Kalen DeBoer didn’t need to be educated on the results of the 2021 Apple Cup.
When Washington State produced the largest margin of victory for any Coug win in the series with a 40-13 throttling; when WSU fans flooded over the barricades inside Husky Stadium; when then-Coug quarterback Jayden de Laura planted a crimson flag nearly 300 miles from Pullman; when Washington closed its 4-8 season with a whimper, as well as a lame duck staff … DeBoer was watching.
Granted, it wasn’t a scouting mission, per se. DeBoer admitted only, following UW’s 54-7 Senior Day win over Colorado on Saturday, that “I knew there was a chance there was interest in me. (Conversations) just had started right about then.”
Soon enough, he’d know for sure.
“Three days later I was here in front of the team (after being hired),” DeBoer said. “So that (Apple Cup result) was something I brought up the first time I met with those guys, on that Monday night. I think it’s something we’ve hung onto all season long. You can’t sit there and worry about it and think about it … until now. Because each of those games we’ve been playing has been the most important. And now that one is (the most important game) this coming week.”
In DeBoer’s first year at UW, a whole lot has changed. The Huskies wrapped up a perfect 7-0 home record with Saturday’s Colorado romp. They pummeled Michigan State in nonconference play and punctured Oregon’s CFP chances with a 37-34 road rivalry win. At 9-2, a conference title and Rose Bowl berth are still in play.
But the Cougs, as always, stand in their way.
“I’m definitely thinking about that game, that’s for sure, just because the Apple Cup is huge to us and that’s the standard we have around here,” sixth-year senior left guard Jaxson Kirkland said Saturday. “Of course, after last year, we’ll never forget that. It’s an extremely motivating week. We’re all excited around here.”
Taulapapa triumphs through tragedy
After it was over, Wayne Taulapapa climbed into the crowd, where 22 family members and friends awaited. They draped Hawaiian leis over his head, hugged and posed for pictures, holding signs featuring Taulapapa’s smiling face.
Six days earlier, three of Taulapapa’s former Virginia teammates — junior wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr., junior linebacker D’Sean Perry and junior wide receiver Devin Chandler — were shot and killed. The graduate student running back played his final game inside Husky Stadium with their numbers — 41, 1, 15 — scrawled in silver marker under his right eye.
The 5-foot-11, 207-pound running back from Honolulu led the Huskies with 107 rushing yards, 9.7 yards per carry and two touchdowns.
He did so, he says, for more than himself.
“It was tough,” Taulapapa said Saturday. “But at the end of the day, you want to play for more than yourself, and that’s something I saw as an opportunity. (The shooting) was something that doesn’t happen. It came abruptly. But I was blessed with great teammates and great coaches that pushed me along and have been the greatest support system I could ever ask for.”
Added DeBoer: “For him to have the game he had … the team’s just been great with him all week. It’s because he’s been so critical to our success — just with the leadership he brings and the consistency in who he is as a person, not just as a football player. That hard-nosed, tough grittiness he brings got us off and rolling as a team, not just offensively, from the beginning of the season.”
Taulapapa — voted a captain at both Washington and Virginia — has made a positive impact from coast to coast.
But he’s adamant about sharing the credit.
“With all this hard work, it wasn’t just me,” said Taulapapa, who has rushed for 653 yards with 5.8 yards per carry and 10 total touchdowns in 11 games. “It was all those people that were in the stands. They helped raise me. It takes a community. So that was for them and all the hard work they put in. It wasn’t just my work but all of us together.”
O-line camaraderie
After winning their final game inside Husky Stadium, left guard Jaxson Kirkland and right guard Henry Bainivalu — a pair of sixth-year seniors — strolled into the locker room with their arms around each other.
“It was so emotional,” said Kirkland, who helped pave the way for 280 rushing yards, 6.5 yards per carry and five rushing touchdowns Saturday. “We just couldn’t believe it. The fact that we finished out 7-0 (at home), it was amazing. So we were just reminiscing. All that hard work and how long we’ve been here, it seems like it’s really paying off. And we’re not stopping for anything. It was a special moment between both of us.”
Expectations of success
DeBoer has not been surprised by UW’s sudden success.
“I expected us to have a lot of success. I really did,” the first-year Husky coach said Saturday. “Once we got into fall camp there were some points where I just realized we’ve got some good things happening. Offensively we could score and defensively we could still cause a lot of problems for the offense. I thought the chemistry that was building within the team was special.
“It’s a lot of the character that we have in the personnel, the players. They were really taking everything that we were giving them. We were grinding them through fall camp. We were pushing hard, and they never resisted. The X’s and O’s are one thing, and the execution kept being at an elite level relative to what I’d seen in years past in the first year of a program. I thought with the talent we had, we could do some damage.”
Huard still sits
After UW quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was pulled as a precaution in the third quarter Saturday, sophomore Dylan Morris proceeded to complete 4 of 7 passes for 66 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while adding 32 rushing yards.
Redshirt freshman Sam Huard — who has only played against Portland State on Sept. 10, completing 2 of 2 passes for 24 yards — continued to sit.
“Yeah, there was (consideration to play Huard),” DeBoer said Saturday. “It’s just that all of a sudden the quarter goes faster than you want. After we had the ball that bounced off Jack (Westover) coming across (for an unlucky interception), I wanted to get it back and get in a rhythm. Then the next drive takes a long time and all of a sudden the quarter’s over.
“You want them to be quality reps, too, and by the time you get to the last drive right at the end it’s not like you’re going to be slinging it all over the yard. We’re definitely always trying to get those guys as many reps as possible, and I thought Dylan did a nice job of coming in and executing.”
Note
- Saturday’s Apple Cup at Martin Stadium in Pullman will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and be broadcast on ESPN, the Pac-12 announced Sunday. It’s UW’s sixth 7:30 p.m. kickoff of the season.
