SEATTLE – It took 31/2 minutes to recognize the pattern
That’s how long it took Arizona to break through with nine points, on a four-play touchdown drive and a blocked punt that led to a safety in its 23-13 victory over Washington in the Lowlier Than Thou Bowl Saturday at Husky Stadium.
In the biggest win of his nine-game era as the Wildcats’ coach, Mike Stoops saw his team (2-7 overall, 1-5 Pacific-10 Conference) dodge last place in the league by withstanding three lost fumbles and just 251 yards of offense.
“You’ve got to start somewhere,” Stoops said.
But Arizona did so only because the Huskies (1-8, 0-6) gave it away by being what they’ve been all season.
Which is truly horrible.
“It was just a bad, bad day,” said UW coach Keith Gilbertson, whose announcement Monday that he was stepping down after the season did nothing to inspire his players.
Even by Washington’s standards, it was bad. Worse than bad, considering the opponent.
But then, 2004 has become a milestone few want to remember.
And it starts with the offense, which was offensive only in the most literal and extreme sense of the word.
* Husky quarterbacks Casey Paus and Isaiah Stanback were a combined 16-of-47 passing for 197 yards and a pair of interceptions. Paus, the starter, was pulled early in the third quarter for Isaiah Stanback after completing six of 22 passes. But after Stanback was equally horrid, back came Paus to mop up in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know how to put it or what to say,” Paus said. “We can’t get a break at all. I know guys around here feel real bad. I feel just as bad or worse than a lot of them.”
* Once again, the offense contributed crucial points for the opponent. Shelton Sampson fumbled into Wilrey Fontenot’s hands. Fontenot’s feet carried him 33 yards for a touchdown that gave the Wildcats a 16-13 lead. The Huskies have enough problems scoring points for themselves. The last thing they need is charity points for the other team.
It ruined a solid defensive effort that forced three Wildcats fumbles.
“It’s like a one-two punch,” cornerback Derrick Johnson said. “We punch them and they punch us back.”
* Washington generated just 297 yards of offense, which was 46 more than Arizona’s total, but the Huskies couldn’t score a point in the second half. That was when Washington committed four turnovers on its eight possessions. The Huskies turned the ball over on downs on its last possession.
Washington lost the game on two third-quarter bumbles that led to 14 points. One was Fontenot’s fumble recovery; the other was on an interception of a Stanback pass by Kirk Johnson. The Wildcats turned the interception into a 13-yard TD run by Mike Bell that ultimately put the game out of reach, 23-13.
“Offensively, we’re stuck in neutral,” Gilbertson said.
The Wildcats scored nine quick points to start the game. Bell leaped into the end zone from a yard out two plays after Arizona caught the Huskies on a 50-yard flea-flicker gadget play. Kovalcheck handed off to Bell, who faked a run into the line and pitched the ball back to Kovalcheck. Kovalcheck threw a long pass to Syndric Steptoe, who took the ball to the UW 1-yard line.
After Arizona stopped the Huskies on their next possession, the Wildcats’ Copeland Bryan blocked a Sean Douglas punt out of the end zone for a safety, giving Arizona a 9-0 lead halfway into the first quarter.
The Huskies responded with a six-play, 62-yard drive punctuated by a 5-yard touchdown run by Sampson. On the drive, a roughing penalty by Arizona on a field-goal attempt gave the Huskies the ball on the Wildcats 5-yard line.
The big play was a screen pass to Sampson, which he broke for 57 yards to the Arizona 11.
Evan Knudson converted field goals of 42 and 34 yards to give Washington a 13-9 lead.
But that was all the points the Huskies could muster. The offense made the damaging turnovers that sealed the game for Arizona and left the Huskies with one more defeat to lament.
“It’s the offense’s job to do SOMETHING with the football,” Gilbertson said. “Offensively, we’re just banging our heads against a wall with everything we’ve tried and we’re getting nothing.”
He’s right. As has been the pattern all season, Arizona’s getting more out of the Husky offense than the Huskies are themselves.
Good news: UW season is almost over
SEATTLE – The good thing about the University of Washington’s football season is – it’s almost over.
