LOS ANGELES – What happened at the end of Washington’s dramatic 26-20 loss to USC Saturday may never be fully known. Everyone involved has their own version of the events. The only thing that is clear is that the Huskies had a chance at a huge upset, and they saw that chance fade away without even an attempt.
Who’s fault that is was the question in the wake of the loss. Some said the officials started the clock too quickly, or didn’t give Washington enough time on the clock in the first place. Others thought the Huskies simply weren’t in position and ready to go when the officials blew the whistle to start the play.
Whatever the case, the frustration was mostly due to never knowing just what would have happened had Washington gotten one chance to throw the ball into the end zone.
“I think I would have made the play if it came to me in the end zone,” said receiver Sonny Shackelford. “We say big players make big plays in big games, and I wanted to make that play, but we’ll never get that opportunity to.”
USC had just taken a 26-20 lead and Washington took over from its own 20 with 1:29 to play. Behind two passes to Shackelford and a 2-yard run on fourth-and-1, Isaiah Stanback drove the offense to the USC 34. After spiking the ball on first down to stop the clock, Stanback hit Shackelford over the middle for 19 yards to the USC 15.
That’s where the confusion starts. As the chains were being moved, Washington went to line up to run the play and a few officials met to discuss if the two seconds shown on the clock were correct or if there should be more time. At that point, the umpire who sets the ball down began backing away from the play, the referee blew his whistle to start the clock, and time ran out.
Center Juan Garcia said the timing of the play was different than it had been throughout the game. He said the umpire had given him more time to get set between backing away and when the whistle blew to start the play. He also said the fact that the officials were arguing over how much time to have on the clock threw off the timing.
“I was on my way down to get on the ball and he was blowing the whistle,” Garcia said. “Throughout the game, he was like, ‘Alright 58, give me some time to get out of here.’ And then he runs out, and they blow the whistle. That last time was too fast.”
The other question is if two seconds is enough time to allow the Huskies to have gotten the play off in the first place. According to referee Brian O’Cain, that would have been enough time.
“The general rule of thumb is that if there is one second when I wind and they snap immediately, the play can go,” O’Cain said. “We try to keep the same pace the whole game. We don’t go faster or slower.”
Despite the noise generated by the 90,000 fans in the stadium, Garcia said he heard the whistle blow and he’s not sure why, if he snapped it when he heard the whistle, there was still no time left on the clock.
Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said it would have been difficult for his team to get the play off given the time left and he acknowledged it is a very difficult play to officiate. The timing between the officials getting off the ball, starting the clock and the team getting set has to be perfect or a situation like Saturday’s occurs.
“They’re trying to balance and keep it somewhat the same look they’ve had throughout the ball game,” said Willingham, who added that he thought more time would be put on the clock. “We just needed a few more seconds.”
Still, Washington offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said he believes his offense was in position to get the play off and it simply failed to do so.
“You’ve got to be underneath it,” Lappano said. “When you’re not underneath it and you only have two ticks … we should have been able to get the play off.”
The players on the field say they were ready to go for the play, but for whatever reason the clock didn’t cooperate.
“We work on the two-minute drill every day in practice,” running back Kenny James said. “We were excited, a lot of things were happening at the time. Somehow we didn’t manage the clock right.”
“It was a whole bunch of confusion,” Shackelford said. “The referees were talking, there was a whole bunch of talking on the sideline. When the ball got snapped we started running but the referee was blowing his whistle. …I thought we were going to go back to five seconds but it didn’t happen.”
Stanback would not comment about the end of the game but did say he felt like his team could have gotten the play off had the timing been right. He said he felt he was in position to receive the snap and run the play.
Garcia said when the referees stopped the play, he thought a penalty had been called and had no idea that the game was over. He said he felt he snapped the ball in time and ultimately feels that the timing change of the officials was the reason the play did not go off.
“The way it played out is frustrating,” Garcia said. “If they wouldn’t have argued about the (time left), we would have been on the ball, but they were over there arguing and then the whistle blows. It’s a frustrating situation to be in.”
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