SEATTLE – Maybe it was fatigue. Maybe it was celebrating early. Maybe it was injuries. Maybe it was a mental collapse. Heck, maybe it was even just a better team.
Whatever the case, even though the Washington football team showed that it is improved, the suffering continued and the pain this time was possibly even worse.
The Huskies saw an 11-point fourth-quarter lead evaporate as a defense that had been so good for three quarters fell apart in the fourth, as Air Force defeated Washington 20-17 in front of 26,482 fans at Qwest Field Saturday.
The game was a disappointing beginning to the Tyrone Willingham era at UW, and the coach said his team had every chance to win the game.
“We had an opportunity to win the ballgame and let it slip through our fingers,” Willingham said. “There were several opportunities for us to make some plays that we didn’t make, and they did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunity to keep the pressure on us.”
For the players, being so close this time after being blown out of most games last season, made this loss all the tougher.
“It hurts bad,” receiver Sonny Shackelford said. “We should have won this game, we all know that. We just couldn’t get it done.”
The loss was the seventh-straight for Washington dating to last season and it was the third time in a row the Falcons defeated the Huskies. For much of the game, it appeared Washington was ready to rebound from last season’s disaster. Instead, a solid showing by the UW offense was wasted when the defense could not hold on.
“We just didn’t seize the moment,” linebacker Joe Lobendahn said. “We were up, we thought we were going to win the game, but we didn’t play four quarters.”
Quarterback Isaiah Stanback was solid, completing 19 of 27 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. His breakout performance came in the second half. The junior completed all six of his passes, including a 27-yarder to Cody Ellis in the right side of the end zone for a touchdown that gave UW a 17-6 lead with 10:43 to play.
Ellis’ leaping, two-handed catch as he fell backwards completed an 11-play, 86-yard drive that seemed to give Washington momentum. When Air Force’s Greg Kirkwood fumbled the ensuing kickoff, forcing the Falcons to take possession on the 1-yard line, it appeared the Huskies were in control.
But they weren’t.
On the fourth play of the series, Adam Fitch, the Falcons’ backup quarterback, completed a deep pass to Kirkwood, who beat cornerback Josh Okeobor. Washington safety Dashon Goldson, instead of trying to make the tackle, tried to strip the ball but failed, allowing Kirkwood to run the remaining 40-some-odd yards unmolested to complete the 84-yard scoring play.
The touchdown, the longest pass play for the Falcons since 1984, allowed Air Force to trim Washington’s lead to four, 17-13, with 9:34 to play in the fourth quarter.
Goldson said he’d seen on game film that Air Force’s receivers did not carry the ball tight and thought he could make a big play to get the UW offense back on the field.
“I should have went for the sure tackle,” said Goldson, who finished with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. “That was a mistake. … In the open field like that you have to be smart, make smart decisions, and that wasn’t one.”
“We always talk about stripping the football and I respect him for going for it,” Washington defensive coordinator Kent Baer said. “But you’ve got to get the guy on the ground.”
Washington’s offense was forced to punt and Air Force took over at it’s 17-yard line. The Falcons used its option-offense to move down the field with ease, converting once on fourth down and twice on third down. On third-and-9 from the UW 15, quarterback Shaun Carney threw a 14-yard pass to Kirkwood to put the Falcons on the UW 1-yard line. Two plays later Carney went up the middle for a touchdown to give Air Force a 20-17 lead with 34 seconds to play.
On the ensuing kickoff, Washington freshman linebacker Darrion Jones bobbled the ball for the second time in the game, giving the Huskies poor field position they could do nothing with before time ran out.
“To come on the road and be 11 points down and give up two turnovers in the game, it didn’t look too good,” Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said. “But you never rule a Falcon out. I’m certainly proud of our football team and the way that they hung in there and overcame some of the things that happened to us. Coming back and winning it is a good sign of the character that we have on our football team.”
Willingham said his defense may have been fatigued in the fourth quarter, but his players say that wasn’t the case. Certainly injuries affected the Huskies. They were already without cornerback Chris Handy, who was ruled academically ineligible on Thursday. UW lost starting cornerback Roy Lewis and starting safety C.J. Wallace to injuries near the end of the second quarter (Wallace later returned).
Air Force took advantage of the depleted secondary, throwing the ball more in the second half. The two Falcon quarterbacks combined to complete 13 of 22 passes for 207 yards.
“We were just trying to stretch the defense,” said Kirkwood, who had six catches for 134 yards. “When they start putting a lot of people in the box we can spread the field and open up some things for the running game.”
Willingham said his team may have started celebrating early.
“This is a football team that hasn’t had a lot of success,” Willingham said. “When you reach a point like that, sometimes you get giddy, you get excited about where you’re at. That is almost equivalent to a let down, and you have to guard against that.”
Both defenses were solid in the first half, limiting the teams to just a field goal apiece. The Huskies managed to force two turnovers off fumbles to stop Air Force drives.
Washington’s running game, behind sophomore Louis Rankin, got going in the third quarter. Rankin ran six times for 38 yards on the Huskies’ opening drive of the third quarter. Stanback passed to Johnie Kirton for a 21-yard gain to the 2. Two plays later, James Sims ran over left tackle for a touchdown to give UW a 10-3 lead. Air Force answered with a field goal before Washington came down to score on Ellis’ TD catch.
Rankin, making the first start of his career, had 112 yards on 23 carries.
Washington allowed Air Force to convert 9 of 17 third-down tries and all three of its fourth-down attempts. In the end, it was that inability to make plays when it most counted that doomed the Huskies.
“If we would have made a play down the stretch, there’s a good chance we’d win the football game,” Willingham said. “We were close, but you don’t get anything for being close. We’ve got to keep working, we’ve got to keep coming. They tell me if you keep digging at the well, some water will come up.”
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