of people
are going to point to you rushing the quarterback,
Danny Bradley, blocking that pass
and having it intercepted by Joe Kelly.
What happened there?
What happened?
We were lined up in a defensive line
where I was over Pickett, the right guard.
And Bradley kind of dropped back in like a seven yard drop.
He kind of sat there and waited.
And Pickett didn't follow with me,
so I beat him on the second step.
I got by him, and I thought for sure
if I could get my hands up, maybe
Bradley would try to duck in the run,
because he liked to run the ball.
Maybe I could get a sack or something.
But he elected to throw the ball.
I got my hands up, hit him, and hit his arm
with the follow through.
And it just went wobbly.
And next time I know, I turn around.
I saw Joe Kelly kind of trying to dive for it.
And that was it.
You were telling me all week that you
were concerned about having your defense be really
too jacked up going, trying to stop this wishbone,
and maybe overrunning a lot of the plays,
and letting Bradley scoot loose, or let Spencer Tillman get
around the corner.
You guys really seemed to stall them rather than stop them.
And that's what you said you wanted to do.
Yeah, well, what happened, I think
we surprised them with our quickness and stuff.
They thought they could turn the corners on us and stuff.
And when they found out they couldn't do that,
they started getting success running up the middle.
And for a while, that worked for five or six
yards on first down.
And that kept them in the drives and stuff.
But after we shut that down, I think
they were kind of puzzled and trying
to figure out what to do with us.
And we had a lot more movement, and we decided
to try to match speed with speed.
And it seemed to win for us.
What about this number one question?
Is there a question?
I don't think so.
I remember all week long, all I heard about
were we're the number two best team that they have played.
And I'm quite sure that Nebraska, if I'm not mistaken,
won big today.
And they said if Oklahoma won, they
were going to be number one.
Will we be the Oklahoma team that
was supposed to be the best team in the nation?
We beat them convincingly at their game,
at their speed game and everything.
Down here in the Orange Bowl, what they say,
they had a lot of pride in.
So if there's any question and a doubt of the voters,
I don't think that it's gone on to the best team,
but on the best record.
OK, what about the play that ended the first half,
when suddenly your 14 to nothing lead was gone
and it was tied 14 to 14?
What happened in the locker room at halftime?
Well, it was kind of depressing.
We had our hands down a little bit.
What they did, they caught us relaxing.
We didn't think they would try to throw the ball
and get it back.
We thought they would try to trick us a little bit.
But they came out and just flat threw the ball on us
and they kind of, you know, a little bit relaxed.
And you can't do that in a game of football
because it's a 60 minute game.
They got a big one on us.
But we knew at that point that it was going to be 0-0 coming
in the second half.
OK, Ron, thanks very much.
Jacques Robinson is stepping in right now.
Jacques, we're live in Seattle right now,
so you can say hi to all your friends.
You guys, in the early stages of the practices down here,
the ones that we saw you that one day,
and I remember you and I talked about it, every other play
seemed to be tossing the ball to Jacques,
tossing the ball to Jacques.
And that's the way the game kind of started out.
But you were able to mix it with the pass, too.
And that youngster behind you, Rick Finney,
had an outstanding game, too.
Oh, yeah.
Our thing was to go out and just execute our offense
in every way possible.
So that's what we were going out to do.
My line did an excellent job out there.
They made it a lot easier for me and Rick
to really hit the hole.
So that was a lot of help.
But our offense mainly was just go out
and to just try to run the ball and establish a running game.
And it would open everything up with some passes
and things like that.
What did you think of your performance today?
Because you started with a real sparkle,
and then it seemed to pick up a lot of passing plays.
Danny Green and Hugh Millen came in there and hit Patterson.
And Finney did an outstanding job in the second half.
You guys seemed to share the load today.
And a lot of times on offense, it always
seemed to be Jacques Robinson having to carry the load.
Well, it was totally a team effort.
And that's where we came into the game, where
we knew it was going to take a total team effort for us
to win this ball game.
It was going to be no one man that was going
to win the whole ball game.
So that was just the point about just going out
and making it happen for ourselves.
We knew that if we go out and execute,
everything would come around for us.
Because we knew we were going to take everybody on everybody,
not just the starters and the players with us playing,
but the guys on the sideline to keep the motion
and everything that's going.
It was a total team effort.
Was the design of this play, Jacques,
or the design of the game today in here?
Give you a little earplug so you can hear Sonny Sixkiller
and Tony Ventrello back in Seattle.
Put your hand up there.
I don't know if we're going to be able to hear it for you guys
back there, just so you know.
