One missed point, one huge victory for Huskies

Washington assistant coaches Kent Baer and Randy Hart were hoping for a game-changer when they came up with a new twist for their field-goal block team earlier this week.

They might have gotten a program-changer, instead.

"This is the type of win that should catapult us," said Washington cornerback Roy Lewis after UW beat Fresno State 21-20 Saturday at Husky Stadium. "I think the momentum is starting to roll now."

Kind of like the ball did when Washington backup defensive end Caesar Rayford blocked an extra-point attempt by Fresno State's Clint Stitser with 4:30 left after Dwayne Wright scored a touchdown that figured to tie the score at 21-21.

"He [Rayford] won the game for us," said UW quarterback Isaiah Stanback, who had a major part in that himself by rebounding from last week's struggles at Oklahoma to throw for two touchdowns and run for another. "But that's what you can do when you're 6-8."

Actually, Rayford is listed at 6 feet 7. But everyone was standing a little taller after the Huskies won a game that some players considered critical if the team was really going to begin turning things around in the second year under coach Tyrone Willingham.

"We came into this game knowing we had to win it, and we did it," said UW safety Mesphin Forrester, whose interception with 1:45 left sealed it.

Rayford's height convinced Baer, UW's defensive coordinator, and Hart, the defensive-line coach, to put him on the field-goal block team Monday as they looked at film of Fresno State's field-goal team and noticed a few flaws in protection.

"We just put in a little scheme trying to get some inside pressure," said Baer. "It wasn't anything genius. It was just looking at it and trying to get a block. Anytime you can get one of those, that's huge. Those can be game-changers, momentum-changers."

The plan hatched was to use defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim to rush hard up the middle while Rayford, who was also a standout basketball player at Bethel High School in Graham, followed him with a big leap.

The scheme had never been used before this week, but when Rayford almost got his hand on a point after touchdown in the third quarter, the Huskies decided to stick with it when Stitser took the field for another extra-point attempt after Wright's touchdown made it 21-20.

"I knew Daniel blew the guy back, and there was a hole there so I went there and reached up and I felt it hit my hand," Rayford said. "Then I heard the fans screaming and I was like 'wow, did I block this?' "

Indeed he did, as the crowd of 57,012 made abundantly clear, roaring as Husky Stadium fans hadn't since Corey Williams caught the winning TD in the 2003 Apple Cup.

"The crowd was as loud as it's been since I've been here," said Rayford, an unlikely hero who was on the field only for a few plays on special teams.

That same crowd was deathly quiet early as Fresno State took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards. Wright gained 43 yards on six carries.

"We needed to tackle," said Willingham.

The Huskies began to do that, and Stanback began carrying the offense in what might have been the best game of his college career. The quarterback, whose job status was debated by some last week, led a 75-yard drive to tie the score late in the first quarter, capping it with a 5-yard TD pass to Johnie Kirton. Stanback then scrambled 36 yards to key a drive that put UW ahead 14-7 at halftime.

Fresno State used a 38-yard TD reception by Paul Williams to tie the score in the third quarter. Williams is the younger brother of former Washington safety Curtis Williams, who died in 2002 of complications from a paralyzing injury suffered at Stanford in 2000.

Stanback's 8-yard touchdown pass to Sonny Shackelford early in the fourth quarter put Washington ahead 21-14 before Fresno State drove 52 yards, capped by Wright's 1-yard run.

But the execution seemed shoddy on Fresno State's extra point. "We never got the hold down," Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said.

Said Stitser: "I just didn't stay disciplined and get the ball up. I did a rookie mistake and got wide-eyed trying to drive the ball through. I just didn't make it happen."

The ball probably would have found a way to go through the uprights the last few years, as the Huskies stumbled to a 3-19 record — a downfall that started against Fresno State in the 2004 season opener.

"But this is a different team," said Washington running back Kenny James. "A different team all the way around. We know how to win now. Adversity was looking us right in the face, and we stepped up to it and we didn't blink."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5599 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com