Island of horrors
HONOLULU – A season of frustration and close calls ended in such an appropriate manner for Washington.
Someday in the future, when a Husky fan wants to know the story of the 2007 Huskies and their 4-9 season, all that person will need to do is get his or her hands on a copy of Saturday night’s 35-28 loss to Hawaii.
Like they have done so many times this year, the Huskies led early, but couldn’t put the game away. And as has been the case so many times this year, an opponent came back in the second half to hand Washington a painful loss.
In a season that Tyrone Willingham summed up by saying, “A play here, a play there,” the final act indeed came down to a play here, and play there.
With just under a minute left in the game, it was Colt Brennan making the last of his many big plays, completing a five-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Grice-Mullen to give the Warriors their first lead of the game.
It was the fifth touchdown pass of the game for Brennan, who completed 42 of 50 passes for 442 yards. At one point he completed a school-record 20 consecutive passes.
The Huskies got the ball back with 38 seconds and 78 yards to go, and nearly pulled off an improbable touchdown drive. Jake Locker found tight end Michael Gottlieb down the middle for 25 yards, then connected with Marcel Reece down the sideline for 49 yards, setting up first-and-goal at the four.
After Locker took a two-yard loss on a run, he and Reece nearly connected again in the end zone on third down. Locker lofted a pass to the senior receiver, who got his hands on the ball, but lost it on a hit by cornerback Gerard Lewis. The ball caromed in the air and was intercepted by Ryan Mouton to clinch the win for the Warriors.
“I just wish I could have delivered for my team,” Reece said. “My teammates deserved it, my coaching staff deserved it, I myself deserved it and the fans did too. I apologize to everybody in Seattle for that one.”
Reece still wasn’t sure what had happened on the play, but he said he should have made the catch.
“It’s always disappointing when you’re not able to hold onto a pass as a receiver,” he said. “That’s our job. No matter where the ball is or what the defender does, the receiver has to catch the ball and then run after it. No matter how many plays I’ve made all year, that one’s going to stay with me forever. It hurts. It hurts when you’re looked on as a leader and a playmaker on the team and you don’t make a play the last play of the game.”
Willingham and offensive coordinator Tim Lappano indicated after the game that the Huskies would have gone for two points and the win had they scored at the end of the game.
Of course, there were plenty of other plays that hurt the Huskies besides that interception. The defense, which started the game so well, could have come up with another big play or two rather than allow three Hawaii touchdowns in the second quarter and two more on the Warriors’ last two possessions.