He Turns Huskies to Mush : Bruins: Stokes remains on a tear with four touchdown catches against Washington’s single coverage.

The Washington Huskies are mule-headed and apparently aren’t afraid to admit it. No matter how many records UCLA receiver J.J. Stokes closed in on Saturday, no matter how many touchdowns he scored, the Huskies refused to believe he was superior to any of their cornerbacks.

Stokes scored four touchdowns and totaled 190 receiving yards in UCLA’s 39-25 victory over Washington. Yet the Huskies probably still think they can handle him with single coverage.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in our corners,” Washington Coach Jim Lambright said. “We go after people a lot, so he’s going to get that.”

Stokes entered Saturday’s game at the Rose Bowl as one of the nation’s hottest receivers, scorching a recent path through the secondaries of San Diego State and Brigham Young.

But Washington is Washington, a national power on probation that is still well-stocked on all shelves.

Washington doesn’t adjust to you. On defense, the Huskies clog the line of scrimmage, jam the running game, terrorize the quarterback and let their defensive backs take care of the receivers.

For most of the game Stokes, 6 feet 4, flanked his lanky self to one side and found single coverage as he towered over smaller defenders.

It was as if the Huskies were daring Bruin quarterback Wayne Cook to accept the challenge.

Cook found Stokes 10 times.

“When he’s in single coverage, I know he’s definitely the guy I’m looking for,” Cook said. Even as Stokes burned the Huskies repeatedly, the lonely Washington corners manned their positions with an almost arrogant confidence.

“I was surprised,” Stokes said of the game plan. “But I was happy.”

Late in the first quarter, Stokes beat corner Reggie Reser on an inside route, made a spinning move to avoid a defender and sprinted for a 95-yard touchdown, longest in school history.

Washington was not nearly as impressed. Before the half, Stokes blew by safety Louis Jones down the middle and made a sprawling catch in the end zone for an 18-yard scoring pass.

Instead of gang-tackling Stokes in the second half, it was business as usual for the Washington secondary.

On the 22-yard, third-quarter scoring pass to Stokes that gave UCLA the lead for good, Washington corner Josh Moore sauntered almost leisurely to his spot at left corner and then seemed shocked that Stokes easily beat him on an inside post route.

You could see Stokes’ fourth touchdown coming from Westwood. With the Bruins on the Washington six-yard line, Stokes was split left in single coverage against Reser.

Reser backed off a bit, so Cook and Stokes made visual contact on what is called a “sight adjust.” Stokes changed his pattern to an inside route and Cook flipped a quick scoring pass.

Stokes had scored his 10th touchdown in his last 12 quarters. His 12 receiving touchdowns this season broke Sean LaChapelle’s team record.

“They are going to live by the sword or die by it,” Rick Neuheisel, UCLA’s receivers coach, said of Washington. “I was not surprised. because that’s them.”