SEATTLE — There were so many positives for Washington on this Saturday night at Husky Stadium.
For the first time in what felt like forever, the Huskies weren’t dominated in the third quarter; Jake Locker had one of his best games of the year, passing for four touchdowns and a career-high 257 yards; and after falling behind early, the Huskies showed considerable determination against a top-10 opponent.
In the end, however, none of that ended up mattering as Oregon pulled away for a 55-34 victory in front of 66,481 mostly disappointed fans. All of the positives were outweighed by another rough outing for the Washington defense and a fifth straight loss.
“We’ve got to win, that’s the bottom line,” said Locker, who also rushed for 78 yards on 13 carries. “I feel like we played a good game today, but we didn’t do what it took to win. So we’ve got to get over that hump and find ways to win those games. We made some strides in a positive direction, but we didn’t put up enough points to win the game, so overall we didn’t do what we needed to.”
Those strides in a positive direction included winning the third quarter 14-7 after being outscored 56-0 in the third quarter of Washington’s past five games. They included a career night for Anthony Russo, who caught five passes for 127 yards, including an 83-yard touchdown from Locker.
But the team also took steps back, as Oregon racked up 661 yards of total offense, which included 465 yards on the ground. For the third time in four games, Washington’s opponent had two 100-yard rushers. Jonathan Stewart had a career-high 251 yards on 32 carries, while Andre Crenshaw added 113 on 15 carries. Quarterback Dennis Dixon finished with 99 yards on 12 carries. “I think we’ve got some issues,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said of his team’s defense. “Obviously there were a lot of things that we didn’t do and places that we didn’t get to that we wanted to be at. I don’t think it’s as simple as just saying, ‘We missed a tackle and we played a good back.’ I think there are things that we have to work at and continue to improve at to get ourselves in the right position.”
Washington’s offense took its share — or perhaps more than its share — of the blame for the loss.
“We definitely have to make it easier for the defense,” said receiver Marcel Reece, who had a pair of touchdown catches. “If they put up 55, then we need to put up 65. No matter how many points they score, we need to put up more.”
Despite the lopsided final score, Washington was in the game until the late stages of the fourth quarter. With the score tied at 31 after three quarters, Oregon took a 10-point lead with a touchdown drive and another drive that culminated in a long field goal. The Huskies answered, thanks in large part to a 47-yard Locker run that set up a 42-yard Ryan Perkins field goal.
Down seven points with 5:58 to play, the Huskies tried to catch Oregon off guard with an onside kick, but the Ducks recovered, and went on to score three plays later. Washington then turned the ball over on downs, and the nearly unstoppable Oregon offense struck again for a final score.
A team known this year for strong first halves and sputtering third quarters, Washington looked like it might be out of this game much earlier than it has in previous weeks, as the Ducks raced out to a 14-0 lead in the game’s first 10 minutes.
Oregon looked unstoppable on its first drive, marching 61 yards on nine plays, never even being forced into a third-down situation. After a Washington three-and-out, the Ducks picked up where they left off, driving 80 yards on 11 plays to make it 14-0.
The Huskies responded with Locker’s pass to Russo, however, and kept things close from there until the final minutes.
After a fifth straight loss, the Huskies insisted they are still confident, though obviously hungry for a win.
“We’ve played great football teams and it’s time for us to start winning,” said defensive tackle Jordan Reffett. “It’s disappointing, but I tell you what, we’ve got guys that want to work over here … We’ve got six games to go. It’s still a long season. I know that it’s been tough so far, but we’re going to keep fighting, we’re never going to quit.
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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