Oct. 11, 2000

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Washington faces another tough Pac-10 Conference test Saturday night with avisit to Sun Devil Stadium to battle upstart Arizona State.

It's been a rough start to the conference schedule for the 11th-rankedHuskies (4-1, 1-1 Pac-10) and this contest does not exactly give them a break.

Washington opened Pac-10 play with a loss at Oregon, but bounced back lastweek by escaping with a 33-30 victory over then-No. 23 Oregon State.

'The team was certainly fired up and excited from the victory, but therewasn't much left in the tanks,' coach Rick Neuheisel said. 'Everybody istired, which is probably attributed to our guys using everything they had.'

The Huskies gained a season-high 504 yards of offense, including 281 on theground to improve to 46-4-1 when rushing for 200 or more yards since 1990.Controlling the clock with the running game is particularly important for theHuskies, who are 10-0 under Neuheisel when winning the time of possessionbattle.

Starting tailback Paul Arnold and backup Rich Alexis both rushed for over100 yards, with Arnold also catching seven passes to earn Pac-10 Player of theWeek honors.

Despite those performances, the key to Washington's offense remainsquarterback Marques Tuiasosopo. The fleet-footed senior had just 39 yardsrushing, but threw for at least 200 yards for the fifth straight game. His 14career 200-yard passing games tie him with Brock Huard for the most in schoolhistory.

While Washington has the more heralded quarterback in Tuiasosopo, ArizonaState (4-1, 1-1) leads the Pac-10 Conference in passing offense at 279.2 yardsper game despite starting three signal-callers in its five games this year.

With senior starter Ryan Kealy having blown out his knee and backup JeffKrohn battling mononucleosis, senior Griffin Goodman made his second careerstart last week and came up big in Arizona State's 30-10 win over California.

Goodman, whose only other start came in the 1999 Aloha Bowl, threw for 394yards and three touchdowns. He is expected to get another start this week, butKrohn could see action if feeling up to the task.

The Sun Devils are seeking their first victory over a ranked Pac-10Conference opponent since beating then-No. 10 Washington State 44-31 on Nov. 1,1997.

Arizona State posted a 28-7 victory in Seattle last season for just itsthird win in the last 10 meetings. Washington leads the all-time series, 13-8.