"No one plays as hard as Willie," outside linebacker Riall Johnson marveled after the two victories. "I like to think I play hard, but it's nothing compared to Willie.

"He'd play on one leg if he had to."

How prophetic. Howard had to play on one leg in order to get in the Rose Bowl, so that's what he did.

Ligaments in his right knee were torn in the Cardinal's final regular season game against Notre Dame, but Howard wore a brace and played a major role against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, participating in about 50 plays. He even took part in contact drills in the spring.

Willie Howard(AP)

Despite humble beginnings (a 4-33-2 record during his career at nearby Los Altos High School), he started in his first game at Stanford, as a redshirt freshman, and in every game since. Last season, Howard was in on 10 sacks (third in the Pac-10) among his 54 tackles (the most among Pac-10 defensive tackles) and won the Morris Trophy, given to the Pac-10's top defensive lineman.

Against Arizona, the 290-pounder looked like a Mack truck chasing a Ferrari when, about 40 yards downfield, he came within a stride of catching ballcarrier Trung Candidate, the Pac-10's leading rusher. "I think that play," said Stanford defensive line coach Dave Tipton, "is going to make him a lot of money."

In response to Tipton's tales of playing with the "Thunder Chickens" (Stanford's defensive linemen of the 1971 Rose Bowl), "Big Dog" Howard named the current linemen "Trench Dogs."

He arranged their Thursday night dinners (the "Trench Dog trough") and found a pet shop owner who had a giant dog chain for each "Trench Dog" to wear.

"How many dogs do you have?" the pet shop owner asked.

"Seventeen," Howard said.

He will try to lead the entire defense this season, on one leg if he must.

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