The Huskies kept their Pac-12 North title dreams alive tonight, holding off a determined Stanford team in a down-to-the-wire win at Husky Stadium, 27-23.
Jake Browning threw for 194 yards and Myles Gaskin rushed for 148 as the Huskies got off to an early lead, only to see it begin fizzling in the second half.
The Cardinal, led by quarterback K.J. Costello, trailed 21-0 going into the halftime locker room, but got into a rhythm in the third quarter to narrow the lead to 24-14 when Bryce Love finally shook loose Husky defenders with 1:55 left in the quarter.
The fourth quarter was more of the same; Stanford drove again (this time without starting receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside who had left the game with an ankle injury), and Costello continued connecting with his tight ends, Kaden Smith and Colby Parkinson.
The Cardinal couldn’t finish in the redzone on their drive to start the fourth quarter, however, and had to settle for a field goal off the foot of Collin Riccitelli for 21 yards.
The Huskies still led 24-17 with nine minutes left in the game — but Washington would answer back when Peyton Henry hit a 38-yard field goal with just over five minutes left to play to give the Huskies a 27-17 lead.
But the Cardinal wouldn’t go away — and they marched down the field and scored when Costello found Trenton Irvin in the endzone and pull them to within four of the Huskies — but Riccitelli missed the point-after-attempt and the score stayed at 27-23 with just 3:24 left.
Washington launched a sustained drive, but it stalled out and they were forced to punt to the Cardinal with 2:16 to go and Stanford would make one last drive to try to win the game.
With just three seconds left, Costello took a shot to the endzone that was picked by Taylor Rapp. Game over. Huskies win 27-23.
Costello passed for 347 yards and two touchdowns while Bryce Love posted 71 yards and one touchdown.
Washington now moves the 7-3 overall, and 5-2 in the North, while Stanford’s record goes to 5-4, 3-3 in the North.
The Huskies now move into a much-needed bye week before hosting Oregon State in two weeks at Husky Stadium.
