Finally, Huskies top Vandals to end record losing streak

Exhale, Husky fans. It's finally over. Six hundred and sixty four days separated the past two wins for the Washington football team, which had suffered a nation-long 15 consecutive losses before entering a sure-thing contest against Idaho on Saturday afternoon. And the crowd of 58,980 saw that streak come to a resounding end, the Huskies proving themselves superior to their WAC opponent in a 42-23 romp at Husky Stadium. As expected as victory may have been, that still didn't prevent a little confusion-the good kind, for once-from Husky players after the final seconds ticked away. What do you do after a win, anyway? Nobody in UW's sophomore class even knew what it felt like. "It's a long time feeling that's been waiting, so we kind of didn't know what to do," cornerback Quinton Richardson said. "We poured water on the coach. I went and jumped in the crowd. It's just happy, so now we just have to humble ourselves and get ready for next week." That's when they'll play No. 3 USC. But for now, head coach Steve Sarkisian wants his team to take 24 hours to relish in its first victory since Nov. 17, 2007, and the first of Sarkisian's head coaching career. "These kids have worked long and hard, obviously, since the first day I've been here for the last nine months," Sarkisian said. "Whether it's been through offseason conditioning, spring ball, summer conditioning, training camp, the two weeks so far of in-season practice, these kids so far have given us everything we could have asked of them. And I'm happy for them that they get to reap the rewards and the benefits of winning." Yes, it was just Idaho. Yes, the Huskies were 21-point favorites. But none of that makes any difference to members of this UW team, which moved the ball seemingly at will against the Vandals to compensate for a somewhat shaky defensive performance. Jake Locker was nearly flawless running the offense. He completed 15 of 22 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns before exiting in the fourth quarter. The Huskies scored on their first five possessions, the only blip coming when Curtis Shaw fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half. That came with UW leading 21-9 and Idaho already having shown a pretty adept passing game. But it was never close after that, as Vandals quarterback Nathan Enderle threw an interception to linebacker Mason Foster at the Huskies 23 yard line, which he returned to the Idaho 20 yard line. Chris Polk scored on a one-yard run four plays later to make it 28-9. "We practice sudden change where our defense had to go on the field after a turnover," Sarkisian said. "We practice sudden change where our offense had to go on the field after our defense got a big turnover. Our guys performed in those moments, so I think they're starting to understand the comfort level they have in those situations and then to go out and perform." A rare three-and-out on Idaho's next drive ended up giving the Huskies the ball at the Idaho 36, and Locker hit Jermaine Kearse for a 34-yard gain before finding Chris Izbicki from two yards out for a touchdown to really blow things open. Locker is now 40 for 67 through the air this season, quieting doubts from past seasons about his accuracy. "I think Jake-I'm going to keep saying it-has all the tools to be as special a quarterback as there is in the country, if not the best," Sarkisian said. "He keeps showing it. He shows it to us every day, and I think as we keep moving forward here, he's going to keep showing it to the rest of our conference and the rest of the country." Enderle looked pretty good, too. The one qualm from UW fans after this one will surely be the concerning ease with which Idaho moved the ball. The Vandals actually outgained Washington, 412-374-gaining 349 of it passing-but settled for field goals in the first half when they drove inside the red zone. But the simple fact that the Huskies finally won a game was what everyone on the Washington side was talking about afterward. "It's new," Locker said. "But it's great. The bumps and bruises that you normally feel that are kind of bigger when you lose, you don't feel so much now." For once, the Huskies were the ones doing the bruising.

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