SEATTLE — On its way to bowl contention, the University of Washington football team hardly looked the part late Saturday night.
But that didn’t seem to matter as much as the fact that the Huskies are likely to make it to the postseason again.
Junior running back Chris Polk scored five touchdowns while piling up 244 yards of total offense to lead UW to a 42-31 escape of a struggling Arizona team at Husky Stadium. The win gave the Huskies (6-2 overall, 4-1 in the Pacific-12 Conference) six wins on the season, making them bowl eligible for the second year in a row.
“That definitely means a lot to me, especially coming from my freshman year (when the Huskies went) 0-12,” senior receiver Jermaine Kearse said afterward. “It’s definitely a great feeling.”
Polk led the way while becoming the first known UW player to put up 100 yards in both rushing and receiving in the same game. He ran for 144 yards and four touchdowns while adding 100 yards and another score via the air.
Polk matched a modern-day UW record for touchdowns in a game, becoming the first Husky to score five in a single contest since Corey Dillon did it in a 1996 win over UCLA. The school record is seven touchdowns, scored by Ervin Dailey in a 1919 win over Whitman.
Polk went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season for the third consecutive year. His outing helped overshadow a rare off performance from quarterback Keith Price and another frustratingly soft performance from a UW defense. The Husky defense bent often but avoided breaking at key moments and came up with some critical plays when Washington most needed them.
The Husky defense turned in perhaps the most important play of the night when it created a turnover near midfield with 7:14 remaining and UW clinging to a four-point lead. Safety Will Shamburger forced a fumble when he hit Arizona receiver Juron Criner after a short reception, and UW teammate Princeton Fuimaono corralled the ball to end Ariizona’s drive.
The Huskies marched 50 yards in five plays, culminating in Polk’s fifth touchdown of the day for a 42-31 lead with 4:00 to play on the clock.
Fuimaono added a huge sack on Arizona’s next possession, while safety Sean Parker intercepted a pass with 2:10 remaining to help secure UW’s win.
Arizona piled up 424 yards of offense, including 388 by the air, but had to settle for field goals on three possessions. The Wildcats turned the ball over three times in the final 71⁄2 minutes — the final one came when UW linebacker Cort Dennison intercepted a pass with 29 seconds to go.
The Huskies, who were coming off a loss at Stanford and will host Oregon next Saturday night, nearly got caught in one of those hangover/look-past games that seem to come after and before matchups with big-time opponents.
But Polk and the timely turnovers allowed UW to escape and clinch bowl eligibility for the second consecutive season.
Two days before the game, Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian said attaining a second year of bowl eligibility would be another big step for the program.
“Big deal,” he said after Thursday’s practice when asked about the possibility of winning a sixth game and becoming bowl eligible. “That’s why this game is vitally important. To get to the sixth win and to cherish the opportunity to get to a bowl game is something that is big to us. We’ll celebrate it and embrace it, like we did last year, when that time comes.”
The expected offensive showdown took awhile to get going before the two teams combined for 46 second-half points in a back-and-forth final 30 minutes of action.
The Huskies emerged from a ragged first half with a one-point lead, outlasting Arizona 14-13 after 30 minutes filled with mistakes by both teams.
The Wildcats got off to a fast start and put UW in a 10-0 hole before the Huskies’ offense got rolling. Washington scored back-to-back touchdowns in the second quarter, eventually taking a 14-13 lead on Polk’s 1-yard run with 6:16 remaining.
An interception and a costly sack derailed UW’s final two drives of the half.
Keith Price had one of his most frustrating halves of the season, completing just six of 14 passes for 83 yards and an interception while getting sacked twice.
Things didn’t seem to get much better on the opening drive of the second half, when Price’s first pass was intercepted as he tried to force a ball to Jermaine Kearse in triple coverage near the goal line. But a pass interference call wiped out the interception, gave the Huskies new life and Price completed two consecutive passes to get UW into the end zone. His 17-yard strike to Polk on a wheel route extended the Huskies’ lead to 21-13 less than two minutes into the second half.
Just when it looked like the UW offense was in rhythm, another interception — this one counted — gave the Wildcats life.
Price’s harmless pass to open receiver James Johnson in the flat turned into disaster when Johnson tripped, bobbled the ball and lost control as he fell down. The ball popped into the arms of Arizona safety Robert Golden, who weaved through UW’s would-be tacklers before barely making it into the end zone for a 91-yard interception-return touchdown.
A two-point conversion tied the score at 21 with 10:40 remaining in the third quarter.
The two teams traded touchdowns before an Arizona field goal with 14:10 remaining gave the Wildcats their first lead of the second half.
Then Johnson factored into another interception when he fell down on a slant route as Price’s pass left the quarterback’s hand. Arizona cornerback Trevin Wade intercepted the pass to end that drive at the Wildcats’ 29-yard line, but the UW defense held on three plays.
Price completed two long passes on the next drive, setting up another Polk touchdown that gave UW a 35-31 lead with 8:21 remaining.
Arizona followed that up with turnovers on three consecutive drives as the Huskies pulled away.
Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles completed 32 of 50 passes for 388 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted three times.
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