It's really loud down here.
Go ahead if you have a question.
Let's try it anyway, Jacques.
If you can hear me, this is Tony in Seattle.
First of all, we've taken a poll here in the studio.
And the Huskies are number one.
Just wanted to let you know that.
And second, they have the number one team against the Rush,
number one defense against the Rush.
Did you go into the game with that in mind?
And did that help you have a better game, do you think?
I didn't really hear that.
What he said is Oklahoma has the number one defense
against the Rush.
And you guys were able to smash right through them.
Does that give you some confidence
in thinking that you guys are the top team in the nation?
Well, that did help us out a lot.
I mean, just knowing that they were the number one team
against the Rush, we knew that coming into the game.
So we're just trying to go out and execute our offense,
like I was saying.
It doesn't matter about us going on to execute.
And everything else will take its place.
OK, I'm sorry.
Did you ask something?
No, I guess we're going to let you do it, Lou.
I'm sorry.
It's hard to hear in Seattle.
We've got clear across the country to go.
It's about as far away as you can get.
What happened at halftime when your 14 to nothing
lead was evaporated?
Well, nothing really happened.
We just told them we came in.
We knew we had a long halftime.
So we just sat down and tried to rest and try to just think
about what we had to do.
We had beat them the whole first half.
But two, three minutes, and that's
when they score their points.
So we're just disappointed about us not letting down
for no second to let them guys back into the ballgame.
Jacques Robinson, thank you very much.
Outstanding game and a really nice way
to close out your career.
Thank you very much.
Media down here is talking about the way Jacques Robinson smiles.
One of the more photogenic players.
And certainly he's got reason to smile.
Hugh Millen, the quarterback who came in the middle
of the second half, is standing right by us here.
We're going to see if we can grab him.
The reporters have gathered around him.
And why don't we just move over ourselves
and throw the microphone.
And this is Hugh Millen, the quarterback.
You know, you want to be the magic spark and so forth
and make all the things happen.
And I got a little excited there.
So then I came back on the sidelines
after the first series and just decided
to put all the circumstances of the game and all the pressures
out of my mind and just concentrate on the football
field and the 22 guys on there.
Last Saturday, I went to the Seahawks Dolphins game.
And that was the first program.
I'd been to in a while.
And I watched Dan Marino quite a bit.
And I just was impressed with the way
he was really in control of the situation.
And so after the first series, I just went over.
And Dan Marino was obviously a good role model.
And I was just thinking, go out there and relax
and take charge.
And he's got that confidence and just have the confidence.
Your touchdown passes are nice, but you guys
ran very well against the nation's leading rushing defense.
How do you explain that?
Well, I think a lot of the times when
you get the nation's leading defense, rush defense,
it's because they get a reputation.
OK, we're going to join in, break away for just a moment
here.
We'll get Haley Millen to ourselves in a moment.
Let's go back to Tony and Sonny, OK?
Pandemonium in the Husky locker room tonight, Sonny.
That's the way you want it, especially
after you've just won the Orange Bowl 28-17
and may be the number one team in the nation
and the national champion.
Back live from Miami with Hugh Millen after these words.
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Well, the biggest bowl day of them all
is over with the Orange Bowl victory in Miami,
the Huskies winning 28-17 over Oklahoma,
and the Huskies, as we mentioned many times
and will be mentioning it right through till tomorrow,
could well be the number one team in the nation
and the national champion.
Let's take a look at the other bowl scores.
Yeah, there were other bowl games as well today.
And the Fiesta Bowl, a real shootout, UCLA,
getting three field goals to beat Miami 39 to 37.
Doug Flutie threw three touchdown passes
in the Cotton Bowl as Boston College beat Houston 45 to 28.
The game was close at one stage, but Flutie was just too much.
45-28 in the Cotton Bowl, Boston College over Houston.
Running down the bowl list, the Rose Bowl.
They call it the granddaddy of them all.
Southern California, USC eking out a win over Ohio State 20
to 17.
And in the Sugar Bowl, Nebraska beating LSU 28 to 10
for the Pac-10, a clean sweep today
as we take a look at the Orange Bowl, Washington
beating Oklahoma in a game you've just seen on Channel 5,
28 to 17.
Rick Finney wears the number 30 out of Snohomish High School.
Snohomish, Washington, not California,
as I said on the earlier.
And Rick had a terrific day.
They're rushing for 65 yards, catching passes,
doing everything else right.
We're going to go to Miami right now.
Live, Lou Gallow standing by with Rick Finney.
Thank you very much, Tony.
