No more Luck: Huskies beat No. 8 Stanford 17-13

[September 28, 2012]  SEATTLE (AP) -- Since taking on the rebuilding of Washington's program, no loss seemed more disheartening to Steve Sarkisian than the beating provided by Stanford a year ago.

Sarkisian and his Huskies got their redemption Thursday night.

Kasen Williams took a quick screen pass from Keith Price, broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and raced 35 yards for the go-ahead score with 4:53 left, and Washington rallied from 10 points down to stun No. 8 Stanford 17-13.

"That's a win for our program," Sarkisian said. "I thought all along that this was a unique group that we had; a resilient group, a very serious tough-minded group."

Trailing 13-3 late in the third quarter, the Huskies (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) got a 61-yard touchdown sprint from running back Bishop Sankey on fourth-and-1 for their first offensive touchdown against an FBS opponent since the first quarter of the opener against San Diego State.

Then Washington put together a nine-play drive that included another fourth-down conversion and was capped by Williams' catch-and-run that gave the Huskies their first lead.

It was Washington's first win over a top-10 opponent since its upset of then-No. 3 USC back in 2009, Sarkisian's first season at Washington. And it was thanks to an inspired defensive effort that was the opposite of a year ago when Stanford (3-1, 1-1) bulldozed the Huskies to the tune of 446 yards rushing and 65 points.

"It's a unique challenge when you're playing Stanford just because of all the big bodies," Sarkisian said. "I'm just impressed by the guys' discipline in the way they played tonight."

Meanwhile, it took almost a month, but Stanford finally felt the sting of not having Andrew Luck roaming The Farm anymore.

Yet no one expected Washington to provide the hurt.

The Cardinal were riding high following their upset of then-No. 2 USC on Sept. 15. Yet Josh Nunes, Luck's replacement, and the Stanford offense was held without a touchdown against the same defense it steamrolled a year ago.

Stanford went more than 21 minutes of the first half without gaining a first down and Nunes failed to lead a winning drive in the closing minutes. Stanford finished with just 235 yards of total offense, the fewest yards allowed by Washington since the 2010 Holiday Bowl against Nebraska and the fewest for Stanford since 2008 against TCU.

The Cardinal were also held without an offensive touchdown for the first time since Oct. 27, 2007 at Oregon State, a 23-6 Stanford loss.

Stanford finished 5 of 18 on third downs and had only one drive of longer than 50 yards. Nunes finished 18 of 37 for 170 yards. But the most important factor was Washington's ability to control Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor.

Last year, Taylor ran for 138 yards against Washington and had 153 yards rushing in the upset of USC. He finished with 75 yards on 21 carries, none of them longer than 7 yards.

"We didn't play well enough to win," Stanford coach David Shaw said. "We didn't make the throws we needed to make. We didn't make the catches we needed to make. We didn't sustain our blocks in the running game as long as we should have. We got outplayed tonight."

Washington's student section poured onto the turf of CenturyLink Field after Price took a knee for the final time. It was a crucial win for the Huskies in the first game of a schedule that only gets tougher next week at No. 2 Oregon before returning home to host No. 13 USC.

Price finished 19 of 37 for 177 yards and the touchdown toss to Williams. Sankey had 144 yards on 20 carries after Stanford's defense had allowed just 124 yards rushing combined in the first three games of the season.

Washington started its winning drive at the 35 with 8:57 left and converted on fourth-and-1 at their own 44 with Dezden Petty bulling for 2 yards.

They eventually got down the Stanford 35 with 5 minutes remaining. That's when Sarkisian called for the quick screen to his star receiver. Williams broke the tackle of Terrence Brown at the line of scrimmage then sprinted down the sideline ahead of safety Ed Reynolds, who caught up enough to knock the ball loose but only after Williams had crossed the goal line.

"I put my head down, I think that's one of my strengths is putting my head down and fighting through tackles and that's what happened on that play," Williams said.

Stanford, which scored its touchdown on Trent Murphy's 40-yard interception return in the third quarter, tried to put together one last drive.

Ty Montgomery dropped a potential touchdown at the Washington 5 and Stanford eventually faced fourth-and-4 at the Huskies' 34 with 2 minutes left. With the defense spread out, Nunes tried to throw a fade route down the sideline to 6-foot-8 tight end Levine Toilolo. But the ball was poorly thrown and Desmond Trufant was in position to intercept the pass at the 8 with 1:46 left.

Stanford used its final two timeouts to force third-and-4, but Ben Gardner jumped offside to give the Huskies a first down and the clock ran out.

"I've lost to Stanford every time since I've been here. It's great to be on the other side this time," Trufant said.

[Associated Press; By TIM BOOTH]

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