By JOHN MARSHALL
AP College Football Writer
TUCSON (AP) -- Washington is hoping its one-time Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback will keep rolling after his best game of the season. Arizona isn't quite sure what to expect from its replacement quarterback.
However it plays out, the result will keep alive one team's hopes of catching Oregon in the Pac-10 race and all but kill the hopes of the other.
A game behind the Ducks at 2-1 in the conference, the Huskies (3-3) and 15th-ranked Wildcats (5-1) face each other Saturday with their Rose Bowl hopes likely on the line.
"We're taking the approach that it's this game that matters," Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said. "There is a real sense of urgency in our locker room right now. And we are going to prepare well this week and we are going to play hard. If that's good enough to win, I don't know that."
Arizona is taking the same approach, but will try to do it without starting quarterback Nick Foles.
Second nationally in completion percentage at 75.3 and the Pac-10 leader at 305.8 yards per game, Foles sprained his right knee last week against Washington State and won't play.
That leaves the ball in the hands of junior Matt Scott. He was the starter in 2009, only to be supplanted by Foles after a poor start against Iowa in the season's third game.
Foles went on to become a star and a top NFL prospect, while Scott was relegated to a backup role.
Now, Scott gets another chance, at least for this week, maybe more.
More of a running threat than Foles, he handled himself well in three quarters against Washington State, completing 14 of 20 passes for 139 yards with an interception in the 24-7 road win.
A year after losing the starting job, Scott will be under center again at a time when his team really needs him.
"Coming off of last year after the Iowa game, it was really disappointing for me," Scott said. "Unfortunately, Nick got hurt and that leaves me with another opportunity. I'm really excited about the opportunity and I'm going to take full advantage of it."
Washington quarterback Jake Locker is looking to keep his momentum building.
A preseason front-runner for the Heisman Trophy, the senior fell out of the running with a mediocre start to the season. Locker was unable to get the Huskies in the end zone in a season-opening loss to BYU, then had the worst game of his career in an embarrassing loss to Nebraska, completing just four of 20 passes for 71 yards and one touchdown.
Last few weeks, Locker has looked more like the top overall NFL draft pick he's predicted to be.
He eclipsed 300 yards for the first time this season in a big win over USC on Oct. 2 and had his best game of 2010 last week, throwing a career-high five touchdown passes, including two in overtime to Jermaine Kearse, in the Huskies' double-OT win over Oregon State.
Locker is playing better and the Wildcats can see it.
"Everything goes through him. He's a very dangerous and very skilled player," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. "They do a lot of stuff with him, get him out there on the perimeter and let him throw a lot of boots, play-action stuff to let him create a lot of big plays. They give you a lot of different looks."
Whatever look the Wildcats get, they hope it's different from what they saw in the Northwest last year.
Yep, the "Shoe" game.
His team leading 33-28 after Washington scored a touchdown with just under 3 minutes, Foles noticed the Huskies crowding the line and called a short pass to receiver Delashaun Dean.
Foles was rushed on the throw and the ball bounced off Dean's size 14 1/2 shoe into the hands of Washington's Mason Foster, who ran 37 yards for a touchdown with 2:37. The Wildcats and Dean insisted the ball hit the turf, but the officials didn't agree and the off-the-shoe interception proved to be the winning score in Washington's 36-33 victory.
"It was definitely a big play, one of those crazy, bizarre things that happen in football," Foster said. "You see it here and there every once in a while."
The Wildcats hope not again, not with so much on the line.