Rick Finney here right with us.
Boy, quite a difference from playing
backyards of Snohomish to playing in the Orange Bowl.
And it has to be a thrill because you played so well
today.
A lot of people thought Jacques Robinson
would be the guy to look for.
And you came right in there and just
pulled over this so-called toughest defense against the run.
Yeah, well, Jacques had a great game, too.
He got a lot of yards, and I can't believe this is going
to happen.
It's just the greatest feeling of my life.
And the line is doing a great job blocking, opening holes.
And I broke that long one.
I got my adrenaline flowing.
It really got me going.
You broke away for a commercial, and you joined us here.
And you've been smiling like that ever since you've been here.
What about the way you guys were able to handle
their defense against the run?
Not only was it you and Jacques, but you mixed it up
with the pass, too.
And it just seemed to work all the way.
Yeah, well, we knew we could run against them.
Everybody's telling us that we've got a pass.
We can't run against them.
And we knew we could do it.
We worked hard at it, and we executed,
and the line did a great job blocking, and we did it.
Did the brashness of Coach Barry Switzer
and his comments about your team at all
get you guys more motivated for this game
than perhaps you could have been to begin with?
Yeah, some of their players are saying
that we're not even in their class after the Texas game.
And we knew that wasn't true, and we knew we could beat them,
and we came out and proved it.
From the way you guys played, maybe
they're not in your class.
What about this number one ranking business?
It seems to be fairly unanimous from the players,
how you guys feel.
How do you feel about it?
Well, I feel we should be number one.
I can't really, I don't know if we will, but I think we should.
We just have to wait and see.
It's a hard, we don't know what's going to happen.
What precipitated the passing offense that you guys also
had, because from the outset, you and Jacques
were kind of carrying the load, and then suddenly some strikes
to Danny Green, and suddenly Oklahoma couldn't rely on you
guys just to run?
Yeah, well, we wanted to mix it up a little bit.
And not just strictly run or strictly pass, and it worked.
What impact Millon had coming into the game?
Was that a big lift for him?
OK, Rick Finney, what an outstanding day.
Tony and Sonny, you guys probably
know better how many yards he had,
since we had to shove ourselves down here
before we had originally planned.
We'll grab a couple more players.
I'm just looking around me to see
if there's anybody around here.
No, nobody right now.
Go back to you, and we'll join you in a few minutes.
All right, Rick Finney with unofficially 65 yards
in the game today, as Rick and Jacques Robinson
rush for over 200 combined, and of course,
Finney's got some time to go at the University of Washington,
a great high school star of Snohomish High School.
I mentioned earlier on the graphic,
it said Snohomish, California.
Of course we know it's Snohomish, Washington,
just 25 miles north of Seattle.
And you folks should be very proud tonight.
28-17, the final in the Orange Bowl.
We'll be back with more from our studios
here and in Miami in a minute.
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Tony Vittrello with Sonny Sixkiller.
We are back to again talk more about this football game,
the 28-17 win in the Orange Bowl.
Paul Sicaro started at quarterback
and was very effective in the first half.
And right here, as a matter of fact,
to show you how effective, he hits Danny Green.
Pretty good rush, perfect pass.
And again, Green hauls it in for the touchdown
early in the game.
But then in the fourth quarter, Sicaro
was replaced, Hugh Millen coming in.
And Lou Gellos is standing by.
And Sonny, you have a question.
Let's relay that to Lou.
Yeah, Lou, I was wondering, Paul started off real hot today.
And then as the game wore on, in the third quarter,
he had a couple of interceptions, one in the second,
one in the third, and then a fumble in the fourth quarter.
James went with Millen right away.
I wonder, being Paul from Ashland, Oregon,
was that a real big disappointment,
or did he just want the team to win and whatever else
happened to him?
You want me to go now?
I can't hear you.
OK, let's go.
We've got Paul Sicaro with us, the quarterback
for the Washington Huskies.
This is kind of a bittersweet game, I would imagine,
for you, because it started out great for you.
You gave your team a 14 to nothing lead,
but then things started to go a little weary.
What happened?
Well, I just started making some mistakes
in some critical situations.
And you just can't do those things in a championship game.
And it was unfortunate that it worked out that way.
I'm just happy that we won.
That's a team game, and I'm just happy to be a part of this team.
Isn't it kind of strange that the way the season has gone
with one guy being the quarterback,
then the other guy being the quarterback,
and then finally it seemed to be set in one way,
and then the final game, the big game, both of you share it?
I feel really happy for Hugh that he got a chance
to come in here and show what he's got.
