SEATTLE – Things couldn’t have gotten much worse for the Washington football team Saturday, at least, until they did.
Already unable to take advantage of an Oregon State team that was begging them to take control of the game, the Huskies watched as the future of their season became a huge question mark.
With 10 minutes, 20 seconds to go, quarterback Isaiah Stanback ran for a 24-yard gain before crumpling to the turf with a right foot injury. Stanback laid on the turf for several minutes before being helped off the field and taken to the locker room. The severity of the injury wasn’t immediately known, but UW offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said “it doesn’t look good.”
The loss of Stanback was the low point in a 27-17 Oregon State victory at Husky Stadium that suddenly threw the hopes of a UW bowl berth into doubt. The Huskies still need just two wins in their final five games to become bowl eligible, but without the leader of the team, what was once a slam dunk, now looks a lot more questionable.
“It’s unfortunate for us,” offensive guard Stanley Daniels said. “It’s something we didn’t plan on happening, but we have to focus on the next game. It’s a big game. It’s a checkpoint for where we want to be.”
It was somewhat surprising that Washington (2-2 Pacific-10, 4-3 overall) was even in the game with the Beavers (1-2, 3-3), who have now won at Husky Stadium three years in a row. Oregon State out-gained the Huskies 488-256, averaging 8.1 yards a play. The Beavers sacked Washington quarterbacks six times and held the Huskies to 1-for-13 on third downs.
“We knew this could be a knock-down, drag-out fight,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “This was a football team that I thought was a lot better and I couldn’t understand why they were 2-3. And they played a very physical style, and we didn’t match it.”
Indeed, the Huskies were completely dominated up front on both sides of the ball. Oregon State running back Yvenson Bernard had 144 yards rushing and quarterback Matt Moore was never sacked. On defense, OSU contained Stanback and held the UW running game to 84 yards and just 2.3 yards a carry.
“Nothing worked,” Lappano said. “We got beat by a faster team that played more physical than we did.”
Still, OSU gave Washington opportunities to stay in the game. The Beavers turned the ball over three times and had six penalties for 70 yards.
“More than anything else, we just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that we had,” Willingham said. “That made the difference in the ball game.”
After starting slow, Washington gained momentum when Oregon State surprisingly switched to redshirt freshman quarterback Sean Canfield in the second quarter with a 10-3 lead. Canfield’s second pass was intercepted by Scott White and two plays later, Stanback ran up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown to tie the score at 10-10.
Moore then came back into the game but White intercepted him as well, leading to a 4-yard touchdown run by Stanback that gave the Huskies a 17-10 lead going into halftime.
But Washington was unable to maintain the momentum, punting on its first two possessions of the second half. The second punt was immediately followed by an 80-yard touchdown pass from Moore to a wide-open Sammie Stroughter that gave OSU a 20-17 lead. Bernard later added a 3-yard touchdown run.
The Huskies managed just 77 yards of offense in the second half and punted five times. After Stanback was hurt, Washington could not move the ball with backup Carl Bonnell, who finished 2-for-6 for 10 yards and was sacked three times.
“Every time we had a chance to get a drive going and make some yardage, we had penalties,” Lappano said. “A couple of holds, a couple of offsides. It’s hard to get a rhythm going. When we had a chance to make some plays, we shot ourselves in the foot.”
Washington’s offensive struggles started from the beginning. After opening the game with a 56-yard pass play from Stanback to Anthony Russo, a 10-yard loss by Stanback and a false start by Ben Ossai moved the UW back and it settled for a 45-yard Michael Braunstein field goal. Oregon State answered that with a 12-play drive that included two third-down conversions and was capped by a 2-yard scoring run by Bernard.
Now the Huskies know they may have to move forward – perhaps for the rest of the season – without Stanback. But the players say they know their goals are still within reach. They may just have to accomplish them in a different way.
“We’ve got faith in Carl,” linebacker Tahj Bomar said. “We’ve got to rally behind Carl, and if Isaiah can come back that’s great too, but we’ll rally behind Carl.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
