[Mick]

Just when it looked like nothing could stop Keith Price and the Huskie offense, we found a secret weapon: the video review. An overturned call in the final 90 seconds of the game pulled out the victory for us.

Here's the scene: After an entire half of back-and-forth between the two teams, Washington was down to the final forth. The Huskies, with 1:47 to go, had a first down at the Stanford 49. But Price, who was 33 for 44 and pretty much having his way with our secondary, suddenly went dry. His first pass, under pressure, went into the ground. His second, under even more pressure, was a throw-away. His third was complete for a first down...until his receiver dropped the ball. So now it was fourth and 10 with 1:31 to go.

Price took the snap in a shotgun formation. His protection was good at first, but he didn't have any open receivers. As the pocket decayed, he rolled deep to his right. A Stanford linebacker -- not sure who -- had a shot at him at the Washington 35, but Price just barely escaped and kept rolling, forward now. With no Stanford defender near, he finally set and threw down the right sideline, where Huskie WR Kevin Smith, diving back toward Price, apparently scooped up the ball just before it hit the field. at the Stanford 33.

Usua Amanam and Alex Carter, both right there on the coverage, immediately signalled that the ball was incomplete. So did several Stanford coaches standing nearby. But David Shaw had unsuccessfully challenged the last Washington reception, so he couldn't ask for a review. With 1:16 on the clock and a timeout left, the Huskies only needed to move the ball a few yards to put it in field goal range. They lined up, the ball was snapped...but it was whistled dead. The replay official upstairs in the press box wanted to take another look.

Two of the three angles ESPN showed viewers on replay suggested the ball might have been trapped. But to me, they fell well short of proving it. I expected the completion call to be upheld. So did the ESPN guys. And from the animated express on Steve Sarkisian's face, so did he.

But that's not what happened. After a seemingly interminable wait, the call on the field was overturned. Kevin Hogan took a couple of knees and the game was over. Shaw's face never changed expression; Sarkisian appeared to wipe a tear from his eye. Did the officials see an angle we didn't? Or just draw a wholly different conclusion from the ESPN guys and me from the same video? Dunno.

Whether the call was correct or not, we got outplayed in every aspect of the game tonight but for one -- special teams. Ty Montgomery, have returned one kick for a touchdown in the first half, set up a second one with a 66 yard return in the third quarter.

Without those two scores, we would have been soundly beaten. Aside from an all-Tyler-Gaffney-all-the-time drive at the start of the third quarter (of the 52 yards non-penalty yards on the drive, Gaffney carried or caught the ball for 37), the Huskies completely shut down our offense. Our total offense in the second half: 100 yards.

Theirs, meanwhile, exploded. They rolled up 489 yards for the game, including 350 passing by Price. They had 31 first downs to our 15. The only things to slow the Huskies down a bit was their continuing penalty problems (10 for 97 all told) and the Stanford front line's pressure, which produced 47 yards in sacks and a red-zone interception.

Two things got settled tonight: Washington is not overrated, and this is not the greatest defense in Stanford history. We're still undefeated, but just barely.

Time of possession, Stanford 31:39, UWashington 28:21.  I don't know why our defense would be more gassed than theirs.

Garvin says Stanford only outplayed UW on special teams.  I contend that UW only outplayed Stanford in the passing game, to wit:

Passing, UW 350 yards, Stanford 105.  That is a first-rate butt-kicking in the passing game.  Of course, when you're down 7-0 after 9.9 seconds, and down 17-7 at half, you'll pass more...28 times more than Stanford.  passing ypc 7.3 for Wash, 5.2 for Stan.
Rushing, Stanford 179 yards, UW 139 yards.  Stanford averaged 4.4 ypc to 3.5 ypc against UW.
Penalties, UW 10 for 89 yards, Stanford 7 for 53 yards.  Advantage, Stanford.
Punting, Stanford averaged more than seven yards net more per punt, 2 returns for 32 yards for Stanford against 4 returns for 25 yards for UW.
Sacks, Stanford five for 30 yards, UW 2 for 7 yards.
Kickoffs, Stanford had four touchbacks, UW had...none
kickoff returns, heh heh, Stanford had five for 211 yards, UW had 2 for 36 yards
Stanford had three red zone chances, scored all three times.  UW had four red zone chances, scored three of the four.

I don't read this as UW outperforming us in every way but special teams.  They did better in passing.  That's all.  Oh, and their coach whines more than Shaw.