I'm disappointed for myself for finishing that way.
But I'm glad I could make a contribution to the team.
And we've got some great guys.
We've got a lot of great athletes on the team.
We've got three good quarterbacks.
And it's a tough situation.
And I just feel I'm just happy that I got the play at all
tonight.
And I never thought I would come the middle of the season.
So I'm just happy where I am.
Well, let's talk about that first half for a moment
and talk about the place that put your team ahead.
Those passes to Danny Green work.
Yeah, I mean, I was looking for Danny
to make some big plays.
And our offense aligned did a heck of a job.
And they really worked hard and opened the holes
and protected.
And Jock looked great.
And everyone had a good game.
That's what we needed to do.
And that's what wins championships.
Tell me about the offense.
It's been so maligned this season.
Everybody says, yeah, the Huskies
are a pretty good defensive team,
but their offense bluntly stinks.
You guys didn't stink today.
You rushed very well against a team
that is known for their defense against the rush.
And your passing game worked.
Yeah, we've got some great athletes on our team.
And we got a good offense.
And it just came down to put it all together.
Everyone did their job.
OK, Paul Sicaro, thank you very much.
Mark Patterson is here.
Mark, just step right in here.
We're live to Seattle on King 5.
Tell me, Mark, about the play that broke this game open,
the long pass that you caught from your roommate
for the touchdown.
All right, well, it's basically the same thing
that's happened two years ago against Michigan.
And I don't know, it just happened again.
It just happened to come at the right time.
He made a great play.
I was just going for the corner of the end zone.
And I was lucky.
I came down with it.
Mark, this is a bittersweet night for Paul,
because he started the game very well, then got yanked.
Hugh Millen came in, sparked the team.
What was going on in the huddle for you guys
that had played the whole game when the switch of quarterbacks
came on?
I think it kind of gave us a boost of confidence.
Any great quarterback who's ever played the game
is one way or another been benched.
And I'm sure Paul would be back.
But fortunate for Hugh that he came out
and he was ready to play.
And he pulled through and did a great job.
Were you guys at all more motivated for this game
because of what you've heard about yourself
from the press that's down here?
Well, it's either going to be BYU or Oklahoma.
And everybody seemed to be ignoring you.
And having the Seahawks and Dolphins down here
gave you guys absolutely no attention whatsoever
until like Monday.
Yeah, it sure did.
And the thing that people kept on forgetting that I
think a lot of the guys just kept on talking about
is that we play the best when we're underdogs
and play against big teams, National TV and the old works.
And we came out and we showed the nation
that we can play some ball.
In fact, the Pac-10 played good ball today.
All three Pac-10 teams won this afternoon.
Oh, yeah, it's a great feeling when your conference can
make a great showing throughout the nation.
And I don't know if they think that we're just
a bunch of wild Indians out there or something.
But I think they should learn to give us
a little bit more respect.
Who's number one?
We are, no doubt.
Well, let's put it to the man who
led this team to the Orange Bowl win.
Coach Don James is here with us now.
Coach, the question of the hour seems to be who's number one.
Is there any doubt?
No, we're number one.
There's no question.
They got my vote.
Did the somewhat brashness of Oklahoma's players and coaches
as this week wore on and the way they talked about your teams
for your team, they talked about your teams for your team,
motivate your team even more than you were
able to do with them to begin with?
Oh, I really don't think that was a problem.
I think their players reacted very well.
They were excited about the chance to play for number one.
They were number two.
And I think Barry Switzer did a great job
in pushing this game for number one.
I felt a little more reluctant because we're playing BYU.
And I just felt like I can back off a little bit.
But I've got to believe that we deserve
a lot of votes for number one.
Don, we've been talking with a lot of the players
and talking about their contributions for this team.
I want to switch gears a little bit with you.
A few people realize that there are
seven of your 10 assistant coaches
are in their first or second years at their current posts.
And yet, despite that, you were able to put
a team in the Orange Bowl, win the game,
and possibly have a chance at the national championship.
How the heck did you do that?
Well, the biggest problem with the offensive staff
was diaper rights.
They were so young.
We had four coaches with new positions.
They're great young coaches.
And I knew about every one of them.
I had every one of them in my program before.
And then we sent them out for a little bit more maturity.
And so there wasn't a new face as far as Don Jamer's concerned.
I had confidence in them.
And they've got great work habits.
Like I said, if I ask them to work 16 hours a day,
they work 17.
Or 18 or 19 when we were visiting.
What about the offense that they put together?
You just said that both of those new coaches
are on the offensive side.
