UW Football
Washington losing grip

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mitch Meeuwsen ended Washington's last hope by intercepting an Isaiah Stanback pass that was intended for Bobby Whithorne (20). Stanback had three turnovers.

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Washington center Brad Vanneman began recounting all of the scoring chances the Huskies wasted on this day, then stopped.

"I can't even remember them all," Vanneman said after Washington's 29-14 loss to Oregon State yesterday, the first win for the Beavers at Husky Stadium since 1985.

Who can blame him?

There was the first-and-goal at the 5-yard-line in the second quarter that netted zero points. The first-and-goal at the 4-yard line in the third that resulted in another zero. And the first-and-goal at the 3-yard line in the fourth quarter that — you guessed it — resulted in no points.

"You just keep shooting yourselves in the foot, and pretty soon you don't have any toes left over to shoot anymore," said UW tight end Joe Toledo after the Huskies lost seven turnovers amid numerous other missed chances that sent them to their fifth defeat in six games this season.

The most telling sign of what kind of day it was for the Huskies, and what kind of season it is turning out to be, might have been this — Oregon State kicker Alexis Serna, who missed three extra points in a one-point loss to Louisiana State a month ago, set a school record with five field goals, one from 55 yards.

	DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Oregon State running back Dwight Wright leaves the Huskies in his wake on a 55-yard touchdown run that erased Washington's short-lived 14-9 lead in the third quarter.

"It's really, really a heartbreaker," said linebacker Scott White after the Huskies fell to 0-3 in Pac-10 for the first time since 1973.

There was a lot of good at times, notably an inspiring performance from sophomore quarterback Isaiah Stanback, who entered the game in place of a struggling Casey Paus in the second quarter and gave the game some life.

Stanback used his feet to rush for a team-high 51 net yards, and his arm to throw for a UW season-high 219 yards and two touchdowns. The performance likely earned him the starting quarterback job for next week's game at No. 1 USC.

But in the end, it was just another loss, Washington's 10th in its last 14 games.

"There are no more excuses to be made," Vanneman said. "I am so sick of reasoning why we lost. We lost because we didn't execute. That's it."

For a moment, however, the Huskies appeared to make the breakthrough that might save their season.

Stanback's second TD pass, on a remarkable diving grab by Toledo, gave UW a 14-9 lead with 12:41 left in the third quarter.

But then Washington gave the lead right back in a way that symbolizes everything that ails this team.

	DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Oregon State Alexis Serna celebrates his 55-yard field goal that gave the Beavers a 9-7 halftime lead. Serna made five field goals overall.

Oregon State had 16 carries for zero net yards in the first half. But though the Huskies had the momentum, they let Dwight Wright run 55 yards for a touchdown on the Beavers' first carry of the second half. The play put Oregon State back ahead, 16-14, less than a minute later.

"That run kind of changed a lot of the game, I thought," said Gilbertson.

Indeed it did as the rattled Huskies went three-and-out, and the Beavers then quickly drove for another TD to take a 23-14 late in the third quarter.

Two other moments, however, were just as pivotal.

After Stanback's first career scoring pass, a 23-yarder to Quintin Daniels, put UW ahead 7-6 in the second quarter, the Huskies then got the kind of break missing all season as Tim Galloway broke through to block a punt and give Washington the ball at the Beavers' 19-yard line.

But on a second-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Washington fullback James Sims fumbled and Oregon State recovered. And instead of a 14-6 UW lead, Oregon State regained the momentum, and took a 9-7 halftime lead on Serna's 55-yard field goal to end the half.

After the Beavers went ahead 23-14 in the third quarter, the Huskies drove deep into Oregon State territory. They appeared to cut the Beavers' lead to 23-17 on a field goal by Mike Braunstein. But Oregon State was offsides on the play, giving UW another chance. But on first down at the 4, Sims again fumbled the ball away. If anything, Sims seemed to be trying too hard, admitting afterward he probably should have gone down at the 1 rather than continue fighting to get into the end zone, which led to the fumble.

"The turnovers on the 1-yard line just killed our momentum," Gilbertson said.

There were other mistakes: A delay-of-game penalty at the 3-yard line that helped kill a fourth-quarter drive, a Stanback TD pass called back because he was about a foot over the line of scrimmage.

"Once we stop making those mistakes we are going to be good," said Stanback.

The question, of course, is whether that day will come in time to make a difference this season. One more loss clinches UW's first losing record since 1976.

Games at USC and Oregon loom the next two weeks, but UW players promised that they have just begun to fight.

"People can think what they want to," Stanback said. "But I'm on the team and I know our team is going to keep battling. That's just our attitude. We know the past couple of games we've made some mistakes that take us out of some (scoring) situations. But nobody ever sees us stop trying to back in there. We are going to come out here every week no matter who we are facing and play our butts off."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com

Turnover troubles
Washington had seven turnovers, but were fortunate that they led to only nine Oregon State points. A look at each turnover:
Turnover	Per.	Time	Result
Paus pass intercepted by Bray at UW 35	1st	6:59	Field goal
Paus pass intercept by Meeuwsen at OSU 37	1st	0:40	Punt
Sims fumble recovered by Piscitelli at OSU 6	2nd	7:05	Fumble
Sims fumble recovered by Rudulph at OSU 1	3rd	1:03	Punt
Stanback pitch to James, fumble recovered by Swancutt at UW 12	4th	8:25	Field goal
Stanback sacked, fumble recovered by Lemma	4th	6:34	Field goal
Stanback pass intercepted by Meeuwsen	4th	2:15	Game ends

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