(James Snook-US PRESSWIRE)
PULLMAN, Wash. — A kid who grew up rooting for the Washington Huskies instead helped give rival Washington State one of its most improbable wins in the history of the Apple Cup.
Andrew Furney, a junior from Burlington, Wash., kicked a 27-yard field goal to give WSU a 31-28 win over Washington in overtime Friday in front of 30,544 at Martin Stadium.
“Sadly, I grew up a Husky fan,” Furney said happily after WSU rallied from a 28-10 deficit entering the fourth quarter. “It was one of those things where I knew it was good the minute I hit it.”
Furney sent the game into overtime with a 45-yard field goal with 1:59 left that tied the game. UW had a chance to win but a 35-yard field goal by Travis Coons was no good as time expired.
“Obviously a really disappointing loss,” said UW coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team had won four in a row but finishes the regular season with the same 7-5 record as a year ago and now has to wait to find out which bowl game it will attend. “It wasn’t for lack of trying but I felt like Washington State made some really good plays late in the game.”
UW had taken a 28-10 lead into the fourth quarter thanks in part to touchdown drives of 20, 16 and seven yards that followed WSU turnovers.
But the Cougars drove 75 and 47 yards for touchdowns on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter to make it close. Furney’s field goal tied it and UW then drove to the 17 before the Coons miss.
UW had the ball first in overtime but a Keith Price pass was intercepted by lineman Toni Pole, who almost scored on the play but was tackled just shy of the end zone.
WSU then got one first down before deciding to kick the field goal on a first down play.
The win put a happy ending on a tough first season for WSU coach Mike Leach, whose team snapped an eight-game losing streak to finish 3-9 overall and 1-8 in Pac-12 play.
“I’ve had some big wins, but this is a big one,” said Leach. “We just have to take this and grow from it and understand we can do it every time.”
WSU outplayed UW much of the day other than the turnovers, outgaining UW 369-269 in offensive yards and holding the Huskies to just 75 yards rushing.
“It’s upsetting,” said UW tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. “You have the lead like we had in the fourth quarter, it’s pretty frustrating to have that happen.”
It was the fourth overtime in the history of the Apple Cup and the teams have each won two.
Two of the UW’s short TD drives came in the third quarter as the Huskies appeared to take control of the game after trailing 10-7 at halftime.
UW drove 89 yards the first time it had the ball in the second half, the march capped by a 15-yard pass from quarterback Keith Price to Cody Bruns in the end zone.
On WSU’s next possession, quarterback Jeff Tuel was stripped of the ball by Josh Shirley and UW’s Talia Crichton recovered at the 16. UW needed just four plays to score, Bishop Sankey running it in from two yards out.
A little later, WSU receiver Bobby Ratliff fumbled after a short reception deep in his own territory and UW’s Shaq Thompson recovered and returned it to the 7. Sankey scored from the 1-yard line three plays later.
The Cougars, though, then shockingly emerged from the dead.
WSU drove 10 plays in 75 yards, helped by a couple of UW penalties, scoring on a 2-yard run by Carl Winston to make it 28-17 with 10:41 left in the game.
WSU then got the ball back on a Price fumble and drove 48 yards for another Winston touchdown, and then converted a two-point pass to cut the lead to 28-25 with 7:26 left in the game.
WSU led 10-7 at the end of a first half in which the Huskies were sloppy throughout.
The Cougars mostly dominated play in the first half, outgaining the Huskies 183-96 and passing for 173 yards against a UW defense that came into the game ranked ninth in the nation against the pass, allowing 174.
WSU scored on drives of 75 and 81 yards. The Cougars capped the first one with a 21-yard Furney field goal late in the first quarter.
They capped the second one with a 1-yard run by Winston with 9:19 left in the half.
In between, UW got its lone touchdown of the half on an 11-yard pass from Price to Seferian-Jenkins. That came after UW got the ball at the WSU 20 when senior safety Justin Glenn picked off a bobbled pass. He rolled out of bounds as he caught it and the Cougars challenged the play, but it was upheld on replay.
UW was held to just 14 yards rushing in the first half thanks in part to 28 yards lost in sacks. Sankey had 42 yards on 10 carries in the first half and 84 on 26 for the game.
Notes: Washington State played without linebacker Travis Long, who reportedly suffered a knee injury last week against Arizona State. Long had started all 47 games of his career and came into the game ranked fifth in the Pac-12 in sacks with 9.5. … WSU also was without quarterback Connor Halliday, who apparently suffered a concussion last week against Arizona State. … Washington cornerback Desmond Trufant, who missed last week’s game at Colorado with a hamstring injury, returned and got the start.
