2000 Washington Huskies football team

The 2000 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Huskies were led by second-year head coach Rick Neuheisel and played their home games on campus in Seattle at Husky Stadium. Washington lost only once, on the road at Oregon,[1] and won the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day to finish with an 11–1 record.[2][3][4]

2000 Washington Huskies football
Pac-10 co-champion Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 34–24 vs. Purdue
Conference	Pacific-10
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
2000 record	11–1 (7–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Rick Neuheisel (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Keith Gilbertson (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Tim Hundley (2nd season)
Captain	Larry Tripplett Marques Tuiasosopo (2) Chad Ward
Home stadium	Husky Stadium (Capacity: 72,500; FieldTurf)

2000 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Washington $+		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 4 Oregon State %+		7	–	1					11	–	1
No. 7 Oregon +		7	–	1					10	–	2
Stanford		4	–	4					5	–	6
UCLA		3	–	5					6	–	6
Arizona State		3	–	5					6	–	6
Arizona		3	–	5					5	–	6
USC		2	–	6					5	–	7
Washington State		2	–	6					4	–	7
California		2	–	6					3	–	8
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Season summary

On the new FieldTurf at Husky Stadium, Washington opened the 2000 season on September 2 with a 44–20 victory over Idaho. Fourth-ranked Miami traveled to Seattle the next week and senior QB Marques Tuiasosopo threw for 223 yards and ran for 45 as the Huskies handed the Hurricanes their only loss of the season, 34–29.[5]

The following week, Neuheisel led UW against his former team, the Colorado Buffaloes, at Folsom Field in Boulder. The Huskies celebrated their coach's homecoming with a 17–14 victory.[6] Border rival Oregon spoiled Washington's hopes for a perfect season with a 23–16 setback in the wind in Eugene,[1] but the Huskies responded the next week with a dramatic 33–30 victory over eventual Fiesta Bowl champion Oregon State in the only loss of their season.[7]

In the next five weeks, the Huskies battled back from second half deficits in every game, including a 31–28 win in the rain at Stanford that was marked with tragedy; safety Curtis Williams (1978–2002) was paralyzed after a neck injury late in the third quarter.[8] For the remainder of the season, players and coaches wore the letters "CW" on helmets and uniforms in honor of him;[9][10] he died from complications less than 19 months later.[11][12][13][14]

After several second half comebacks, Washington was finally able to win a game easily with a 51–3 victory over Washington State in the Apple Cup in Pullman,[15][16] setting a record for largest margin of victory (48 points) in the series. (The 1990 team led by 52 points, also in Pullman, but reserves allowed a late touchdown.)[17][18] The win over the Cougars, paired with an Oregon State win over Oregon in the Civil War, put the Huskies in the Rose Bowl, taking the tiebreaker with the better non-conference record.[16]

On New Year's Day in Pasadena, Tuiasosopo earned Rose Bowl MVP honors as he led fourth-ranked Washington to a 34–24 win over #14 Purdue and Drew Brees;[2][3][4] the Huskies were third in both final polls.[19][20]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	12:30 p.m.	Idaho*	No. 14	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	FSN	W 44–20	70,117
September 9	12:30 p.m.	No. 4 Miami (FL)*	No. 15	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA [5]	ABC	W 34–29	74,157
September 16	12:30 p.m.	at Colorado*	No. 9	Folsom Field Boulder, CO [6]	ABC	W 17–14	50,454
September 30	12:30 p.m.	at No. 20 Oregon	No. 6	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR [1] (rivalry)	ABC	L 16–23	46,153
October 7	7:00 p.m.	No. 23 Oregon State	No. 13	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA [7]	FSN	W 33–30	73,145
October 14	7:00 p.m.	at Arizona State	No. 11	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	FSN	W 21–15	61,370
October 21	3:30 p.m.	California	No. 9	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	FSN	W 36–24	70,113
October 28	2:00 p.m.	at Stanford	No. 9	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA [8]	FSN	W 31–28	31,300
November 4	12:30 p.m.	Arizona	No. 8	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	ABC	W 35–32	70,411
November 11	12:30 p.m.	UCLA	No. 7	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	ABC	W 35–28	71,886
November 18	3:30 p.m.	at Washington State	No. 6	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA [15][16] (Apple Cup)	FSN	W 51–3	33,010
January 1, 2001	1:30 p.m.	vs. No. 14 Purdue*	No. 4	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA [2][3][4] (Rose Bowl)	ABC	W 34–24	94,392
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Roster

