Perhaps it was fitting that the game would be anything but normal.
After all, the last time Arizona and Washington met at Husky Stadium two years ago, the game was largely decided after a pass deflected off a player’s foot and into the arms of an opposing player for the game-tying touchdown.
So, of course, Washington’s 42-31 Pacific-12 Conference victory over Arizona on Saturday night would feature twists, turns, good plays, awful plays, poor officiating and momentum swings galore.
“Yeah, there were crazy things happening out there,” said UW receiver Jermaine Kearse. “Crazy things that I’ve never seen in a football game before. But we kept our composure at the end.”
But despite the highs and lows, two things remained consistent in the win – Chris Polk is really good and the Washington defense is, well, still a work in progress.
The junior running back carried the load for Washington, becoming the first player in school history to have more than 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in a game. Oh, and he scored five touchdowns.
Polk rushed for 144 yards on 33 carries, and he wowed the NFL scouts in attendance by showing a dimension most running backs his size don’t have – catching four passes for 100 yards. The 100-yard rushing game was the 18th of Polk’s career, passing the school record of 17 held by Napoleon Kaufman. It also put Polk over 1,000 yards for the season.
It was Polk’s fourth rushing touchdown of the game – a 2-yard plunge – that sealed Washington’s sixth win and made the Huskies bowl eligible.
Clinging to a 35-31 lead in the fourth quarter, Washington got a break when Arizona’s Juron Criner fumbled on a pass completion. Princeton Fuimaono recovered for the Huskies.
Washington went right at the Wildcats instead of playing it safe. Keith Price hit Kasen Williams over the middle for a mid-range pass, and the talented freshman did the rest, breaking two tackles and getting a huge block from Devin Aguilar for a 48-yard gain.
The Huskies needed just two plays to punch it in and get the much-needed insurance score.
On the next possession as Sean Parker picked off a Nick Foles pass on third down with less than 2 minutes to play.
It was the first time that the outcome was not in doubt.
Prior to that, it seemed as if whoever had the ball last would be the winner.
Washington took an early lead but could never quite pull away, making just enough mistakes on offense and missing just enough tackles and plays on defense to let Arizona stick around.
The Huskies emerged from halftime and set the tone to start third quarter – with a little luck as well. After Kevin Smith’s 44-yard return on the opening kickoff, Price threw what appeared to be a ghastly interception into triple coverage. But Arizona was flagged for pass interference on the play. Price took advantage of the second chance and hit Polk on a 17-yard touchdown pass out of the backfield. It looked as if Washington was poised to pull away.
But Price threw the second of his three interceptions when James Johnson bobbled away a pass right into the arms of Arizona safety Robert Golden, who returned it 91 yards, weaving across the field twice and nearly passing out before the goal line for a touchdown.
Washington answered with a 1-yard scoring run from Polk, and Arizona countered with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Juron Criner to tie the game at 28.
The Wildcats took their last lead of the game in the fourth quarter when John Bonano booted his third field goal to put Arizona up 31-28.
Arizona finished with 424 total yards with Foles throwing for 388 yards and two touchdowns. He also had three interceptions.
Washington’s defensive woes from a week ago continued from the opening kickoff. The Wildcats marched down the field on the opening possession with relative ease as Foles completed passes three different receivers. But three poor runs forced the Wildcats to settle for a 36-yard field goal from Bonano.
Yes, they were points allowed, but it was a stop for a maligned defensive unit that has heard plenty of criticism this season. But there would be no such stops on the Arizona’s second possession.
After a quick three and out by Washington, the Wildcats wouldn’t be held out of the end zone this time. Foles guided Arizona down the field, and on second-and-10 he saw a Husky safety blitz coming almost the moment he stepped from the huddle. Foles coolly hit receiver Criner on a short pass in the flats and the big receiver did the rest, stepping out of a Greg Ducre tackle and sprinting into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
Down 10-0, Washington’s offense finally got going in the second quarter. After an odd sequence on a 31-yard catch by tight end Michael Hartvigson that was ruled incomplete and upheld after being challenged, despite replays showing he caught the ball, the Huskies got a 6-yard touchdown run from Kearse on a backward pass from Price.
Arizona pushed the lead to 13-7, getting a 47-yard field from Bonano. But it was certainly an opportunity squandered as Foles could have converted a third-and-4 from the 30-yard line had he just ran for the necessary yardage instead of forcing a pass into traffic.
The Huskies took their first lead of the half on the next possession. A 33-yard pass to Polk along the sideline, which was also reviewed, set up his own 1-yard touchdown plunge eight plays later.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483
ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
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