Last year, at Rutgers, when the wheels fell off late in the game, Washington head coach sighed “unbelievable” as Grady Gross missed two 4th quarter field goals in the 23-20 loss.

His second trip to the East Coast at the helm at UW proved to be even more unbelievable.

It seemed that for the first three quarters of Washington at Maryland, the greater distance than the 2,722 miles between the two schools was the between the team on the field for UW and the team they were capable of being.

The game started off with Washington’s sophomore quarterback Demond Williams, Jr. throwing an interception on his 3rd pass of the afternoon.

While social media entered full meltdown mode, Williams, Jr. entered mental mode, studying himself on video on the tablet on the sidelines.  He was calm and assured that he could correct the course.

On the other side of the ball, the defense attempted to break serve with a Makel Esteen interception, but the offense was unable to hold serve, turning the ball over on downs.

Trailing 13-0 and the half and 20-0 with 11:25 left in the third quarter, Williams was composed.  There was no panic.  There was no throwing in the towel.

“Our guys kept competing,” Fisch said about the spirit of the team.  “Getting a stop, getting a score, getting a stop, getting a score.”

They’re Dawgs, but they weren’t about to roll over.

“We knew that we had to do what we had to do or the game was over,” Williams, Jr. said of the 4th quarter flurry.”

What at times looked like a young quarterback misfiring on cylinders, was a young QB finding his way, battling through adversity and finding a way to win.  Along the way they rediscovered their offensive identity.

Williams knew that they’d have to punch their way out of the corner they were in.

And they did.

“I saw a team that was confident,” Fisch said.  “Very confident at half time.  Confidence makes all the difference in the world.  That’s really what it came down to.”

Perhaps more importantly, not only did the offense found its true identity but the team found a true leader.

In the first half UW turned the ball over 3 times, twice on downs and an interception.  However, Williams, Jr led UW to scores on every possession in the second half, save for a stall drive to end the game.  The young signal caller hit on 10 of 19 passes before catching fire, completing 81-percent of his passes in the rally.  He only had 4 incompletions in his last 21 passes for 205 yards.

More importantly, not only did the offense find its identity but it also found its true leader.