Huskies win again

TUCSON, Ariz. – Washington needed less than six minutes to double Coach Tyrone Willingham’s win total from last year.

Isaiah Stanback threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Huskies to their third straight victory, a 21-10 win over Arizona Saturday night in Pac-10 play.

“They were playing man-to-man against us,” said Washington’s Sonny Shackelford, who caught five passes for 105 yards. “They weren’t respecting us as receivers. So we were telling the coaches we’ve got to take shots, we’ve got to go deep.”

Washington (4-1, 2-0) scored three times in the final 6:07 of the first half to take a 21-3 lead and held Arizona (2-3, 0-2) to minus-7 yards rushing. Willingham’s Huskies went 2-9 last season, his first as Washington coach.

Although the night went in his favor, Willingham had some concerns.

“The drive to end the first half was a really big drive,” he said. “The only thing I wish we could have put something (on the board) the next quarter.”

The Huskies didn’t need it. Stanback hit Sonny Shackelford on a 50-yard pass to key an 80-yard drive that was capped by a 3-yard pass to Shackelford, erasing Arizona’s 3-0 lead.

Shackelford made all of his receptions in the first half and was facing heralded cornerback Antoine Cason part of the night.

“I took a lot of it personally,” Shackelford said. “Everybody was saying he’s the top corner in the nation. Well, I feel like I’m one of the receivers to reckon with in the nation. I wanted to show my abilities.”

After that first drive, Washington quickly got the ball back and scored again on a short drive highlighted by Stanback’s 45-yard pass to Anthony Russo, who was being played by Cason. The Huskies needed just two plays to add a third score, with 22 seconds left before the break.

Stanback hit Shackelford on a 24-yard pass and then scrambled to find Quintin Daniels on a 56-yard catch and run play against Arizona’s spread-out prevent defense.

Stanback, who hit 14 of 25 passes on the night, connected on 11 straight throws after missing his first four, including an interception. He added 47 yards rushing.

The Wildcats drove for their first touchdown in 11 quarters against a Division I-A opponent in the third quarter but never got closer.