Desomnd Trufant came up big for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Huskies in their big win over Stanford. (Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE)
DALLAS (FWAA) – In a wild offensive weekend, it was a defensive effort that earned Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week honors. The Washington Huskies shut down No. 8 Stanford to earn the award for the games of the weekend of Sept. 29. The Huskies (3-1) upset the Cardinal, 17-13, to rearrange the early Pac-12 North standings. The announcement came exclusively on SiriusXM Radio’s “College Sports Today,” hosted by Mark Packer and Eddie George.
Washington held Stanford to 235 total yards and only 65 on the ground, the Cardinal’s lowest offensive output in four seasons. An interception by Desmond Trufant inside the Huskies’ 20-yard line in the final two minutes sealed the win, one of two takeaways for Washington on the night. The other came on a sack that forced a fumble.
Washington’s first win over a Top 10 team since 2009 also snapped a four-game losing streak to Stanford, which gained 446 rushing yards in a 65-21 rout against the Huskies last year. The Huskies trailed 13-3 in the third quarter, but completed a comeback on Kasen Williams’ bobbling, 35-yard catch and run for a touchdown with 4:53 left.
“I wanted this one as much if not more than any other one,” senior safety Justin Glenn said, “just because every game that we’ve played against Stanford has kind of just been a beatdown, really,”
Other Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Sept. 29 included:
* Middle Tennessee (3-1): The Blue Raiders wrecked Georgia Tech, racking up 510 yards of offense in a 49-28 road win. Middle Tennessee broke the game open in the third quarter with two long touchdowns split by a key fourth-down stop on its own 25.
* West Virginia (4-0): The Mountaineers made their Big 12 debut a memorable one with a 70-63 win over Baylor. Geno Smith had one of the greatest days in modern college football history, completing 45 of 51 passes for 656 yards and eight touchdowns in the high-scoring affair that featured 67 first downs and 1,507 yards of total offense.
The Football Writers Association of America has named a national team of the week since the 2002 season. This is the seventh season that the award has been sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Members of the FWAA All-America Committee decide the weekly honor. Each remaining Monday during the 2012 college football regular season, the FWAA will name the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week.
Founded in 1971, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl has hosted seven games that have decided the college football national championship, including four Bowl Championship Series title games. This season, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will be played on Jan. 3, 2013, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., and the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl will be played on Dec. 29, 2012, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe , Ariz.
For more information on the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, go to www.footballwriters.com or www.fiestabowl.org.
2012 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Teams of the Week
* Weekend of Sept. 1: Ohio Bobcats
* Weekend of Sept. 8: ULM Warhawks
* Weekend of Sept. 15: Stanford Cardinal
* Weekend of Sept. 22: Kansas State Wildcats
* Weekend of Sept. 29: Washington Huskies
