By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SAN DIEGO – Boy, howdy! Yikes! Holy expletive, Batman!
Where does one begin?
Do you start with the No. 21 Washington Huskies blowing a 19-point lead to the surging, ninth-ranked Texas Longhorns? Do you start with the Longhorns taking a three-point lead with six minutes left, only to lose it? Do you start with Washington scoring with 1:49 left to take a three-point lead itself?
More likely, you start with this: Major Applewhite.
And that’s where you end.
Indeed, that’s all you need.
Applewhite set ridiculous game records in leading the Longhorns to a 47-43 Holiday Bowl victory Friday night in a comeback that won’t soon be forgotten by Washington, Texas, the frazzled 60,548 fans in attendance or the national television audience.
The burnt-orange-clothed Texas partisans serenaded Applewhite with “Major! Major!” in a fitting post-game lovefest to the all-time school passing leader, a senior who has dealt with more turmoil than he deserved.
“Major was amazing,” UW coach Rick Neuheisel said. “I don’t know what his numbers were, but they were large.”
Well, here ya go: Applewhite completed 37 for 55 passes for 473 yards and three touchdowns against the Huskies, who now know how it feels to be victims of a miracle comeback.
“I couldn’t stand for these guys to lose,” Texas coach Mack Brown said.
Because it was Washington that believed it pulled off yet another dizzying comeback when senior tailback Willie Hurst scampered 34 yards for a touchdown with 1:49 remaining that gave the Huskies (8-4) a short-lived 43-40 lead.
Applewhite, who threw three interceptions in the first half, found B.J. Johnson with a 43-yard pass that set up Ivan Williams’ game-clinching, 3-yard plunge with 38 seconds left.
The Huskies blew a 36-17 lead with 51 seconds left in the third quarter as Texas (11-2) scored 20 straight fourth-quarter points to take a 40-36 lead with six minutes left on a 4-yard scoring pass from Applewhite to tight end Bo Scaife.
But the two touchdowns the teams traded in the last two minutes left longtime observers to call the game the most thrilling since the Holiday Bowl’s inception in 1978.
“We just didn’t make plays on the ball,” Neuheisel said.
Hurst, who finished his final UW game with 137 yards and two TDs on 16 carries, was named co-Offensive Player of the Game, along with Applewhite.
Billed as a battle between two teams coming off excruciating defeats, the game came down to the powerful, talented Longhorns scoring 27 fourth-quarter points, taking a page from Washington’s fourth-quarter heroics.
The ranked Huskies, their collective psyche shredded a month ago in a 65-7 loss to top-ranked Miami, appeared poised to pull the upset. Washington’s defense harassed Applewhite early and the offense made the Longhorns’ vaunted defense at times look like Cal’s.
Texas had its own issues.
Coming off a disheartening 39-37 defeat to Colorado in the Big 12 championship game, a defeat that likely knocked the Longhorns out of the BCS championship game against Miami, Texas proved its talent and mettle. Brown, criticized for yanking Chris Simms as the starting quarterback in favor of Applewhite, stuck with Applewhite through the senior’s titanic first-half struggles.
It paid off.
Applewhite got the starting nod, his first and only this season, because Simms dug the Longhorns into a 29-10 hole against Colorado with three interceptions and a fumble.
Early, it appeared Applewhite would pull a Simms.
UW defensive tackle Terry Johnson’s second-quarter interception for a 38-yard touchdown was the most damaging to Texas. It not only gave the Huskies a 13-0 lead, but also gave them overflowing confidence against a 12-point favorite.
Besides defensive opportunism, the Huskies nearly pulled the upset by moving the ball better than anyone could have thought. Quarterback Cody Pickett was 27-for-54 passing for 293 yards, two interceptions and two TDs.
Pickett, however, threw a crucial fourth-quarter interception to linebacker Derrick Johnson that gave the Longhorns the ball on the UW 9. It eventually led to Applewhite’s scoring pass to Scaife that gave the ‘Horns a 40-36 advantage with six minutes left.
The Huskies were flying after a 13-play, 91-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard scoring pass from Pickett to tight end Jerramy Stevens in the third quarter that gave the Huskies a 30-14 lead. The Huskies scored on four straight possessions between the second and third quarters, the last capped by a 4-yard TD run by Hurst.
Hurst set up his own score with a 45-yard scamper the previous play.
The Longhorns fought back to 36-26 with nearly 12 minutes remaining on a short pass from Applewhite to fullback Matt Trissel. They then pulled to 36-33 with 8:01 remaining on a 1-yard run by Williams.
Derrick Johnson’s interception bounced off Stevens. Three plays later, Applewhite found Scaife for a go-ahead TD pass.
It was hardly over.
The Huskies blew a promising drive in the first quarter, getting down to the Longhorn 25-yard line, thanks mostly to a 21-yard pass from Pickett to Todd Elstrom. But Washington came up scoreless after Wilbur Hooks dropped a pass in the end zone, Pickett missed on a short pass to Stevens and threw behind a wide-open Hurst, who had a clear path to the end zone after beating linebacker D.D. Lewis.
A 43-yard field-goal attempt by John Anderson sailed way off to the left, and Texas took over.
Texas blew it late in the first quarter when placekicker Dusty Mangum clanked the ball off the upright from 35 yards out. It wasted a fine drive highlighted by back-to-back flanker reverse plays, when Roy Williams and Tony Jeffrey combined for 28 yards.
The Husky defense turned back the Longhorns after the reverses. Tailback Victor Ike could gain just a yard on two runs and a pass to Sloan Thomas went for just 6 yards when Chris Massey made a heads-up stop.
So the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.
Anderson didn’t miss on his next opportunity, a 43-yarder early in the second quarter that gave the Huskies a 3-0 lead. Again, Washington was able to move the ball in the air and on the ground. Pickett hit Stevens on a 16-yard pass to the Texas 46. Hurst picked up a first down to the Longhorn 34 with a 7-yard run.
On the Longhorns’ next possession, linebacker Ben Mahdavi picked off an Applewhite pass, and the Huskies took over on the Texas 26. But Pickett threw three straight incompletions, and Washington settled for another Anderson field goal, this one again from 43 yards.
But then Terry Johnson made Applewhite pay again.
Johnson stepped in front of a screen pass intended for Ike and rumbled all of his 275 pounds to the end zone 38 yards away to give Washington an improbable 13-0 lead with seven minutes left in the half.
Applewhite redeemed himself on the next possession, first hitting Scaife for 30 yards to midfield, then found B.J. Johnson for a 43-yard TD pass two plays later. Suddenly, the Longhorns were back in it, trailing 13-7 with 5:23 left in the half.
Texas strong safety Nathan Vasher took away a pass meant for Elstrom on the Huskies’ next possession, and the Longhorns took over on their own 46.
It was costly.
Applewhite teamed up with wideout Roy Williams on a 25-yard TD pass to give Texas a 14-13 lead with 1:55 left in the half.
But then Pickett was at his best on the Huskies’ next drive. He completed five of seven passes (the last a 4-yard TD completion to tight end Joe Collier) for 72 yards on a seven-play, 76-yard drive that gave Washington a 20-14 advantage.
The Huskies weren’t done. Applewhite threw a third interception, this time to UW linebacker Marquis Cooper, with 33 seconds remaining in the half. The Huskies turned it into a third Anderson field goal, this time from 40 yards with no time left on the clock, and Washington led 23-14 at the half.
But it was only one half, the one no one will remember.
Applewhite saw to that.
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