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It was evident in the smiles on the Husky players’ faces as they celebrated a 38-21 win – their second straight under head coach Steve Sarkisian. It was obvious in the disappointed looks on the Cougars as they exited the field, their season over and their head coach’s future in doubt.
Like all true rivalry games, periphery details like bowl eligibility or even a head coach’s job security, get pushed aside for the true idea of the two state schools going meeting for football bragging rights. Those rights will be held by the Huskies, who were simply better than their cross-state counterparts.
For this game, Washington looked more like the team that stormed to a 5-1 record and a top 25 rating, than the team that had stumbled in the past five weeks losing four out of five games, including the last three.
“This has obviously been a long month for us,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Not to take anything away from the Cougars, or that they didn’t deserve it, but I just felt like our guys deserved it. They’ve worked so hard.”
Sarkisian has maintained during the recent downturn that his team has never lost it’s “want to.” But the “want to” finally reached a “need to” level.
A maligned defense made a few plays to look respectable thanks to a resurgent defensive line led by Alameda Ta’amu and a “small ball” offense finally made some big plays to give the Huskies a 7-5 record, it’s best since the 2002 season.
“It sure feels right,” Sarkisian said. “We’re getting better. I know there are days and weeks at a time that it doesn’t appear that way. That’s a tribute to our kids that we just put our heads back down and go back work. This has been an amazing process.”
Across the way, the Cougars have gotten better, under head coach Paul Wulff, but at a far more incremental rate. Washington State finished the season 4-8 and 2-7 in conference. A definite improvement over last season’s 2-10 season, but they are still just 9-40 under Wulff. The lack of success leaves people wondering: Will Wulff be the coach next season? Will he be the coach next week?
“I just want to say this is a young football team,” he said. “We’ve done a hell of a job recruiting kids, and the football program has a bright future. That’s my job and I’ve been doing that. Not a lot of teams can go through three quarterback changes in a season and (almost be) bowl eligible going into the last game. The quarterback situation is such a key role for any football team.
Indeed, Washington knows first-hand how important the quarterback position is after being forced to sit starter Keith Price for most of last week’s loss to Oregon State.
A semi-healthy Price and a blossoming Kasen Williams helped rejuvenate a struggling offense.
Price threw a pair of first-half touchdowns to the ballyhooed freshman in the first half. Already up 7-0 thanks to a Jesse Callier 2-yard return of Thomas Tutogi’s blocked punt, Washington went up 14-0 as Price threaded a pass just beyond the reach of a WSU defender and Williams reached back and made an impossible grab for a 16-yard touchdown.
The Huskies appeared to have most of the early 14-0 momentum ripped from them as WSU answered with a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Marshall Lobbestael. The fifth-year senior, who was forced into playing much of the season due to injury to Jeff Tuel, and then forced into Apple Cub action when freshmen Connor Halliday suffered a lacerated liver last week, hit fellow senior Jared Karstetter on a 16-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to cut the lead to seven. Lobbestael came back on WSU’s next possession, completing all four his passes on the short drive, including a 16-yard dart to Marquess Wilson that tied the game at 14.
But Washington went to Williams again. The kid, who said earlier in the week he wanted to put his mark on the rivalry, did just that with a play to remember. On a first and 10 on the WSU 39-yard line, Price zipped a pass to Williams in the flat. The 6-2, 212-pound 18-year old, and owner of multiple state track titles in the triple, long and high jump, saw defender Nolan Washington coming at him and hurdled over him for an extra few yards.
“They had captured a lot of the momentum to the game,” Sarkisian said. “For us to go right back down the field and make the plays they did, and what a ridiculous play by Kasen Williams, jiminy Christmas, it looked like he jumped seven feet in the air.”
Williams wasn’t worried about getting hurt.
“If you are going to go with something like that, you don’t really think about the consequences,” he said. On the following play, Price eluded two pass rushers and hit Williams in the end zone for 21-yard touchdown pass. Instead of going into halftime tied, Washington held a 21-14 lead.
“We are going to be really special group, and I can’t wait to see what happens,” Williams said of the combination of he and Price and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins.
Neither team go much going early in the second half, but Washington was able to push the lead to 28-14 when Price hit running back Chris Polk on a 22-yard pass for a touchdown.
WSU answered immediately as Lobbestael hit Wilson on a short screen pass and the explosive receiver did the rest, exploding past defenders for a 38-yard touchdown.
“Wilson is an absolute stud,” Sarkisian said.
But the Husky defense, which has been widely criticized and derided, managed to keep the Cougars scoreless the rest of the way. The defense held WSU 382 yards of total offense, while forcing two turnovers.
“Me and Cort (Dennison) talked about getting the defense back on track,” said senior tackle Alameda Ta’amu, who was disruptive force all game. “We said we are the leaders of this defense. People have felt bad the last few weeks, and we decided to show enthusiasm all week.”
Washington tacked on an Erik Folk field goal and a late Chris Polk touchdown to put the game away late in the fourth quarter.
Price finished with 21-of-29 for 291 yards. The three touchdowns gave him 29 for the season, surpassing Cody Pickett’s school record of 28 in a season.
“He’s a warrior and an amazing competitor,” Sarkisian said.
Now the Huskies will take next week off – good for the beat up Price – and wait to see what bowl they will go to. The announcements will be made December 4th with the likely destinations being the Sun Bowl, the Holiday Bowl or the Alamo Bowl.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483
ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
http://blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
