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Saturday, October 18, 2003
UW 38, Oregon State 17
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Charles Frederick apparently is healthy, and suddenly so is Washington.
Frederick, the Huskies, er, "other" receiver, was expected to have a breakout season, but he's struggled with consistency and flu-like symptoms the past couple of weeks.
Sort of like the Huskies.
Then -- bam! -- Frederick, the senior from Lake Worth, Fla., returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown. And -- whap! -- he hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass. And -- kaboom! -- he ran under a pass for an 87-yard score that sent Oregon State fans packing.
And so the Huskies, 10 1/2 –point underdogs, whipped No. 22 Oregon State 38-17 in a nearly four-hour, penalty-laden marathon Saturday night at Reser Stadium.
Frederick caught nine passes for 216 yards, a career high and the third-best performance by a UW receiver.
Oh, and his 371 total yards broke the school's all-purpose yards record held by Hugh McElhenny since he rumbled for 362 in 1949 vs. Washington State.
Frederick entered the game with just four career touchdowns, none against Pac-10 teams. He's averaged just 4.4 receptions and 52 yards per game this season.
A week after an embarrassing home loss to Nevada, the Huskies, now 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-10, ensured a streak of 16 consecutive seasons with a victory over a ranked team will continue.
"Just a wonderful win for these kids," UW coach Keith Gilbertson said. "You'd have to be a player or a coach to know how low last week was."
When the clock struck zero, the UW fans in attendance, some of whom may have written the Huskies off, began to chant, "Beat SC!" Fourth-ranked USC visits Husky Stadium next weekend.
It wasn't all good. Tailback Rich Alexis, the UW's most consistent offensive player this season, suffered a deep thigh bruise. While it seemed very serious when he remained down on the sideline for several moments, he said after the game that he doesn't expect to be out for an extended period of time.
The Huskies led 14-10 at halftime, but thoroughly flummoxed the Beavers after the break. Oregon State's only score of the second half came when the final verdict wasn't in doubt.
The Huskies held tailback Steven Jackson, a top Heisman Trophy candidate and the nation's second-leading rusher, to just 49 yards on 22 carries. It was the first time that Jackson hadn't eclipsed 100 yards in 11 consecutive regular-season games.
But this was Frederick's day after he out-performed McElhenny, one of the all-time Huskies legends.
"I heard he was the king -- to me, he's still the king," Frederick said. "Today was just my day. I'm sorry about breaking his record."
The UW defense registered five sacks and harassed quarterback Derek Anderson much of the evening. Anderson, who threw five interceptions last year against the UW, tossed three this time around, connecting on just 21 of 48 throws for 344 yards. He had completed just 11-31 for 195 yards after three quarters.
Frederick's punt return, which put the Huskies up 7-0 in the first, was an extraordinary individual effort. He exploded straight through a line of befuddled Beavers before cutting to the right sideline. It looked like Harvey Whiten had a good pursuit angle and would catch him, but Frederick stopped on a dime, Whitten sailed by, and Frederick slashed inside and into the endzone.
The Huskies went 86 yards on their first possession of the second half to jump ahead 21-10 on a 35-yard Pickett-to-Frederick connection.
But things turned inevitably the Huskies way when, on the ensuing Oregon State possession, linebacker Marquis Cooper returned an interception to the 1-yard line. Pickett tossed a scoring strike to tight end Ben Bandel, and just like that, the count was 28-10.
A Derrick Johnson interception set up the Huskies lone touchdown drive of the first half. The 12-play 72-yard effort again featured Frederick, who caught passes of 18, 17 and 18 yards. Kenny James burst in from the 2-yard line to put the Huskies up 14-0.
Quarterback Cody Pickett completed 11 of 26 passes for 118 yards in an inconsistent first-half, but seven of those completions went to Frederick for 94 yards, as the Beavers used sometimes as many as three men to throttle Reggie Williams.
Pickett wasn't sharp, but he didn't make any major mistakes after a first-half interception. He completed 19 of 40 for 285 yards and three touchdowns and was sacked just once after going down eight times against Nevada.
The score 14-0, Oregon State answered, going 80 yards on a touchdown drive that surely frustrated Huskies fans. The Beavers converted three times on third down. Anderson found Mike Hass for 28 yards to the UW 3-yard line on a third-and-17.
Anderson took a naked bootleg in from the 5 to make the score 14-7.
The Beavers closed to 14-10 on a 39-yard field goal from Kirk Yliniemi, but that was a minor victory for the Huskies.
Richard Seilger returned a Pickett interception 30 yards to the Huskies 14. The UW has been terrible in the redzone this season, but the Beavers lost eight yards on the possession before the field goal.
The teams combined for 26 penalties, with the Beavers flagged 15 times for 141 yards, most personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct calls.
"When you bounce back, it's a great feeling," said Terry Johnson, who moved from defensive tackle to end for the game.
"When you get pushed to the wall, and you come out fighting, that's good."

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