Washington upsets Stanford in "Blackout of the Century"[/B]
Kaelyn Sayles
55,941, mostly clad in all black, swarmed into CenturyLink Field in Seattle on Thursday night to watch Washington host, and then upset, number 8/9 Stanford 17-13.
"All in all, I'm proud of our kids," head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "They deserve it. These guys worked their tails off. They battled, they competed, they played smart football tonight."
Sarkisian emphasized the importance of playing smart, disciplined football since the season began, focusing on playing the game how it's meant to be played.
Thursday night, he said they did just that.
With the offensive line struggling, the big standouts on offense were tailback Bishop Sankey and wide receiver Kasen Williams, both of whom set career highs.
Sankey rushed for 144 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Williams had 10 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown. Big numbers for sophomores, and both were big touchdowns.
Sankey found a hole on fourth and one, breaking free to rush for 61 yards into the end zone to finish off the third quarter.
"It happened so fast," Sankey said. "The hole was there and I just tried to get to the hole as fast as I could, and I saw the guy closing in on me, and I stepped out a bit and after that it was just off to the races."
Quarterback Keith Price wasn't surprised that Sankey had the night he did.
"(Sankey is) a workaholic," Price said. "He really takes pride in his craft. I knew today was going to be the day.
I knew it."
Williams's touchdown in the fourth quarter was the first touchdown allowed by the Stanford defense in the fourth quarter this season.
And it was a big one.
Williams brought in the ball thrown by Price and ran it into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown while carrying a Stanford defender on his back and having the ball slip out of his hands.
"I put my head down, was able to make the defender miss, the ball slipped out a little bit, I was able to put it back in my hands, and I just rushed to the end zone," Williams said, making it all sound simple.
So what was he thinking when the ball started to slip?
"Grab it," Williams said.
And was he shocked when he realized the ball was slipping?
"Yeah, a little bit," Williams said with a smile. "I was like, 'Where are you going? Come back!'."
While Sankey and Williams shone, it was the Husky defense that really seemed to carry the team.
Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox were proud of the defense's effort.
"I think early on, one of our biggest mishaps defensively was our inability to play disciplined football, disciplined defense," Sarkisian said. "Wilcox deserves a great deal of credit, our defensive staff, for getting these kids prepared for a scheme that was effective tonight."
It wasn't only what the defense showed on the field that was effective. Their energy on the sideline proved to be contagious.
Price and Williams agree that the team really fed off of the defense's energy during Thursday night's game.
Sarkisian was impressed by this role reversal from last season to this season.
"It was actually very impressive to see some of our defensive coaches our defensive players come up to our offense and almost re-fire them back up, that 'we'll be OK,' that 'we're going to do our job on defense, so you'll be alright on offense, just get going'," Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian said he thought that was a cool scene from a team standpoint to see the defense come to the offense and show that leadership.
Williams believes that after this performance, people are going to start taking notice of the Washington Huskies.
"I wasn't thinking of the whole national television thing the whole game, but now that it's all said and done, yeah, we made a statement tonight," Williams said. "People are paying attention, people are watching the game and I think people are starting to look at us now."
And they're now looking at them in the "right" way.
Price said that LSU was a good test for their team, and the test showed that they weren't ready for the big stage yet.
"I promised myself I wasn't going to feel that way ? embarrassed ? again," Price said.
Cornerback Desmond Trufant said it felt good to come out and win. It proves to the team that their hard work can pay off, and a sense of belief is what the team needs to thrive, according to Sarkisian, Price and Trufant.
"So much hard work these last two weeks, we've been practicing well, and it shows," Trufant said. "I'm just proud of how we played tonight."
Sarkisian said the ultimate goal of tonight's game was to get the win and start off conference play 1-0.
Looks like they achieved that goal.
Wednesday night, Sarkisian spoke with his team and told them that he wanted to lie down in bed Thursday night and be 1-0 in Pac-12 play.
"I just wanted to be 1-0. I wanted to start off on the right foot, and how we did it, what the score was going to be, was really irrelevant, Sarkisian said. "It was more of playing the way we were capable of playing."
After all the post-game excitement, it seems like Sarkisian will be able to rest easy before starting to think ahead to the next game.
Sarkisian said he is most proud of the guys for their ability to execute in critical moments. But according to Sarkisian, there's a lot more to be proud of in Thursday's win.
"I'm proud of this one because this isn't our most complete football team right now. I'm proud of this one because of who we played ? that's a talented team, a very good football team. I'm proud of this one because probably outside of me and the guys in our locker room, I don't know who else thought we'd win," Sarkisian said.