2000 Washington Huskies football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 24 Rich Alexis Fr RB 20 Paul Arnold So C 64 Kyle Benn Jr T 74 Wes Call Sr RB 29 Braxton Cleman Jr TE 97 Joe Collier Jr FB 47 Pat Conniff Sr WR 19 Wondame Davis Jr WR 18 Todd Elstrom Jr G 54 Matt Fraize Sr WR 9 Gerald Harris Sr RB 8 Willie Hurst Jr WR 89 Chris Juergens Jr G 55 Rock Nelson Jr QB 3 Cody Pickett Fr WR 5 Patrick Reddick Jr WR 80 Justin Robbins Fr G 77 Matt Rogers Sr QB 12 J.K. Scott Jr T 68 Elliot Silvers Sr TE 14 Jerramy Stevens So QB 11 Marques Tuiasosopo (C) Sr FB 45 Ken Walker Jr G 71 Chad Ward (C) Sr TE 84 Kevin Ware So	Defense Pos. # Name Class SS 9 Hakim Akbar Sr DB 3 Roc Alexander Fr FS 43 Owen Biddle So CB 10 Toure Butler Sr FS 34 Greg Carothers Fr LB 24 Derrell Daniels Sr DE 46 Ossim Hatem So DB 21 Derrick Johnson Fr DT 76 Ryan Julian Sr LB 47 Anthony Kelley Jr LB 42 Tyler Krambrink Fr CB 12 Omare Lowe Jr LB 41 Ben Mahdavi So CB 28 Chris Massey Fr LB 4 Jeremiah Pharms Sr DE 97 Marcus Roberson Jr DE 59 Jerome Stevens Fr NT 70 Larry Tripplett (C) Jr CB 23 Anthony Vontoure Jr FS 25 Curtis Williams Sr LB 13 Jafar Williams Jr LB 6 Jamaun Willis Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 15 John Anderson So P 16 Ryan Fleming Sr	Head coach Rick Neuheisel (2nd year) Coordinators/assistant coaches Keith Gilbertson (OC, TE) Tim Hundley (DC, ILB) Steve Axman (AHC, QB, WR) Randy Hart (DL) Bobby Hauck (S, ST) Chuck Heater (CB) Wayne Moses (RB) Brent Myers (OL) Tom Williams (OLB) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2020-01-31

Source:[21][22]

Rankings

Further information: 2000 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	13	14	15	9	8	6	13	11	9	9	8	7	6	4	4	4	3
Coaches	14	15	15	10	7	6	11	10	9	9	7	6	5	4	4	4	3
BCS	Not released									9	8	6	5	4	4	4	Not released

Game summaries

Idaho

See also: 2000 Idaho Vandals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
30–2–2	1973	W, 41–14

Miami (FL)

#4 Miami (FL) at #15 Washington

1 2 3 4 Total Miami (FL) 3 0 19 7 29 • Washington 7 14 6 7 34 Date: September 9 Location: Husky Stadium • Seattle, Washington Game attendance: 74,157 Referee: Chuck McFerrin

Scoring summary 1 8:19 WASH Braxton Cleman 3-yard run (John Anderson kick) Washington 7-0 1 2:25 MIA Todd Sievers 27-yard field goal Washington 7-3 2 5:19 WASH Marques Tuiasosopo 12-yard run (John Anderson kick) Washington 14-3 2 2:02 WASH Jeremy Stevens 23-yard pass from Marques Tuiasosopo (John Anderson kick) Washington 21-3 3 7:34 MIA Reggie Wayne 21-yard pass from Ken Dorsey (two-point conversion failed) Washington 21-9 3 6:10 WASH Rich Alexis 50-yard run (two-point conversion failed) Washington 27-9 3 5:23 MIA Najeh Davenport 8-yard run (two-point conversion failed) Washington 27-15 3 3:50 MIA James Jackson 8-yard run (Todd Sievers kick) Washington 27-22 4 14:30 WASH Pat Condiff 1-yard run (John Anderson kick) Washington 34-22 4 2:52 MIA James Jackson 1-yard run (Todd Sievers kick) Washington 34-29

See also: 2000 Miami Hurricanes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	1994	W, 38–20

Source:[5][23]

at Colorado

See also: 2000 Colorado Buffaloes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–5–1	1999	W, 31–24

at Oregon

See also: 2000 Oregon Ducks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
56–32–5	1999	W, 34–20

Oregon State

Beavers (4-0) at Huskies (3-1)

1 2 3 4 Total Oregon State 14 0 7 9 30 • Washington 7 13 0 13 33 Date: October 7, 2000 Location: Husky Stadium, Seattle, WA Game attendance: 73,145 TV announcers (FSN): Steve Physioc (Play-by-play), Tom Ramsey (Color) & Lisa Malosky (Sideline) Source: Box Score

