Huskies crash to earth

STANFORD, Calif. – While phrases like big-game letdown and road struggles will be dripping off the lips of University of Washington fans this morning, the thumping heads of the Huskies’ hangover digs much deeper than that.

And it was Stanford’s Toby Gerhart who carried the hammer on Saturday night.

Led by a bruising back who exposed UW’s biggest weakness, the Cardinal tap-danced all over the Huskies’ feel-good season by way of a 34-14 Stanford victory. Gerhart ran for 200 yards and a touchdown.

“There’s issues,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said of a defense that allowed 321 rushing yards.

When Gerhart wasn’t crushing the Huskies, turnovers were. Three key giveaways abruptly ended UW drives, while two other drives concluded on failed fourth downs.

The Huskies also gave up a return touchdown on the opening kickoff.

“It’s pretty shocking,” said wide receiver Jermaine Kearse, who scored the Huskies’ only offensive touchdown Saturday. “We’re not that type of football team.”

It marked the Huskies’ first game since joining the Associated Press Top 25 one week ago today. UW, ranked 24th overall, hadn’t been a part of the poll in nearly six years, and it’s a safe bet that the UW will fall back out.

But Sarkisian was adamant that the so-called “letdown factor” was not why the Huskies (2-2) lost on Saturday.

“Not at all,” he said. “I thought our kids understood the gameplan. But we couldn’t get them to stop running the football.”

The wheels started to come off on the opening kickoff, when Stanford’s Chris Owusu rambled 91 yards for his third touchdown of the season – tying the Pac-10 record for kickoff returns in a single year.

Things didn’t get much better on the Huskies’ opening possession, which started promising but ended with a Jake Locker interception on an underthrown pass near the Stanford goal line.

That play started an odd hot-potato exchange that resulted in four turnovers on four consecutive possessions.

Stanford 34, (24) UW 14

Washington	7	7	0	0	—	14
Stanford	14	10	3	7	—	34

Stan—Owusu 91 kickoff return (N.Whitaker kick)

Wash—Glenn 51 fumble return (Folk kick)

Stan—Gerhart 60 run (N.Whitaker kick)

Stan—FG N.Whitaker 40

Wash—Kearse 19 pass from Locker (Folk kick)

Stan—Taylor 1 run (N.Whitaker kick)

Stan—FG N.Whitaker 25

Stan—Luck 9 run (N.Whitaker kick)

	Wash	Stan
First downs	16	22
Rushes-yards	28-99	50-321
Passing	191	103
Comp-Att-Int	16-31-2	7-14-0
Return Yards	0	4
Punts-Avg.	3-50.3	1-39.0
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	2-2
Penalties-Yards	2-26	4-25
Time of Possession	26:28	33:32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Washington, C.Polk 19-75, Locker 7-20, Fogerson 2-4.

Stanford, Gerhart 27-200, Luck 8-59, Gaffney 6-23, Taylor 6-22,

Owusu 1-15, Stewart 1-3, Team 1-(minus 1).

PASSING—Washington, Locker 16-31-2-191. Stanford, Luck 7-14-0-103.

RECEIVING—Washington, Kearse 3-54, J.Johnson 3-37, C.Polk 3-23,

Fogerson 3-17, Goodwin 2-42, Middleton 1-11, Homer 1-7. Stanford, Fleener 3-57, Gaffney 1-17, Owusu 1-13, Marecic 1-12, Stewart 1-4.