Sarkisian owns up to late-game blunders

Steve Sarkisian has been getting used to being congratulated for Washington's unexpected competitiveness this season. But yesterday, he had to answer for some questionable play-calling in Saturday's 24-17 loss at Arizona State. And in yet another change from his predecessor, he didn't shy from the subject - or from responsibility. Many fans wonder why Sarkisian chose to throw the ball when the Huskies had a third-and-one from their own 19-yard line with 28 seconds remaining in a tie game. Quarterback Jake Locker ended up throwing an incomplete pass, and after a UW punt, ASU won the game with a 50-yard touchdown pass against a confused secondary. Sarkisian said he wished he'd run the ball instead. A first down would have given the Huskies the chance to either take another couple of shots down field - they had all three of their timeouts remaining - or simply run out the clock and take their chances in overtime. "As I go back and look at it now, the reality of it is, I should've ran the ball on third down to get a first down, then possibly take our shots to get downfield," Sarkisian said. Sarkisian said he thought their gameplan had helped set up a chance to complete a deep pass to receiver James Johnson, which is why he called the play. But Locker threw incomplete, and the clock stopped with 22 seconds left. "I really thought there was an opportunity to make a play to James Johnson, with the thought being: If we hit this play, we get the ball somewhere around midfield with three timeouts, possibly 15 to 20 seconds depending on what happens," Sarkisian said. "Now we can try to get a shot at a field goal, and the game ends one way or another that way." Locker said he didn't question the decision not to run the ball. "I have complete confidence in this staff and the situations they put us in," Locker said. "There was a reason why he called it, and we just weren't able to execute it. I wasn't surprised by it; I wasn't shocked by it." More shocking may have been the play that followed, when ASU quarterback Danny Sullivan hit a wide-open Chris McGaha for the game-winning touchdown with five seconds left. Sarkisian said Nate Williams was the deepest safety back, meaning he should have been the last line of defense. But instead, Williams jumped a crossing route to make sure ASU didn't pick up a big chunk of yardage to get into field-goal range, and there was nobody back to pick up McGaha or the other receiver the Sun Devils had open in the end zone. It was a fairly basic three-deep coverage, Sarkisian said, with eight guys dropped back in pass coverage - the four defensive backs, all three linebackers, and a defensive end who also curled back. It's a defense the Huskies run frequently in those kinds of situations. "In Nate's defense, he saw the quarterback's vision and eyes so hard left that he felt like if he doesn't throw that comeback, the first threat is going to be this crossing route, so let me go take it," Sarkisian said. "That wasn't the case." Sullivan's first read appeared to be comeback route to the boundary on the sidelines, Sarkisian said, which the Huskies had covered. But when that read wasn't there, the ASU quarterback looked downfield and saw two receivers with nobody near them. And UW's three-man pass rush didn't get any pressure on Sullivan. "We didn't get the pass rush we needed to, one, allow the quarterback that much time to see the field that long. Any time you have to cover that long, it gets difficult," Sarkisian said. "To the quarterback's credit, his ability to come off his primary read and find a guy that probably wasn't even in his progression for a touchdown was a great play." A play Huskies fans are still scratching their heads about. Reach Sports Editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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