CORVALLIS, Ore. – Late in a game they had no business winning Saturday, clinging to a last-gasp chance at a comeback, the Washington Huskies had Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion where they wanted him: Alone in the Beavers’ end zone.
A surge from the defensive line could’ve forced Mannion to scramble, and maybe make the kind of a hurried throw that’s converted into an interception.
A semblance of pressure puts the possibility of a two-point safety in play.
But there was no surge and no pressure and, not coincidentally, neither an interception nor a safety. Instead, Mannion – a redshirt freshman exuding the calm of a 10-year NFL veteran – saw that Washington cornerback Quinton Richardson had bitten on the double move of split end Markus Wheaton.
Mannion delivered a pass to midfield, the key play in a 99-yard touchdown drive that erased 5:29 on the clock any doubt about Oregon State’s dominance of the Huskies.
Many more mistakes were committed Saturday besides Richardson falling for a wide receiver’s bait, but that play – and that drive – put Washington’s 38-21 defeat in a nutshell.
The defense failed to make clutch stops.
The offense failed to make momentum-turning plays.
For the third time in three weeks, the Huskies’ execution on both sides of the ball was spotty, but this breakdown was more troubling, because their opponent wasn’t Oregon or USC.
Their opponent was a Pacific-12 Conference bottom-feeder whose eight defeats this season include an upset at the hands of Sacramento State.
“The best way to describe how I feel right now is frustrated,” said coach Steve Sarkisian, frustrated enough to use a form of “frustration” six times during the first 72 words of his postgame remarks to reporters.
“We prepare our players to put them in position to be successful,” Sarkisian continued, “and, unfortunately, we weren’t successful today.What we have to figure out is scheme, fundamentals and technique.”
Wrong scheme, poor fundamentals and shoddy technique help explain how the defense allowed Oregon State to roll up 484 yards, averaging 7.1 yards per play.
But Huskies linebacker John Timu was almost always in the right place at the right time – he forced a fumble, broke up two passes, participated in seven tackles. And if it weren’t for his whiffs, Timu might have had 20 tackles.
The Huskies’ effort on offense was similarly uneven.
Consistent with a game plan designed to keep things simple for backup quarterback Nick Montana, running back Chris Polk led them to touchdown drives on two of their first three possessions.
But after scoring 14 points in the opening quarter, their next three series ended in punts.
A fourth series ended on a missed field goal.
A fifth ended on a fumble.
An afternoon that began with the Huskies able to do no wrong on offense concluded with the offense unable to do much right.
Ailing quarterback Keith Price replaced Montana in the fourth quarter, throwing a touchdown pass that cut the Beavers’ lead to 31-21. And when Cole Sager recovered an Oregon State fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Reser Stadium turned quiet for a few seconds.
Literally.
The Huskies’ rally lasted seven seconds, or until Price’s pass to Kasen Williams was picked off by safety Ryan Murphy at the OSU 1.
“I thought Kasen caught the ball,” Price said. “I thought it was a touchdown.”
Everybody in the stadium thought Montana’s third-quarter pass to an uncovered Austin Seferian-Jenkins also was a touchdown, but the ball was bobbled and then dropped. Seferian-Jenkins could’ve reached the end zone performing a bear crawl, but the most crucial component of any touchdown catch is, ahem, the catch
“Big players make big-time plays, and I didn’t make that play,” said the freshman tight end, who’ll make more than a few of them before he embarks on what figures to be a brilliant pro career. “I’m disappointed in myself. I let down my team. It’s really hard to deal with, but I’ve got to move on.”
While Seferian-Jenkins was downcast, Montana was disconsolate. As he talked about the struggles of his first college start – he finished 11-for-21 for 79 yards, with an interception and four sacks nullifying two touchdown passes – there were tears welling in his eyes.
“Today was about a freshman making his first start,” Sarkisian said of Montana. “There were some moments when he did some nice things, and some other times, not so nice. That was somewhat to be expected. I didn’t expect him to come out and just set the world on fire, but I thought he handled himself admirably, and will only get better from it.”
Can the same be said of his team? Eleven games into Year Three of the Sarkisian Rebuilding Project, it’s as if the Huskies have regressed in 2011. A second consecutive bowl game was assured on Oct. 29, when they pushed their record to 6-2, but Oct. 29 seems like a generation ago.
And let’s be honest: The team Oregon State outgained by 169 yards on Saturday doesn’t need to be thinking about a bowl trip now. It needs to be thinking about ways to win a football game.
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