SEATTLE -- Defensively, Washington plays like the No. 1 college football team in the country. Offensively, the Huskies may be an accident looking for a place to happen.
The Huskies knocked off Oregon 17-10 Saturday with an inoffensive offensive performance that prompted one Washington athletic official to mutter afterward, 'We're 7-0, but I don't know how.'
The reason is defense. Without it the Huskies would not be undefeated, including a 3-0 record in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Arizona, the Huskies' next opponent, is, perhaps, the most anxious team in history to take on a No. 1 team. The Wildcats, on NCAA probation, are ineligible to win the Pac-10 title but they are eligible to knock off the top-ranked team.
Arizona lost to a resurgent Southern California team 17-14 Saturday, but the Wildcats entered the weekend with the nation's best defense against the run and surrendered just 58 yards rushing to the Trojans. Washington's 73 yards rushing against Oregon makes the Husky backs look mighty tempting to the Wildcats.
The Huskies managed just 109 yards in total offense and three first downs.Their longest drive was 14 yards. Their deepest drive took them to Oregon 35-yard line. They also stifled themselves with 80 yards in penalties.
But Washington won thanks to its defense, special teams and kicker Jeff Jaeger. Ron Milus returned a punt 42 yards for a touchdown, Mike Gaffney recovered a blocked punt in the endzone and Jaeger kicked a field goal to give the Huskies the points they needed.
'The special teams are one of the strong points of our team,' said Milus. 'We always put more time into our special teams than the other teams. That's our edge.'
Washington coach Don James was willing to give Oregon some of the credit for his offense's inept performance.
'I've coached a lot of games and this wasn't our best,' James said. 'I'll credit the Oregon defense. It (Washington's offense) wasn't very good today. I don't know if I've ever seen a game where our field position was so bad. We just had too many penalties.
'The combination of the penalties and their defense destroyed any hopes of a good offense.'
Washington lineback Tim Meamber agreed. 'You've got to give the Oregon defense a lot of the credit,' he said. 'They played one of the best defensive games I've ever seen. They completely snuffed our running game.'
But Meamber refused to call the Huskies a one-dimensional power.
'We're not just a defense,' he said. 'We're a team and we've got to live and die together. The offense will work on things this week. They've got a lot to get together, but the defense has things to work on, too.'
Washington entered the game first in the country in scoring defense by giving up an average of 7.8 points per game. But the Huskies likely will need more than a popgun offense if they are to get through their final four games unscathed.
'We didn't use a big percentage of the playbook because we didn't get to run enough plays,' James said. 'We never got enough first downs. We could never generate enough offense.'
