Foster, Huskies pull off miracle finish to top Arizona

Before anyone in the stadium could even process what had happened, UW linebacker Mason Foster was gone. Gone, with a game-deciding, 37-yard interception return for a touchdown that had ricocheted to him off the foot of Arizona receiver Delashaun Dean with 2:37 left in a game the Huskies had all but lost. And gone with him was the memory that the Huskies played one of their sloppiest games of the season, got outgained by 205 yards and were essentially picked apart by a barrage of bubble screens from a rookie quarterback making his second career start. Foster's improbable, did-that-really-just-happen interception lifted the Huskies (3-3, 2-1 Pac-10) to a jaw-dropping 36-33 win over Arizona on Saturday night that may very well have saved the season, providing one of the most thrilling finishes in the history of Husky Stadium for the 61,621 on hand. At least one of them-UW head coach Steve Sarkisian-had never seen anything like this before. "An interception off a guy's foot returned for a touchdown?" Sarkisian said, asked if he'd ever been a part of a game like that. "I don't think so." For that fact alone, it was miraculous. But even more stunning was how completely defeated the Huskies appeared to be just prior to that. After Arizona kicked a field goal to take a 33-21 lead with 4:22 left in the game, a steady stream of fans could be seen exiting the stadium, and the Huskies looked destined to absorb another disheartening loss to a beatable team. But UW, not ready to give up on a game it had no business winning, responded in a hurry. Jake Locker drove the Huskies down the field in just 1:21 before finding Kavario Middleton in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 33-28 with 2:55 to go. "We knew that as long as there was time on the clock," said Locker, who completed 12 of 23 passes for 140 yards and three scores, "we had a chance to win the game. It's great when you're able to be rewarded for that kind of effort." With two timeouts remaining, UW chose to kick deep. And Arizona, for some reason, decided to throw the ball on its first play. Arizona quarterback Nick Foles, who had carved the UW to the tune of 384 yards on 39-for-53 passing, was pressured as he dropped to throw on first down. UW safety Victor Aiyewa shot through and disrupted Foles' initial read-another bubble screen to a wide receiver-and Foles panicked. He shuffled backward, then rifled a pass to Dean, who watched it bounce off his foot and into Foster's arms. Then, pandemonium. "I was going as crazy as probably anybody did," Sarkisian said. "And I was thinking to myself, 'Don't get a penalty for being on the field.' So I had to make a left-hand turn and get back on the sidelines." Foster knew the play was coming. One more bubble screen was one too many. "I felt like we had pretty much stuffed a lot of their run plays, and that was their go-to play all game," Foster said. "Every team has their go-to play. That was their play. So I was kind of sitting on it." A confirmed video review, a successful two-point conversion and a game-sealing interception by Desmond Trufant on Arizona's next drive ended a four-minute swing that revived the UW's bowl hopes and made believers out of a Husky Stadium crowd that was probably more stunned than elated. "I'm just proud of our guys because we're understanding the power of belief," Sarkisian said. "We're understanding the power of continuing to battle, continuing to do things right and we're understanding in this conference, it's never over." It's hard to believe that this one wasn't over, either. The Huskies played about as poorly as possible in the third quarter, as Arizona scored on its first possession of the second half to take a 17-14 lead, then tacked on a field goal after UW went three-and-out on its next series. The Huskies failed to get a first down again during their second possession, and Arizona took advantage of a botched punt attempt by Will Mahan, scoring a touchdown after going 36 yards in 4:37 to take a 27-14 lead with 2:55 left in the third quarter. They couldn't stop the pass. They couldn't move the ball. But those final four minutes showed a team that just wasn't ready to resign itself to a 2-4 record, instead finishing a win that makes a bowl game look that much more attainable. "That's another one for the books," said UW linebacker Donald Butler. This one almost deserves an entire novel.

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