UW's Great Upsets Get Fans' Votes -- Two Rose Bowls, '85 Orange Bowl Top List

-- For the 100th year of Husky football, Times readers were asked to name Washington's greatest player, coach, team, game and moment. We received more than 300 responses. Today, in the second of five parts, the readers' picks for the greatest game.

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There is no substitute for an upset, particularly an upset in a postseason bowl game.

That, it seems, is the message conveyed by University of Washington football fans in selecting the Huskies' greatest games. The 1960 Rose Bowl, the 1985 Orange Bowl and the 1978 Rose Bowl games emerged as the top three choices. In all three, Washington was the underdog.

In 1960, Wisconsin was a two-touchdown favorite over the Huskies in the Rose Bowl, where Big Ten teams had won 12 of the previous 13 games. But all who were there - and thousands from the Seattle area were in Pasadena - and all who were in front of television sets probably won't forget the outcome: Washington 44, Wisconsin 8.

As one voter said: ``44 to 8 is etched in every true Husky fan's mind.''

Years later, Coach Jim Owens said he had the feeling that Washington could beat Wisconsin. ``We knew there were things we could do against them,'' Owens said. ``We thought we'd be in the ball game.''

The players, who had won nine of 10 games that season, weren't so sure.

``But after we found out they didn't hit as hard as we thought they would . . . that they got out of shape in a hurry, well, then we got some confidence,'' tackle John Meyers recalled.

Bob Schloredt and George Fleming were named the game's outstanding players.

Schloredt ran for 81 yards on 21 carries, completed four of seven passes for 102 yards and averaged 39.2 yards for four punts. He passed for a touchdown - 25 yards to Lee Folkins, who made a diving catch in the end zone - and scored a TD on a 5-yard run.

Fleming scored 14 points on a touchdown (53-yard punt return), five conversion kicks and a field goal. He returned another punt 55 yards to set up a touchdown.

Washington was a six-point underdog to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl in 1985. The Huskies won 28-17, scoring the game's last 14 points. Quarterback Hugh Millen came off the bench to lead the comeback, Jacque Robinson completed his career by being named the game's most valuable back after gaining 135 yards on 28 carries, and the Sooner Schooner was flagged for a penalty in a bizarre incident that might have affected the game's outcome.

Early in the fourth quarter, with the score tied at 14, an Oklahoma field goal was nullified by an illegal-procedure penalty. Before the penalty was assessed, however, the Sooner Schooner was driven onto the field in a gesture of celebration. That cost OU another penalty - 15 yards for ``unsportsmanlike conduct.''

So, instead of a 22-yard field-goal attempt on fourth and goal from the 4-yard line, it became a 41-yard attempt on fourth and goal from the 24. The Huskies blocked it.

The outcome of the 1978 Rose Bowl game - Washington 27-20 - was as significant (it gave Don James' program an element of substance) as it was entertaining. The Huskies, nine-point underdogs, jumped to a 24-0 lead before surviving a Michigan comeback ultimately thwarted by pass interceptions by Michael Jackson and Nesby Glasgow.

Tomorrow: Greatest coach.