Congrats to UW on their
Apple Cup Victory
BOWL BOUND!!!
Photo by Luke Springer.
Following his team’s gutsy 35-28 Apple Cup win Saturday night at Martin Stadium, linebacker Cort Dennison paused, sat back in his chair and remembered the silence that rang throughout the UW locker room after WSU defeated the Huskies in 2008 to cap off the UW’s winless 0-12 season.
“Two years ago was lower than low,” the junior said. “That was the lowest point in this program, by far.”
My, how things have changed.
In front of 30,157 on a frigid afternoon in Pullman, Wash., senior Jake Locker threw a game-winning, 27-yard touchdown pass with 44 seconds left, while sophomore tailback Chris Polk shredded the Cougar defense for a career-high 284 yards, as the UW left Martin Stadium with a 35-28 win to capture the 103rd Apple Cup.
But perhaps more importantly, with the win, the Huskies move to 6-6 on the season and qualify for their first bowl game since 2002. The UWwill play Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl Dec. 30.
This was the same program that lost every single game in 2008, including the 16-13 overtime heartbreaker the last time the UW visited Pullman. This was the program that lost three in a row in the middle of this season by a combined 138-30.
And this is the program — yes, the same one — that has won its past three regular season games, proving one thing about this roller-coaster squad that few can disagree with: This team is resilient.
“We understood we had an opportunity to come out these last three games and do exactly what we did,” an emotional Locker said afterward. “It wasn’t easy; it wasn’t perfect; it wasn’t pretty at times. But the guys kept fighting and believing in each other, and this is the result we got, so it’s awesome.”
Saturday’s final leg didn’t come easy, but in the beginning, it felt like theUW’s game all the way.
Polk was dominant all day, punishing the WSU defense for 284 yards on the ground, maneuvering his way left and right while dodging Cougar defender after Cougar defender.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian said that he had written “pound that rock,” on both sides of his play-call sheet, meaning the Huskies were determined to run, run and run the ball against the struggling Cougar defense. That’s exactly what happened, with Polk getting 29 carries, and he took advantage of every one of them.
“He ran like a war daddy tonight, that’s for sure,” Sarkisian said of Polk.
The Huskies went up 28-14 on a 57-yard touchdown run from Polk — his second of the game — early in the fourth quarter, as the purple-and-gold-clad UW section in the east end zone anticipated an easy finish while much of Martin Stadium fell silent.
But the Cougars weren’t about to let their season end like that. With the UW secondary suddenly allowing Cougar receivers to be constantly open, WSU sophomore quarterback Jeff Tuel led two consecutive touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, the second coming on a six-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown strike from Tuel to freshman Marquess Wilson.
So with just 4:20 remaining and WSU fans finally amped up, the Huskies found themselves in a familiar position: a tight, competitive conference game that would be decided in the final seconds.
“When I get in those situations, I like to end the game with the ball in our possession or a touchdown in our hands, and that was the mindset,” Sarkisian said.
The Huskies had won three close Pac-10 games already this season: a 32-31 win at USC, a 35-34 win overOSU and a 16-13 win at Cal last week.
It was time to do it again.
After a Locker 10-yard run gave the UW a first down on the UW 24-yard line, Polk took the next handoff 36-yards along the UW sideline that moved the ball into WSU territory.
Three-straight runs after that set up a crucial 4th-and-1 on the Cougar 31-yard line. With just 1:28 left, Sarkisian called out the field-goal unit but took a timeout to think it over. After all, it was Sarkisian who called the gutsy run play for Polk on 4th-and-goal with three seconds left that gave the Huskies the 16-13 win at Cal last week.
“Our center hadn’t even put his hands on the ball yet, so I knew I had plenty of time to make the decision, and I just kind of went back to who we were,” Sarkisian said of his thought process. “Got to make calculated, smart decisions but ultimately got to go back to who you are.”
Apparently, with Sarkisian in charge, these Huskies are the aggressors. The second-year head coach changed his mind and ordered his offensive unit onto the field. It worked, as Polk had another huge run, this time 15 yards down to the WSU 16-yard line.
And then 40 seconds later came the play of the game. Locker took a play action on the 27-yard line, saw junior Jermaine Kearse on a one-on-one along the UW sideline, and placed a perfect ball right to the hands of Kearse in the end zone.
“He had one-on-one coverage on that, and I just thought I would give him the opportunity to make a play,” Locker said. “And that’s exactly what he did.”
The 27-yard touchdown sent off a wild celebration on the UW sideline, and after a Nate Fellner interception in WSU territory ended the game, reality hit: These Huskies were going bowling.
“It was so intense,” Dennison said. “They definitely brought it; they gave us everything they had. But when things got hard, we were able to pull through, and we get to go bowling. There’s no better feeling.”
It’s the same feeling shared throughout the program, from the players to the coaches to the fans. Finally, after eight long years, the Huskies are playing postseason football.
For the players who endured the embarrassing 0-12 season just two years ago, all the hard work to get back up the ladder has resulted in a complete 180-degree change with the UW football program.
“We’ve been through the most adversity that any college athlete will ever face,” senior Nate Williams said. “Just to see this hard work paying off, it really means a lot to us. This specific moment — making it to a postseason game — marks the beginning of the real change.”
By somehow going from the miserable 2008 season to qualify for the Holiday Bowl just two years later, Williams and the rest of the upperclassmen have set a new standard within the program, something the older players set out to do before this season began.
“For the younger guys, we wanted to lay out that springboard for the future: What is expected out of this team is to make it to a postseason game, whereas the previous three years, not making it to the postseason was all right,” Williams said. “But now, that’s what’s expected for the fans, media and, most importantly, the coaches and ourselves. It’s only going to keep on getting better from here.”
For Locker, the senior who passed up millions of dollars in the NFL to stick around for his final year, he’ll finally get a chance to be a part of a team playing postseason football, which includes an added 12 or so practices this month.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Locker said. “I can’t wait.”
And for the rest of the UW team, practicing in December may never have seemed so good.
Reach Sports Editor Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.
Seniors Jake Locker (10) and D’Andre Goodwin (11) celebrate with junior Jermaine Kearse after Kearse’s game-winning touchdown catch.
