Sweet redemption for Huskies

If only the Huskies could play the Cougars every week.

And if only the Cougars never had to play the Huskies.

For the third straight year, the Apple Cup featured two teams seemingly headed in different directions. And for the third straight year, the underdog Washington Huskies all but saved their season by handing the Washington State Cougars their most stunning defeat of the year.

"Everybody thought it would be a landslide," said Washington receiver Reggie Williams after the Huskies scored twice in the final 1:10 to pull off a shocking 27-19 victory over the eighth-ranked Cougars in front of a raucous crowd of 74,529 at Husky Stadium. "But we showed everybody we are still the Huskies and they are still the Cougars."

It was UW's sixth straight win over the Cougars, who entered the game as 6-1/2-point favorites, the biggest pro-WSU spread for an Apple Cup in Seattle in 30 years.

"That's something I can take home with me, that I never lost to the Cougars," said UW senior linebacker Greg Carothers, part of a Huskies defense that made a stunning turnaround from a week ago when it allowed a school-record 729 yards in a 54-7 loss at California.

What Carothers and the rest of UW's seniors can also take with them is the knowledge that Washington's streak of consecutive non-losing regular seasons didn't stop with them. By winning, UW avoided its first losing regular season since 1976.

"That's huge," Carothers said. "That's a lot of teams that played before us that we would have let down."

The Cougars, meanwhile, were knocked out of any realistic chance of going to the Rose Bowl. They are likely headed to the Holiday Bowl, which they would have to win for a third straight 10-win season. WSU is 29-8 the last three seasons, but 0-3 against the Huskies. The Huskies, 21-16 overall the past three years, might be a sub-.500 team over that span if not for their dominance of WSU.

"I don't have an answer," said Cougars coach Bill Doba when asked to explain UW's success against WSU. "If I did, I'd tell you."

Washington State tied or led for 58 minutes, 50 seconds of the 96th Apple Cup, which for most of the afternoon was more like Apple Turnover. The two teams combined for 12 turnovers — seven by WSU — and 18 penalties, including 10 by the Cougars, who set an NCAA season record with 144 penalties.

The Huskies didn't lead until a 21-yard TD pass with 1:10 left from senior quarterback Cody Pickett to freshman receiver Corey Williams, who became one of the Apple Cup's most unlikely heroes.

Corey Williams has just five catches this season and dropped a would-be touchdown two weeks ago against Arizona. But yesterday, he made a diving grab of Pickett's pass, which just got over the outstretched hands of WSU safety Erik Coleman for the winning score.

"I felt I had an interception," said Coleman. "I felt the ball go by my fingertips. It was a nice throw and a nice catch."

It was also the last pass at Husky Stadium for Pickett, who was booed earlier in the game but made his final throw his most memorable.

The Huskies then secured the win when linebacker Marquis Cooper picked off a pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown with 14 seconds left. That was Washington's season-high fifth interception and the third thrown by WSU freshman QB Josh Swogger, who played most of the last three quarters in relief of injured senior Matt Kegel.

Afterward, UW seniors presented the game ball to coach Keith Gilbertson, who took over less than four months ago for the fired Rick Neuheisel.

"I don't know if this saves our season, but it's a marvelous moment," Gilbertson said. "If you are coaching at Washington, your first job is to beat Washington State. For the next 24 hours, I get to be the happiest guy on the planet."

The Huskies may get to play again: The Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., will have to pick between UW and UCLA for an opponent for Fresno State.

But sitting and waiting is far better than what the Huskies were doing a week ago, when they were listening to everyone say they had quit against Cal. Gilbertson said he felt a Monday team meeting helped turn his team in the right direction.

"We challenged them," Gilbertson said. "We told them, 'We believe in you and know that you've got another great game in you.' "

That belief seemed to sustain the Huskies as they fell behind 16-7 after three quarters, due in large part to failing to score on five possessions inside WSU's 30-yard line. Two drives ended in interceptions, one on a fumble, one on a failed fake field goal and the other on a punt.

Washington State took a 10-0 lead less than 11 minutes into the game, taking advantage of two short fields set up by a UW fumble on a punt attempt and a shanked punt. It was 13-7 at halftime after WSU's Drew Dunning kicked the second of his four field goals as time ran out, seeming to retake the momentum after UW scored with 39 seconds left in the half on a Pickett pass to Charles Frederick.

Shelton Sampson's 6-yard run following a WSU fumble made it 16-14 with 12:03 left. Dunning's last field goal made it 19-14 with 4:43 left.

Then, in shades of last year's game, when Washington trailed by 10 with 4:41 to go before rallying, the Huskies mounted their best drive of the day, moving 73 yards in 10 plays. The key play was a 15-yard Pickett-to-Frederick pass on fourth-and-four from UW's 46.

Then came the touchdown to Williams, and when the game finally ended, UW fans rushed the field in one of the wildest celebrations seen at Husky Stadium in years.

"There's always been a misconception that this game means more to the WSU people than to the Washington people," said Gilbertson. "Not so. Our kids had a pretty tight jaw on Monday and Tuesday, and I just felt that these kids were ready to do something special."