Huskies survive upset bid

Published 7:15 pm Saturday, September 3, 2011

SEATTLE — After spending his first two seasons at the University of Washington living in the massive shadow of quarterback Jake Locker, this was the moment when Keith Price was finally ready to step out into the limelight.

And yet as a beautiful afternoon unfolded, UW’s new starting quarterback once again found himself playing second fiddle Saturday.

While Price hobbled around on a sprained right knee, his Huskies tried in vain to figure out a way to stop Eastern Washington University and star quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. The Eagles passed for 473 yards — the fourth-highest total ever against a UW defense — and refused to let the bigger Huskies pull away in the season opener for both teams. Only an interception in the end zone by UW’s Desmond Trufant with 28 seconds remaining allowed the Huskies to hold on for a 30-27 win over the Eagles from the lower-division Football Championship Series.

Little EWU stood up against the big boys from the NCAA’s Football Bowl Series and nearly pulled off one of the more historic upsets in this state’s history.

“I was actually very surprised,” said UW running back Chris Polk, who started the game and rushed for 125 yards despite missing much of fall camp with a knee injury. “Not to take anything away from them, but we felt real confident coming in.

“But they showed up. I’m just glad we came out on top.”

Thanks in large part to Polk’s surprising effectiveness, Price’s three touchdown passes and an opportunistic special teams unit, the Huskies were able to survive on Saturday afternoon.

But UW was on thin ice for almost the entire afternoon, and until Mitchell’s final heave from the 25-yard line was plucked out of the air by Trufant in the end zone, the upset was there for the taking.

Mitchell threw 69 passes, the most ever by a UW opponent, and continually broke the Huskies’ backs with conversions on third-and-long and fourth down. He completed 39 of 69 passes for 473 yards and three touchdowns to outshine a surprisingly effective performance from the hobbled Price.

The new UW starter got off to a rough start when a teammate’s tripping penalty led to a three-and-out on the opening series. But after Trufant stripped an EWU return man on the ensuing punt, the UW offense got a second chance and made the most of it.

Price completed a pass to freshman tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, then added a 7-yard touchdown pass to fullback Jonathan Amosa, who was playing linebacker this time last year.

The pesky Eagles marched down the field and tied the score on a fourth-down touchdown pass on their opening drive, then took a 10-7 lead on a short field goal before UW regained control.

Wide receiver James Johnson, who caught just one pass during the entire 2010 season, caught Price’s second touchdown throw from 9 yards out to give UW a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter. When kicker Erik Folk nailed two long field goals in a span of less than two minutes, the lead had swelled to 10 points and the rout that many outsiders expected appeared to be on.

But Eastern had one more long drive in it during the final 31⁄2 minutes of the first half, and an Eagles field goal cut the lead to 20-13 at halftime.

Mitchell continued to move the ball, and the chains, but couldn’t get into the end zone for most of the third quarter. He had five passing conversions of third-and-10 or more, and two more on fourth downs for the game.

When UW’s Price threw his third touchdown pass of the game, to freshman Kasen Williams from 6 yards out, it gave the Huskies a comfortable 27-13 lead with less than 18 minutes to play in the game.

Two minutes later, Mitchell hit Greg Herd from 43 yards out to close the gap to seven points. After another Folk field goal, Mitchell drove EWU to another score by throwing a 5-yard touchdown pass with 3:50 remaining.

While Price hobbled around on a sprained right knee that he suffered in the second quarter, UW relied on its running game to get one first down during the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. But after Polk was dropped for a loss on a third-and-9 with 1:25 remaining, the Eagles had their shot at victory.

UW’s Kiel Rasp unloaded a 55-yard punt that Eastern caught, after calling for a fair catch, at its own 5. Mitchell came out on the field with 1:17 to play and 95 yards to go for the game-winning touchdown — or less than that to set up the possible tying field goal.

Eastern immediately marched down the field with four first-down completions on five snaps. The final one put the ball at the UW 25-yard line with 35 seconds remaining.

Trufant, who had been picked on for much of the afternoon, ran stride-for-stride with 6-foot-5 EWU receiver Brandon Kaufman and out-jumped him for a pass in the end zone to clinch the victory.

Cornerback Anthony Gobern, who had to come into the game because of injuries to teammates Quinton Richardson and Greg Ducre, was one of the most relieved players to see Trufant come down with the interception with 28 seconds to go.

“It was the craziest thing,” said Gobern, who gave up a 23-yard reception two plays earlier to put EWU in scoring position. “I’m so happy. Amazed. I could think of 100 positive words that are going through my head right now.”

Afterward, the Huskies sounded more relieved than excited.

“The way they play,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said, “is almost exhausting.”

Said Price: “We just have to play better. We’re a better football team than that.”

One thing the Huskies didn’t say was that the Eagles were lucky to be close.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they won the national championship again,” linebacker Cort Dennison said of last year’s FCS champions. “They’re gritty, they’re tough, they’re courageous.”

And then Dennison was asked where the Eagles might fit in, say, the Pac-12 Conference.

“From what I saw today,” the UW senior linebacker said early Saturday evening, “they can play with anybody.”