Scoring summary 1 5:29 OSU Robert Prescott 48-yard pass from Jonathan Smith (Ryan Cesca kick) OSU 7–0 2:23 WASH Justin Robbins 16-yard pass from Marques Tuiasosopo (John Anderson kick) Tied 7–7 0:18 OSU Patrick McCall 43-yard run (Cesca kick) OSU 14–7 2 11:27 WASH Rich Alexis 1-yard run (Anderson kick) Tied 14-14 5:33 WASH John Anderson 27-yard field goal Wash 17-14 0:00 WASH John Anderson 23-yard field goal Wash 20-14 3 4:29 OSU T.J. Houshmandzadeh 11-yard pass from Jonathan Smith (Cesca kick) OSU 21-20 4 14:01 WASH Rich Alexis 1-yard run (two point attempt failed) Wash 26-21 14:01 OSU Keith Heyward-Johnson 98-yard fumble return of two-point conversion attempt Wash 26-23 8:23 WASH Marques Tuiasosopo 4-yard run (Anderson kick) Wash 33-23 7:22 OSU Chad Johnson 80-yard pass from Jonathan Smith (Cesca kick) Wash 33-30

See also: 2000 Oregon State Beavers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
54–26–4	1999	W, 47–21

vs. Purdue (Rose Bowl)

1 2 3 4 Total Purdue 0 10 7 7 24 • Washington 14 0 6 14 34 Date: January 1 Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA Game attendance: 94,392 Referee: Jack Childress TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson (Play-by-play), Tim Brant (Color) & Todd Harris (Sideline)

Scoring summary 1 8:33 WASH Cleman 1-yard run (Anderson kick) WASH 7–0 4:42 WASH Tuiasosopo 5-yard run (Anderson kick) WASH 14–0 2 11:32 PUR Sutherland 5-yard pass from Brees (Dorsch kick) WASH 14–7 0:26 PUR Travis Dorsch 26-yard field goal WASH 14–10 3 13:12 WASH Anderson 47-yard field goal WASH 17–10 11:58 PUR Sutherland 24-yard pass from Brees (Dorsch kick) Tied 17–17 6:55 WASH Anderson 42-yard field goal WASH 20–17 4 12:00 WASH Elstrom 8-yard pass from Tuiasosopo (Anderson kick) WASH 27–17 7:25 WASH Hurst 8-yard run (Anderson kick) WASH 34–17 6:37 PUR Brown 42-yard run (Dorsch kick) WASH 34–24

Main article: 2001 Rose Bowl

See also: 2000 Purdue Boilermakers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–1–1	1990	W 20–14

NFL Draft selections

Main article: 2001 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Marques Tuiasosopo	Quarterback	2	59	Oakland Raiders
Elliot Silvers	Tackle	5	132	San Diego Chargers
Jeremiah Pharms	Linebacker	5	134	Cleveland Browns
Hakim Akbar	Defensive Back	5	163	New England Patriots
Chad Ward	Guard	6	170	Jacksonville Jaguars

Source:[24]

Awards and honors

• Marques Tuiasosopo, Rose Bowl Player of the Game[25]

References

1. "Ducks flying high". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 1, 2000. p. 1A.
2. Nadel, John (January 2, 2001). "Huskies follow leader to bowl victory". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1E.
3. Blanchette, John (January 2, 2001). "Command performance". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. C1.
4. Maisel, Ivan (January 8, 2001). "Passion play". Sports Illustrated. p. 44.
5. "No. 4 Miami leaves Seattle with bite marks". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 10, 2000. p. 7G.
6. Mossman, John (September 17, 2000). "Huskies give Neuheisel a happy homecoming". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 6G.
7. Rodman, Bob (October 8, 2000). "Beavers just miss upset bid". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1F.
8. "Husky rally trumps Cardinal 31-28". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 29, 2000. p. 5B.
9. Blanchette, John (January 2, 2001). "Huskies have surprise locker room visitor". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. C2.
10. Melley, Brian (May 14, 2002). "Curtis Williams: Huskies say goodbye". Kitsap Sun. (Bremerton, Washington). Associated Press.
11. McCauley, Janie (May 7, 2002). "Paralyzed Washington football player dies". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1E.
12. "Former Husky Curtis Williams passes away". University of Washington Athletics. May 6, 2002. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
13. Miller, Ted (May 6, 2002). "Paralyzed Husky is dead at 24". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
14. "Curtis E. Williams". Find a Grave. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
15. "No. 6 Wash. 51, Wash. St. 3". Sunday Star News. (Wilmington, North Carolina). wire reports. November 19, 2000. p. 6C.
16. "Huskies reach Rose Bowl". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. (South Carolina). wire reports. November 19, 2000. p. D3.
17. Bergum, Steve (November 18, 1990). "Huskies regain their bite". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. C1.
18. Grummert, Dale (November 18, 1990). "Huskies bomb Cougars out of their misery, 55-10". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
19. "Final poll". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 4, 2001. p. C1.
20. "College football: final polls". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). January 4, 2001. p. 5E.
21. "Game Day". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). September 30, 2000. p. 4D.
22. "Huskies roster". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). November 18, 2000. p. C7.
23. USA Today
24. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/2001.htm
25. Mike Gastineau (October 2010). The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists. ReadHowYouWant.com. pp. 527–. ISBN 978-1-4587-7974-8.