Kaelyn Sayles
55,941, mostly clad in all black, swarmed into CenturyLink Field in Seattle on Thursday night to watch Washington host, and then upset, number 8/9 Stanford 17-13.
"All in all, I'm proud of our kids," head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "They deserve it. These guys worked their tails off. They battled, they competed, they played smart football tonight."
Sarkisian emphasized the importance of playing smart, disciplined football since the season began, focusing on playing the game how it's meant to be played.
Thursday night, he said they did just that.
With the offensive line struggling, the big standouts on offense were tailback Bishop Sankey and wide receiver Kasen Williams, both of whom set career highs.
Sankey rushed for 144 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Williams had 10 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown. Big numbers for sophomores, and both were big touchdowns.
Sankey found a hole on fourth and one, breaking free to rush for 61 yards into the end zone to finish off the third quarter.
"It happened so fast," Sankey said. "The hole was there and I just tried to get to the hole as fast as I could, and I saw the guy closing in on me, and I stepped out a bit and after that it was just off to the races."
Quarterback Keith Price wasn't surprised that Sankey had the night he did.
"(Sankey is) a workaholic," Price said. "He really takes pride in his craft. I knew today was going to be the day.
I knew it."
Williams's touchdown in the fourth quarter was the first touchdown allowed by the Stanford defense in the fourth quarter this season.
And it was a big one.
Williams brought in the ball thrown by Price and ran it into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown while carrying a Stanford defender on his back and having the ball slip out of his hands.
"I put my head down, was able to make the defender miss, the ball slipped out a little bit, I was able to put it back in my hands, and I just rushed to the end zone," Williams said, making it all sound simple.
So what was he thinking when the ball started to slip?
"Grab it," Williams said.
And was he shocked when he realized the ball was slipping?
"Yeah, a little bit," Williams said with a smile. "I was like, 'Where are you going? Come back!'."
While Sankey and Williams shone, it was the Husky defense that really seemed to carry the team.
Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox were proud of the defense's effort.
"I think early on, one of our biggest mishaps defensively was our inability to play disciplined football, disciplined defense," Sarkisian said. "Wilcox deserves a great deal of credit, our defensive staff, for getting these kids prepared for a scheme that was effective tonight."
It wasn't only what the defense showed on the field that was effective. Their energy on the sideline proved to be contagious.
Price and Williams agree that the team really fed off of the defense's energy during Thursday night's game.
Sarkisian was impressed by this role reversal from last season to this season.
"It was actually very impressive to see some of our defensive coaches our defensive players come up to our offense and almost re-fire them back up, that 'we'll be OK,' that 'we're going to do our job on defense, so you'll be alright on offense, just get going'," Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian said he thought that was a cool scene from a team standpoint to see the defense come to the offense and show that leadership.
Williams believes that after this performance, people are going to start taking notice of the Washington Huskies.
"I wasn't thinking of the whole national television thing the whole game, but now that it's all said and done, yeah, we made a statement tonight," Williams said. "People are paying attention, people are watching the game and I think people are starting to look at us now."
And they're now looking at them in the "right" way.
Price said that LSU was a good test for their team, and the test showed that they weren't ready for the big stage yet.
"I promised myself I wasn't going to feel that way ? embarrassed ? again," Price said.
Cornerback Desmond Trufant said it felt good to come out and win. It proves to the team that their hard work can pay off, and a sense of belief is what the team needs to thrive, according to Sarkisian, Price and Trufant.
"So much hard work these last two weeks, we've been practicing well, and it shows," Trufant said. "I'm just proud of how we played tonight."
Sarkisian said the ultimate goal of tonight's game was to get the win and start off conference play 1-0.
Looks like they achieved that goal.
Wednesday night, Sarkisian spoke with his team and told them that he wanted to lie down in bed Thursday night and be 1-0 in Pac-12 play.
"I just wanted to be 1-0. I wanted to start off on the right foot, and how we did it, what the score was going to be, was really irrelevant, Sarkisian said. "It was more of playing the way we were capable of playing."
After all the post-game excitement, it seems like Sarkisian will be able to rest easy before starting to think ahead to the next game.
Sarkisian said he is most proud of the guys for their ability to execute in critical moments. But according to Sarkisian, there's a lot more to be proud of in Thursday's win.
"I'm proud of this one because this isn't our most complete football team right now. I'm proud of this one because of who we played ? that's a talented team, a very good football team. I'm proud of this one because probably outside of me and the guys in our locker room, I don't know who else thought we'd win," Sarkisian said.