The bad thing is there are still two games remaining. And one of those is against fourth-ranked California next weekend.
And you thought it couldn’t get any uglier than Saturday’s 23-13 loss to Arizona.
What do you say about a game like this? As little as possible.
Can’t you say anything positive?
It wasn’t on TV. So only the 63,000-plus – there weren’t nearly that many – inside Husky Stadium had to suffer through it.
It didn’t snow. Nor hail. Nor sleet.
The Husky defense didn’t punch out the Husky offense, though it had every right to.
Coach Keith Gilbertson didn’t indicate he had changed his mind and was resigning his post immediately after the game rather than after the Apple Cup in two weeks.
Good man, Gilby. Loyal to the bitter end.
He had plenty to be bitter about Saturday.
The Husky offense stunk. But that’s nothing new. It’s smelled all season.
It stinks because it doesn’t have a good quarterback. And without a good quarterback, you’re in a world of hurt.
The Huskies are hurtin’ big time.
There are other reasons the offense has struggled. Key receivers are injured. Saturday the line did a terrible job of protecting the quarterback, giving up five sacks.
The Huskies had four turnovers – all in the second half – and Arizona scored on two of them. The first one – a fumble by Shelton Sampson – cornerback Wilrey Fontenot returned 33 yards for a touchdown with 3:58 to go in the third quarter, giving the Wildcats a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, 16-13.
The second one – an interception thrown by Isaiah Stanback – gave the ‘Cats the ball at the UW 40, and they needed just three plays to score, making it 23-13.
Game. Set. Match.
This is how bad it was. Husky quarterbacks completed just 16-of-47 passes for 197 yards.
Starter Casey Paus was 13-of-37 (for 164 yards) with one interception. Stanback was 3-of-10 (33 yards) with one pick.
Paus may be a nice kid. A gentleman to the core. But he’s a long way from being a major college quarterback.
He lacks one big thing when it comes to passing: Accuracy. He is to football what Randy Johnson once was to baseball: Wild. He’s all over the place. Mostly too high or too long.
As for Stanback, everyone knows his strength is running the ball, not passing it. What he needs is a summer with a passing guru. The kid’s got talent in his legs. He might have it in his arm, too. He may just need a good coach to bring it out.
The most important thing a quarterback has to have – aside from talent – is confidence in his abilities, and neither of these kids has that right now.
Stanback is a standup guy. He held himself accountable for a “bad performance.” And that performance had his chin down to about his shoetops. “Right now,” he said, “I don’t believe I’ve given anybody reason to believe in me.”
That’s pretty harsh, but he’s absolutely correct.
Nor has the offense given anybody reason to believe in it.
It did give the homecoming crowd a lift when it scored a touchdown and two fields goals to take a 13-9 halftime lead, but then the two times in the second half it had good drives going – 48 and 55 yards – it turned the ball over. Four times in five possessions, it gave up the ball on mistakes.
The defense has been patient with the offense’s ineptitude all year, not criticizing, not complaining – at least to the media – but underneath it all, some dark thoughts have to be circulating.
“I’m a man of few words,” said linebacker Joe Lobendahn. “I don’t know what to say.”
Maybe his true feelings are better left unsaid.
“I’m not really blaming them (the offense),” he said. “If they can’t score, we’ve got to find a way to score.”
The defense couldn’t do that, but it did a nice job overall, limiting Arizona to 251 total net yards. Remember, though, the Wildcats have the worst offense in the Pac-10, right below the Huskies.
It’s all about perspective.
What it’s all about with Gilbertson is winning, and his team has done that only once this season. And now that Arizona has finally won a conference game, the Huskies are all alone in the Pac-10 cellar with a 0-6 record.
Gilbertson’s postgame remarks centered mostly on the offense, or lack thereof. “A great source of frustration,” he repeated several times.
When the best running play of the day is a fake punt that picks up 28 yards, you know things are really bad.
A lot of good it did. The drive ended with a fumble.
So now Cal comes to town next Saturday.
Mercy.
The Bears aren’t likely to show any.
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