[Mick]

Just when it looked like nothing could stop Keith Price and the Huskie offense, we found a secret weapon: the video review. An overturned call in the final 90 seconds of the game pulled out the victory for us.

Here's the scene: After an entire half of back-and-forth between the two teams, Washington was down to the final forth. The Huskies, with 1:47 to go, had a first down at the Stanford 49. But Price, who was 33 for 44 and pretty much having his way with our secondary, suddenly went dry. His first pass, under pressure, went into the ground. His second, under even more pressure, was a throw-away. His third was complete for a first down...until his receiver dropped the ball. So now it was fourth and 10 with 1:31 to go.

Price took the snap in a shotgun formation. His protection was good at first, but he didn't have any open receivers. As the pocket decayed, he rolled deep to his right. A Stanford linebacker -- not sure who -- had a shot at him at the Washington 35, but Price just barely escaped and kept rolling, forward now. With no Stanford defender near, he finally set and threw down the right sideline, where Huskie WR Kevin Smith, diving back toward Price, apparently scooped up the ball just before it hit the field. at the Stanford 33.

Usua Amanam and Alex Carter, both right there on the coverage, immediately signalled that the ball was incomplete. So did several Stanford coaches standing nearby. But David Shaw had unsuccessfully challenged the last Washington reception, so he couldn't ask for a review. With 1:16 on the clock and a timeout left, the Huskies only needed to move the ball a few yards to put it in field goal range. They lined up, the ball was snapped...but it was whistled dead. The replay official upstairs in the press box wanted to take another look.

Two of the three angles ESPN showed viewers on replay suggested the ball might have been trapped. But to me, they fell well short of proving it. I expected the completion call to be upheld. So did the ESPN guys. And from the animated express on Steve Sarkisian's face, so did he.

But that's not what happened. After a seemingly interminable wait, the call on the field was overturned. Kevin Hogan took a couple of knees and the game was over. Shaw's face never changed expression; Sarkisian appeared to wipe a tear from his eye. Did the officials see an angle we didn't? Or just draw a wholly different conclusion from the ESPN guys and me from the same video? Dunno.

Whether the call was correct or not, we got outplayed in every aspect of the game tonight but for one -- special teams. Ty Montgomery, have returned one kick for a touchdown in the first half, set up a second one with a 66 yard return in the third quarter.

Without those two scores, we would have been soundly beaten. Aside from an all-Tyler-Gaffney-all-the-time drive at the start of the third quarter (of the 52 yards non-penalty yards on the drive, Gaffney carried or caught the ball for 37), the Huskies completely shut down our offense. Our total offense in the second half: 100 yards.

Theirs, meanwhile, exploded. They rolled up 489 yards for the game, including 350 passing by Price. They had 31 first downs to our 15. The only things to slow the Huskies down a bit was their continuing penalty problems (10 for 97 all told) and the Stanford front line's pressure, which produced 47 yards in sacks and a red-zone interception.

Two things got settled tonight: Washington is not overrated, and this is not the greatest defense in Stanford history. We're still undefeated, but just barely.

Time of possession, Stanford 31:39, UWashington 28:21.  I don't know why our defense would be more gassed than theirs.

Garvin says Stanford only outplayed UW on special teams.  I contend that UW only outplayed Stanford in the passing game, to wit:

Passing, UW 350 yards, Stanford 105.  That is a first-rate butt-kicking in the passing game.  Of course, when you're down 7-0 after 9.9 seconds, and down 17-7 at half, you'll pass more...28 times more than Stanford.  passing ypc 7.3 for Wash, 5.2 for Stan.
Rushing, Stanford 179 yards, UW 139 yards.  Stanford averaged 4.4 ypc to 3.5 ypc against UW.
Penalties, UW 10 for 89 yards, Stanford 7 for 53 yards.  Advantage, Stanford.
Punting, Stanford averaged more than seven yards net more per punt, 2 returns for 32 yards for Stanford against 4 returns for 25 yards for UW.
Sacks, Stanford five for 30 yards, UW 2 for 7 yards.
Kickoffs, Stanford had four touchbacks, UW had...none
kickoff returns, heh heh, Stanford had five for 211 yards, UW had 2 for 36 yards
Stanford had three red zone chances, scored all three times.  UW had four red zone chances, scored three of the four.

I don't read this as UW outperforming us in every way but special teams.  They did better in passing.  That's all.  Oh, and their coach whines more than Shaw.