Feeling 100 percent
SEATTLE – What disappointing season?
After Alex Brink and Brandon Gibson hooked up for a 35-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left to give Washington State a 42-35 lead and Alfonso Jackson protected it with an end zone interception on the last play, much of the sting from just a five-win season was erased.
Of course, the fifth win was over Washington. In the 100th Apple Cup. And in Husky Stadium, where most of the 72,888 fans were hostile.
It was also a darn exciting game to boot.
“It feels awesome right now to have that win personally, as a teammate for the seniors, and for our program,” Brink, the record-breaking but embattled quarterback, said. “It means so much to me.”
Brink, the only Cougar quarterback to start, finish and beat the Huskies three times, closed out his career with 399 yards passing, the most in an Apple Cup, and five touchdowns, tying a record.
Just when it appeared the game was headed for overtime, Brink was perfect on the final drive, directing the Cougars (5-7, 3-6 in the Pac-10), 84 yards in just seven plays.
Following a Husky punt, Brink, scrambling to his right, hit Michael Bumpus for 18 yards on third-and-3. On second down he found Bumpus again for 22, taking the ball to the Husky 36 with a minute left. A draw play by McCall netted just 1 yard, forcing WSU to use its second timeout with 37 seconds remaining.
Then, inexplicably, the Husky secondary bit on a play fake and Gibson was all alone in the secondary, waiting for Brink’s pass to arrive.
“We just blew the coverage,” UW coach Tyrone Willingham said. “Our communication was not good, not complete across the board. We had some guys playing one thing and some playing something else.”
Gibson said, “I looked at it and said I will catch this ball or the state of Washington will be upset with me.”
Gibson also caught the tying touchdown, catching a deep slant from the left and splitting the defense for a 40-yard score with 7:29 remaining.
It was a wild ending for a team that was reeling coming fresh off a dismal 52-17 home loss and then gave up an 89-yard touchdown to Louis Rankin on the opening kickoff of the game.
The Huskies (4-8, 2-7 with a game at Hawaii next week) added a 35-yard Ryan Perkins field goal on their first possession to make it 10-0 less than 7 minutes into the game. Meanwhile, the Cougars had just 8 yards on their first nine plays.
“Our kids kept battling,” Cougars coach Bill Doba said. “What can I say? Their coaches had a great game plan for them. This group of seniors, all four years, has had problems one week and battled back the next.”
Late in the first quarter the Cougars finally went deep. In a three-play, 80-yard drive, Brink hit Bumpus for 6 yards, Gibson for 33 down the middle and tight end Devin Frischknecht for a 41-yard touchdown.
And when Brink and Frischknecht hooked up for a 19-yard score 34 seconds before halftime, WSU had a 21-20 lead.
They stretched it to 28-20 at 9:11 of the third quarter when Brink connected with freshman Jeshua Anderson for a 28-yard touchdown.
It seemed that the Cougars were going to take control when linebacker Andy Mattingly intercepted Locker two plays later. WSU didn’t cash in but a punt pinned the Huskies on their 10. However, on second-and-10, after Locker overthrew Marcel Reece, Jackson drilled the receiver, drawing a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty. Just three plays later, a blown coverage by the Cougars allowed Reece to run free deep in the secondary for a 63-yard touchdown. Locker also hit Reece for the typing two-point conversion.
Then came a staggering 16-play, 73-yard Washington drive that ate up more than 7 minutes for the go-ahead score. The Huskies converted one third down and two fourth downs, the last a 1-yard plunge by Locker for the touchdown.
“Jake Locker is a good quarterback,” Mattingly said. “He is fast. We came out and tried to contain him, but he got his yards.”
Locker finished with 103 yards on 14 carries, which gave him a Pac-10 quarteback record of 910 for the season. That offset a 12-of-35 day throwing, though the Huskies had five drops and the receptions were good for 224 yards, 101 by Anthony Russo on five catches.
“We wanted to start fast and we did, just like we did last week,” Russo said. “But we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers. It was us, not anyone else. That’s not the coaches, that’s us. We gave it away.”
Chris Ivory led the Cougars with 117 yards on 14 carries, including a 31-yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter that pulled WSU within 17-14. Gibson ended up with six receptions for 137 yards.