Fumbled away
Arizona tops UW on late turnover
TUCSON, Ariz. – Washington pushed No. 17 Arizona around for most of the afternoon. Fumbles and penalties sent the Huskies to another loss.
Washington had a costly fumble with 1:23 to play and Casey Skowron kicked a 47-yard field goal to give Arizona a 27-26 victory on Saturday.
“There were definitely a lot of emotions in the game,” Huskies defensive end Andrew Hudson said. “It was one of the best games we’ve played, and it was great because everybody was in it and ready.”
Washington (6-5, 2-5 Pac-12) dropped to 0-5 against ranked teams this season.
The Huskies had the ball and a late lead. Rather than take a knee, they handed off to Deontae Cooper.
Tra’Mayne Bondurant knocked the ball out of Cooper’s hands and Derrick Turituri recovered for Arizona at the Washington 45 with 1:23 to go.
Bondurant also recovered a fumble.
If the Huskies took a knee for three downs, there would have been 10 seconds or less left when they had to punt.
“With our chart we felt like we had to run the ball again and get a first down,” coach Chris Petersen said. “They had one timeout left and that’s the information we got.”
After the recovery, the Wildcats moved to the 30 and left it up to Skowron.
The Huskies gained 504 yards of offense, compared to 375 for the Wildcats (8-2, 5-2).
But Cooper’s turnover was Washington’s third lost fumble of the game. The Huskies also were penalized 13 times for 111 yards.
“If you make too many errors, too many penalties and too many fumbles, that will catch up with you,” Petersen said. “Eventually, it will slip away.”
Washington also botched an extra-point attempt after a third-quarter touchdown.
The winning field goal was one sweet kick for Skowron, who received Internet death threats after missing a go-ahead 36-yarder in the final minute of a loss to Southern California.
“Every time I kick, I think about the USC game,” Skowron said, and then added that part of being a great kicker is being able to overcome “things that have happened in the past and just go on to the next kick.”
Skowron, who also had an 18-yard touchdown run on a fake field goal, was wide right on his first attempt at the winning kick, but said he heard the whistle when the Huskies called timeout right before the play. He converted his second try.