Huskies fall short against Trojans

LOS ANGELES – The pain on the faces of the Washington football team as it walked off the Los Angeles Coliseum field Saturday told the story: One of the biggest wins in recent Husky football history was within their grasp and it slipped away.

A last-ditch drive by Washington put the Huskies in position to go for the win, but in a confusing – and for Washington players and fans heartbreaking – finish to a thrilling ballgame, the last seconds ticked away before the Huskies could get a final play off and No. 3 USC escaped with a 26-20 victory in front of 90,282 fans.

The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for Washington (4-2 overall, 2-1 in the Pacific-10) and was the fifth straight loss to the Trojans. USC (5-0, 3-0) extended its home win streak to 29 games, its Pac-10 winning streak to 26 games and its regular-season win streak to 37.

But it happened in one of the most dramatic fashions possible.

USC took a 26-20 lead on Mario Danelo’s fourth field goal of the game and Washington got the ball on its 20 with 1:29 to go. Quarterback Isaiah Stanback moved the ball downfield, running for a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-1 from the 36. After spiking the ball, Stanback found Sonny Shackelford for a 19-yard gain to the 15 with two seconds to play. That’s when the confusion began.

While the chains were being moved, the Huskies got in position to run a final play while the officials conferred about how much time should be on the clock. In an instant, the umpire over the ball backpeddled out of the play, the whistle blew and before center Juan Garcia could snap the ball, time ran out.

Garcia said the officials changed the way they signaled the start of the play and he was caught off guard.

“We’re at the line of scrimmage and all I hear is the refs arguing about if there’s five seconds, six seconds, left on the clock,” Garcia said. “The next thing I know, the (umpire) took off running, the whistle blew, the clock ran out and that was the end.”

The final events spoiled what had been a valiant effort by the Huskies, who trailed 17-10 at the half. Washington gained nearly as many yards (411 to 379), ran nearly as many plays (73 to 70) and pushed one of the nation’s best teams to the end.

“Our football team was confident that we were going to take the ball down the field and score (at the end),” UW coach Tyrone Willingham said.