BERKELEY, Calif. — Having called the number of senior quarterback Jake Locker four consecutive times in an effort to keep their season alive, the Washington Huskies turned to an even higher power when it counted most.
“That’s God’s play,” senior safety Nate Williams said of the power run that sprung tailback Chris Polk for a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal on the final snap of UW’s 16-13 win over California on Saturday afternoon. “That’s just straight power.”
Using a secular play that is a staple of UW’s short-yardage game, the Huskies survived to live another day Saturday afternoon. And thanks to Polk’s touchdown through a huge hole on the right side of the line, that preseason dream of bowl eligibility is just one step away from fruition.
“It’s exciting,” said Locker, who completed 17 of 27 passes and carried the ball four times during the game-winning drive. “It’s right where we want to be as a football team, and I’m so proud of these guys for fighting and competing the way they did (Saturday).”
Thanks to an emerging defense, a gritty quarterback and, in the end, Polk’s scamper into the end zone, the Huskies closed out Cal’s Memorial Stadium with one more memorable scene. The touchdown set off a celebration of white jerseys that started in the corner of the end zone, spilled into the area behind the goal post and eventually led the players to a nearby section of purple-clad UW fans who had spent much of the afternoon watching a defensive battle while the rain poured down on their heads.
“We were all in there yelling and screaming,” Williams said. “It was one of those memorable moments — again.”
It marked the third time this season a Huskies game has come down to the final play, and UW has won all three. Erik Folk hit a game-winning field goal at USC, an overtime game against Oregon State came down to a missed two-point conversion, and then came Polk’s heroics after the Huskies snapped the ball with two seconds remaining on the clock.
“I knew we were going in,” Polk said afterward. “I knew that if I kept my legs going, I had no choice but to go forward. … It was the O-line. I get the credit for it, but I practically walked in. It was blocked real nice.”
One thing that was certain was UW coach Steve Sarkisian was not going to let the final play of this game happen in overtime.
After three second-half lead changes and a six-play drive that had put the Huskies at the Cal 7-yard line with 1:29 remaining, Sarkisian had already decided that a field goal was out of the question. Locker, who had just gotten a first down while running eight yards on a quarterback draw, ran the same play again for six more yards to the Cal 1.
Sarkisian called Locker’s number twice more — on second and third downs — but the quarterback got stopped short of the goal line on both dive plays.
The third down play was whistled dead with about 40 seconds left, and Sarkisian let the clock run down to two seconds before calling a timeout. He gathered in all his players — defense included — and they rallied around as he discussed what UW was going to do on fourth down.
The Huskies were trailing 13-10 at the time, and yet Sarkisian said he never considered sending the field goal unit onto the field to send the game into overtime.
“You guys are starting to get to know me now — I didn’t blink,” he told reporters after the game. “We were going for that (touchdown); that’s at home, or away.”
The scene in that final huddle was best characterized as calm chaos. Defensive players were jumping and shouting. Linebacker Cort Dennison said he was “screaming in Sark’s face: ‘Go for it!’” Williams said he “honestly wasn’t really listening because I was just screaming.” And the offensive players were taking it all in.
“We were all in there laughing, making jokes, smiling,” Polk said. “We all knew we were going to score.”
The call was 26 Power Plod, a version of the play the Huskies run in the 9-on-7 session of practices every day. This time, with everything on the line, there were a couple wrinkles to make sure UW had an extra advantage.
The first key was coming in and out of the huddle quickly, which the Huskies did at such a fast tempo that the Bears barely got set before the quick snap. There was also an alternate look on the right side of the line, with tackle Cody Habben moving inside to guard, left tackle Senio Kelemete switching sides to line up to his right, and reserve Daniel Kanczugowski next to Kelemete as a sixth lineman.
With 248-pound fullback Austin Sylvester leading the way to open a huge hole, Polk sprinted right into the end zone barely touched for the game-winner.
“I think we caught them off guard because they were expecting us to run up the middle, and we ran wide right,” Polk said. “I think that they just didn’t know where we were going.”
The game-winner was one of several big plays in a game that was mostly about the defenses.
Wide receiver D’Andre Goodwin got the first big offensive play when he made a bobbling, circus catch at the Cal 35-yard line, then turned and ran untouched for an 80-yard touchdown to give UW its first lead at 7-3 five minutes into the second half.
Cal responded seven minutes later with a 21-yard fumble return for a touchdown after Locker was stripped of the ball and Bears lineman Cameron Jordan recovered the ball and ran into the end zone to give Cal a 10-7 lead.
The two teams traded field goals over the next two drives before a 46-yard pass play from Locker to wide receiver Jermaine Kearse on UW’s final drive helped set up the late-game heroics.
In the end, everything came down to one snap at the 1-yard line with two seconds on the clock. And the Huskies can thank God — or “God’s play,” anyway — that it worked out in their favor.
“It’s a great feeling,” Polk said. “We still have our hopes of the bowl game. We’ve just got to go out there and get another win.
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