Washington prevailed on road despite mistakes

At times Friday night, it was almost as if the Washington Huskies were impersonating an Olympic diver, intentionally choosing a higher degree of difficulty.

UW committed a season-high 12 penalties, lost four turnovers, allowed California to rush for 249 yards, gain 450 yards overall and convert 10 of 18 third downs.

And yet, the Huskies won 21-13 in a game that both inspired guffaws among some who watched, and smiles in the UW locker room among players and coaches who hadn’t experienced a road win in 13 months.

“For us to overcome all of that and still win is pretty cool,” said UW coach Steve Sarkisian, who improved to 5-15 in road games at Washington.

Sarkisian, though, was the first to acknowledge that the turnovers and penalties have to be fixed.

“It’s too much,” he said. “It’s too hard to win (with those numbers).”

Even against the opponents left on UW’s schedule. The Cal game began a final third of the season for Washington against opponents whose records are far worse than the first eight.

Cal fell to 3-7, the first of four opponents against which UW ends the season with losing records. Next up is Utah, which comes to CenturyLink Field on Saturday for Washington’s final home game of the season. The time of that game will be set either today or Monday.

The Utah game will not only be Senior Day for a group that includes the last players who were signed by Tyrone Willingham, but also can get the Huskies bowl eligible. The win over Cal improved UW’s record to 5-4, with six wins the minimum need to get to a bowl. The Pac-12 has seven guaranteed bowl slots, and with 35 total bowls, six wins is almost certain to get any Pac-12 team into the postseason.

Friday night, the Huskies were simply happy to finally leave a visiting stadium as a victor. They had lost their three previous road games this season to LSU, Oregon and Arizona by a combined 145-41.

A struggling Cal team, whose loss might have put the nail in the coffin for coach Jeff Tedford, obviously represented a step down in competition.

But that didn’t diminish the value of a road win in the eyes of Sarkisian, who said it would be nice to get on a plane and “feel good about winning a ballgame rather than ‘Woe is us’ or ‘Woe is me.’ That stuff takes its toll.”

While some of the numbers were unpleasant, the Huskies made plays when they had to. Down 13-7 late in the third quarter, they marched 63 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, thanks largely to two passes from Keith Price to Austin Seferian-Jenkins, including a 29-yarder for the score.

The play of Seferian-Jenkins (154 yards) and running back Bishop Sankey (189 yards, two touchdowns) of Gonzaga Prep helped offset what was a shaky night for the downfield passing game – the Huskies had five receptions for 54 yards out of its receivers.

“There’s more there, and that’s the frustrating part for us,” Sarkisian said.

Among the opportunities missed was a drop by freshman Jaydon Mickens on a deep pass that likely would have gone for a touchdown.

But when Cal seemed to continually threaten, the Huskies more often than not made key stops.