They put together an offense that
had a lot of rushing in it against a defense that's
supposed to be tops against the rush.
Well, they're smart.
They're smart coaches.
They know what they're doing.
And they worked hard at getting a good game plan.
Again, they didn't just look at a couple cans of film
and say we're going to run six plays.
They really analyzed it.
Computer guy scouting and just did a marvelous job.
And then the players reacted so well with the execution.
OK, one last question.
Got to ask you about the quarterback change.
Because it's kind of bittersweet for Paul.
He started off so well, built that big lead.
Then things kind of seemed to fall apart a little bit.
What precipitated the change?
When did you finally decide, geez,
I've got to make a change?
Well, first of all, we've won 11 games.
And both quarterbacks have made significant contributions.
They're great young guys.
They support each other.
The wind kept getting stronger each quarter.
And so the fourth quarter, when it was changing,
we were going into the wind.
We were losing the field position.
We were talking about 80 yard drives.
And we needed a stronger quarterback,
a strong arm quarterback, because we felt like we
couldn't rely as much on the run.
So that's why we went with Hugh.
OK, Don James, coach of the Huskies,
thanks a lot for joining us live back in Seattle.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
So did everybody.
OK, hello, everybody.
Now back to Tony and Sonny.
Thanks, Luke, Coach James, and all the players.
That is the first time, Sonny, that Don James says,
yes, we are number one.
And of course, he's the kind of guy with the kind of class
to wait till after it's over.
Well, he also knows this is a local broadcast.
That's a good point.
There are some BYU fans in our audience tonight as well.
We're going to take a look at the top three
as UPI has them right now.
Brigham Young, number one with that 13-0 record,
beat Michigan 24-17 in their bowl game, the Holiday Bowl.
Oklahoma now 9-2 and 1, having lost
28-17 tonight in the Orange Bowl.
The Huskies finishing up at 11 and 1.
They're only lost late in the season against USC.
The final poll comes out tomorrow.
I believe it is at 6.30 PM Eastern time, 3.30 Pacific
time.
In other words, on the 5 o'clock news,
you ought to find out who's number one, according
to both major football polls.
But that's the way it stands right now.
Comment if you would, Sonny, on BYU's schedule
during the season.
And it was obviously a bit easier than the Huskies'
schedule.
Well, BYU relies really on Robbie Bosco to throw the ball.
They beat Pittsburgh, who wasn't really that tough this year.
Baylor, I don't really know a lot about.
Tulsa, I know probably isn't that tough.
Hawaii, probably not.
Colorado State, probably in the same ballpark.
And then you've got Wyoming and Air Force.
It just doesn't stack up, I don't think, to what the Huskies
had.
New Mexico, Texas, El Paso, San Diego State, Utah, Utah State.
I'm sure that most of the Husky fans and most of us
will be in the common foe Michigan there, 24-17,
with the Huskies 1 by 11 this past season in Michigan.
So I just have to think off their record, our record,
Oklahoma's record, that we probably
do deserve a number one ranking.
All right, we will find out officially tomorrow.
We're going to go back to Miami for one last time.
And Lou Gallows, Lou?
Thank you, Tony and Sonny.
Well, interesting game from a football standpoint.
We spent both of the evening talking about that.
I'd like to close out our reports for Miami
by telling you about another battle that went on here.
The battle of the bands between the Oklahoma
band, which was right in one end zone,
and the Husky band, which was directly behind them.
All game long, the bands were playing,
trying to outdo each other.
And you know what?
The final score was the same in the battle of the bands, too.
Back to you.
All right, Lou Gallows, a lot of hard work
by our six crew members from King TV in Miami.
We're over a week covering both the Seahawks
and the Huskies victorious tonight
as the Huskies win the Orange Bowl 28-17.
One final comment, Sonny.
That's, first of all, the largest button
of every team worn on TV.
But just one final comment.
Obviously, you're feeling good about this win tonight.
Well, I just think it's great for everybody up here,
especially for James and all the,
they've gone through this season.
Everybody's saying they didn't have an offense
the whole year.
Gee, what are they doing on offense?
And certainly, that was one of them, too.
And to have them come out and really put the offense
on the floor tonight in the Orange Bowl.
They did it.
They rushed against the number one rushing defense
in the nation.
They did it for a combination of 200 yards
between Jacques Robinson and Rick Fenney.
Final again.
The Huskies win over Oklahoma 28-17,
and they win the Orange Bowl.
We'll find out who's number one tomorrow.
For Sonny's Sick Killer, I'm Tony Ventrella.
Good night, everybody.
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