Heartbreak city as Huskies lose in overtime

Lighting never strikes twice, but Washington found out that overtime sure does. The Huskies staged another furious comeback at Husky Stadium today, sending the game into overtime near the end of regulation, but, for the second week in a row, they came up short on the scoreboard losing 26-23 to the Arizona Sun Devils in front of 58,822 fans for Homecoming Week.

The entire first half was abysmal for the Huskies as they were only able to muster 110 total yards and three points. QB Carl Bonnell looked absolutely lost at times, throwing two interceptions and leading Washington on only one scoring drive.

Conversely, Arizona State QB Rudy Carpenter had an easy time of things after a rough start and completed 9 of 12 attempts for 99 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He finished the game 16 of 22 for 170 yards and two touchdowns.

After the teams traded punts early on, Carpenter drove the Sun Devils down to Washington’s 12 yard line and then, on 3rd-and-8, he hit H-Back Jamaal Lewis in the left corner for the first points of the game.

Washington answered with their own scoring drive, benefiting from a personal-foul penalty on the kickoff that gave them the ball on their own 40. On 3rd-and-6, Bonnell felt pressure straight up the middle, but hit RB Louis Rankin for a 16-yard gain to the Arizona State 29.

Later, the Huskies would face their best chance at a touchdown as Bonnell, on 2nd-and-9 from the Arizona State 17 rolled to his right, then set himself and threw back to the other side of the field where TE Rob Lewis was streaking open.

Sun Devils DE Kellen Mills sniffed out the play and tried to deflect the pass, but missed. However, he distracted Lewis enough as the junior tight end bobbled the pass and dropped it as he hit the ground in the endzone.

Washington settled for a Michael Braunstein 27-yard field goal.

Carpenter and the Sun Devils then marched 80 yards in five plays, culminating when RB Ryan Torain took it in from 24 yards out. On the play, FS Jason Wells suffered an injury to his left knee and was lost for the rest of the game.

The Huskies avoided disaster after Bonnell’s second interception when K Jesse Ainsworth hooked a 44-yard field goal attempt left as time expired and headed into the locker room down 14-3 at halftime.

The Huskies were able to drive the ball on their first drive of the second half, taking it all the way down to the Arizona State nine before settling on a 26-yard Braunstein field goal.

But Arizona State had a big answer when on 3rd-and-1 from their own 39, when sophomore RB Keegan Herring was able to take a pitch from Carpenter to the left side, cut inside of CB Roy Lewis and outrace the rest of the Husky defense for a 61-yard touchdown. The Sun Devils missed the extra point, making the score 20-6 as the teams headed to the fourth quarter.

Then it was time for the Husky comeback.

After Sun Devil P Jonathan Johnson shanked a punt out at Arizona State’s 41, Bonnell threw a lateral to WR Sonny Shackelford who hit a streaking Anthony Russo down the right sideline for the touchdown.

Arizona State then went three-and-out and it was time for Washington to make their move, but the drive didn’t get off to the best start.

On 3rd-and-3, Bonnell rolled to his left and, unable to find anyone open, threw the ball well out of bounds, however, DE Dexter Dravis hit him late and the Sun Devils were hit with a 15-yard personal foul. On the play, Bonnell injured his shoulder and junior Johnny DuRocher came in lead the Huskies from there.

DuRocher hit RB Louis Rankin with a 10-yard pass on 2nd-and-nine and then got a pass-interference penalty on 3rd-and-3 to put the ball on the Arizona nine.

After two running plays brought the ball to the five, DuRocher rolled to his right and hit Shackelford in the back of the endzone to tie the score at 20 and the teams were headed to overtime.

Arizona State won the toss and elected to go on defense first and Washington was unable to move the ball, settling for a 47-yard field goal from Braunstein.

It didn’t take long for the Sun Devils to answer, as Carpenter hit TE Brent Miller in the back left corner of the endzone over LB Dan Howell for the final score of the game.

This was the first time since overtime’s inception in 1996 that Washington has played one at home. They are now 2-3 in overtimes and will prepare to face Oregon down in Autzen Stadium next Saturday.