Crimson celebration
Published 12:01 am Sunday, November 25, 2007
Huskies coaches and players say they’re disappointed after giving up an early lead to lose.
By John Boyle
Herald Writer
SEATTLE — Someone stop by Husky Stadium this morning and check the west end zone for Andy Mattingly.
The Washington State sophomore linebacker might still be there, holding onto a giant Cougars flag he planted into the purple lettering in the end zone, giddy and grinning after the Cougars won the 100th Apple Cup 42-35 in the thrilling fashion that has been the calling card of so many of the previous 99 meetings between the Huskies and Cougars.
“I ain’t moving,” he said, holding the flag pole tight. “The crimson on top of the purple, it looks good.”
And for the third time in four years, the crimson indeed was on top of the purple when the game ended, thanks in part to a big night by Mattingly, and also to a big game by Alex Brink and the WSU offense.
While Mattingly waved his flag, the rest of his team celebrated nearby with the Cougar fans that filled the west end of the stadium.
Matching the Cougars’ joy was Washington’s dejection. In his press conference, Tyrone Willingham called the loss disappointing, but the look on his face 30 minutes earlier, as he stood arms folded while watching the Washington State players and fans sing the school’s fight song, painted a better picture of disappointment than words could.
“It’s disappointing of course,” said senior receiver Anthony Russo. “We don’t want to lose to the Cougars and we did. We gave that one away. We had it in our hands and we gave it away. We definitely played hard, but we gave it away.”
Just like in 2005, when the Cougars left Seattle with a 26-22 victory, it was a big pass play in the final minutes that provided the knockout blow.
And just like in 2005, it was Brink delivering the winning pass. With the score tied at 35, the Cougars got the ball at their own 16-yard line with 2 minutes, 18 seconds remaining.
For Brink, the final drive was a chance to become a part of Apple Cup history as the only quarterback to lead Washington State to three wins over Washington. The senior took advantage of that chance in the final game of his college career.
After a Christopher Ivory run and a short pass completion to Ivory, Brink converted on third-and-3 with an 18-yard pass to Michael Bumpus. The two connected again two plays later for 22 yards. Then, on second-and-9, Brink got off a pass under pressure and found a wide open Brandon Gibson for a 35-yard touchdown with 31 seconds on the clock.
“We don’t usually run play fakes out of the shotgun,” Brink said of the play. “We ran one and they bit down pretty hard on a bubble [screen] by Michael Bumpus and Brandon just got over the top and I was able to make a good throw.”
Washington had a couple of shots at the end zone from the Washington State 40-yard line, but Jake Locker’s final heave into the end zone was intercepted as time ran out.
“It’s just disappointing,” said Washington center Juan Garcia. “This is a tough loss.”
As has been the case so many times this season, Washington’s defense couldn’t come up with stops when it needed them most, allowing big plays in the fourth quarter after the Huskies had taken back the lead.
Washington regained the lead early in the fourth quarter thanks to a seven-minute, 20-second drive that consisted of one pass and 15 consecutive runs. The Huskies twice went for it on fourth down while in field goal range, and the aggressiveness paid off in the form of a Locker 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal.
The Washington defense forced a three-and-out on Washington’s State’s next possession, but the Huskies could not capitalize and punted the ball back to the Cougars with 8:20 left.
Washington State’s next possession looked to be stalling out as well, but a second-down sack was negated by a defensive holding call on Nate Williams, giving Washington State a first down instead of third-and-long. On the next play, Brink found Gibson — who finished 137 yards on six catches — open in the middle of the field, and the junior outran the defense for a 40-yard game-tying score.
The Cougars offense finished with 509 yards of offense, including 399 passing yards from Brink, who finished with five touchdowns, but things didn’t go well early. Washington State started the game with three three-and-outs as the Huskies went ahead 10-0.
Washington opened the game with an 89-yard touchdown by Louis Rankin on the game’s opening kickoff, and was up 10-0 after two possessions. The Huskies also led 17-7 and 20-14, but the Cougars went ahead 21-20 late in the half.
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet /huskiesblog
