Football notebook: Special teams not so special for the Huskies

PALO ALTO, CALIF. — Washington’s special teams hurt them before most fans were even in their seats. Twelve seconds after the opening kickoff settled in Ty Montgomery’s hands, his Stanford teammates mobbed him in the end zone. And just like that, Stanford took a lead that it never relinquished. But the special teams problems did not end after the first play. Later in the first quarter, Barry Sanders Jr. had a 29-yard punt return that set Stanford up at the UW 36-yard line. Then, after Bishop Sankey put the Huskies on the scoreboard for the first time at the end of the first half to cut the Stanford lead to three, Cameron Van Winkle pooch-kicked the ball for just 33 yards on the kickoff, which gave Stanford great field position at its own 39-yard line with just a minute left. Montgomery caught a 39-yard touchdown pass five plays later. “We just didn’t cover,” Sarkisian said of the kicking game’s problems. “We knew this kid was a good returner, and we thought we were going to fit the returns well, and we just didn’t.” In the second half, the troubles continued for the UW’s kick-coverage team. After Sankey’s second touchdown cut the Cardinal lead to 24-21, Montgomery took Van Winkle’s kick from his own 13 and found a seam, picking up 68 yards to the UW 19-yard line. Tyler Gaffney scored three plays later. “You have to play all three phases,” Sarkisian said. “It’s not just O or D. We didn’t cover well tonight, and we didn’t kick great either, which set up the lack of coverage.” Sarkisian said after the game that Van Winkle was not 100 percent healthy, but he did not elaborate on specific injuries or ailments. Penalties a factor … again The Huskies came into Saturday’s game averaging 10.75 penalties and 92.5 penalty yards per game. Both stats put the UW at the bottom of the barrel as the most penalized team in the nation, and the Huskies were at it again Saturday night. A first half riddled with costly UW penalties once again hurt the Huskies in Palo Alto early and often. They were hit with sometimes-dubious — but also important — flags that stopped momentum before the Huskies could get it started. On the UW’s first drive, a holding call wiped out a conversion on a fourth-down run by Bishop Sankey. The Huskies had to punt. On Stanford’s ensuing drive, Hau’oli Kikaha was hit with a personal foul penalty that gave Stanford a first down after it was stopped on third down. Although that drive ended on Marcus Peters’ interception, the trend continued, as the Huskies were flagged eight times for 64 yards in the first half. After the game, Sarkisian was not sure about some of the calls that went against his team. “There were a lot of [penalties],” Sarkisian said. “I don’t know until I look at the film on some of the stuff.” Things got a little better after the break, but a few big flags still affected the Huskies. After the UW scored on its first drive of the half, a personal foul penalty on Stanford’s first offensive play gave the Cardinal the ball in UW territory. A final crucial penalty on the Huskies came early in the fourth quarter, when center Mike Criste was flagged for a hold. The penalty pushed a third-and-eight back to a second-and-20, and then the Huskies punted the ball back to Stanford two plays later. Note: — Quarterback Keith Price played a significant portion of the second half with an injured thumb. Sarkisian confirmed the injury but didn’t elaborate on it. Price was an efficient 13-of-16 in the first half for 129 yards with the three incompletions coming from two dropped passes and one throw out of bounds. In the second half, several of his passes were underthrown, and he was 20-of-32 for 171 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception after halftime. Reach reporter Daniel Rubens at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @drubens12

Football notebook: Special teams not so special for the Huskies

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