Stanback gives UW new hope

Isaiah Stanback showed after Washington's 20-17 loss to Air Force yesterday at Qwest Field that he has learned the first lesson of being a successful quarterback — the only number that matters is the one on the scoreboard.

"I'm not concerned with my success," Stanback said. "Really, I could[n't] care less. As long as we win, I'm happy, regardless of what my stats were. We came out with an L."

So, Stanback knew, that made his second career start something less than a success.

Still, his numbers showed that those L's could soon become W's.

In the first Huskies game that he has both started and finished, the junior from Garfield High School completed 19 of 27 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown. And maybe most importantly, he wasn't intercepted and didn't lose a fumble or get sacked.

"I think he proved to everybody that he can play this position," said UW offensive coordinator Tim Lappano. "He's going to get better and better every week that we play as he gets more comfortable with this system. And that could be pretty scary. Everybody saw today not only that he can run, but he can throw it, too."

UW's game plan was geared to get the running game going early to take some pressure off Stanback, then open up things up a bit.

That worked mostly to plan as Stanback did the bulk of his damage through the air in the second half, when he completed 11 of 14 for 144 yards. That included a 27-yard touchdown pass to Cody Ellis early in the fourth quarter that put the Huskies ahead 17-6.

Most of his passes, however, were of the dink-and-dunk variety as Stanback did the proverbial "taking what the defense gave him."

But that in itself was a sign of maturity.

"Last year I was just out there trying to make plays and relying on myself to make things happen," he said. "This year I know what my role is, to get the ball in these guys' hands and make the right check to let other people make plays."

Stanback did that by being content to work from the pocket. He ran just five times for 12 yards.

Lappano said that was by design.

"We knew they weren't going to let him run around out there," Lappano said.

Huskies coach Tyrone Willingham said he thought Stanback "managed the game pretty well. I was pleased."

But then he said that, in the end, a quarterback is judged on just one statistic — something Stanback knows all too well.

"Right now it's just frustration more than anything else," Stanback said. "No matter how good of a play I made or anybody made, it was a loss."