Penalty, Mahdavi "Leaf" Price a second "Gesser"
Richard Linde and Mike Archbold, 17 November 2001

It was the third time in recent games that Washington State's head coach Mike Price has opted for short yardage on fourth down deep in enemy territory, called a running play and  come up short, leaving himself second guessing his play calling. Although Price made the right call down on the one-yard line, he must be wondering what the Cougs have to do to score on short yardage plays.

Apparently Price accepted the delay of game penalty against the dawgs to start the game. He may be second guessing himself about that decision as well, since it brought the crowd into the game before it even started. (See Mike's report below).

The Huskies' goal-line stand, which started at their own five yard line, is the most significant, courageous effort I have seen from a Husky defense in years. It swung momentum to the Dawgs, and energized the fans and team. Even the impartial Gods of the Apple Cup, who sit high in the sky, having long since departed this world as past members of Cougar and Husky football teams, had to applaud the defensive stand.

On the subsequent drive, Reggie Williams caught three passes for 59 yards and drew a pass-interference penalty. Rich Alexis took the ball in from one yard out, making it 7-0, Huskies. Momentum had turned, even though WSU fought back. 

Jason Gesser came back to tie the score, throwing a 15-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Bush with 10:03 remaining in the second quarter. 

Then the roof caved in on Wazzu as the Husky defense came to the fore and forced several key turnovers.

After it was all over, wide receiver Reggie Williams caught 11 passes for 203 yards and tight end Jerramy Stevens caught 5 passes for 41 yards and one touchdown. Undoubtedly, the Cougars were reluctant to double up on Williams because of Stevens' presence, the two of them being a formidable pair of receivers at 6' 4" and 6' 7" tall. And of course, there are always Paul Arnold and Todd Elstrom, who aren't too shabby at hauling in Pickett's bullets either.

Washington scored its last sixteen points after three Washington State turnovers. Altogether the Cougars lost the ball on four turnovers. 

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Mike's report from the stands.

From his view in the stands, Mike Archbold gives his report on what he saw at the Apple Cup. 

Climate:  If you were seated in the sun, very pleasant; if not, chilly.

Attendance:  Completely packed.  I didn't see anybody selling outside, and a few people were looking for tickets.  A tough ticket.

Summary:  WSU bowed down to Washington completely.  It was a fun game to watch.  The very limited WSU offensive attack, with the exception of one drive or so, seemed to be based on blocked punts and weird penalties.  Washington is a good all around football team that just needs to develop more confidence playing on the road.  The offense looked pretty
good and Rich Alexis had some good plays, appearing to break out of a mini-slump.

Notes:

- For the national anthem, an ROTC color guard was present.  The flag faced due north, which is atypical.  Usually the flag faces south.  Since the tragedy of September 11th, most people sing along.

- Scrooge, otherwise known as the head official, told Neuheisel that if he didn't speed up the senior introductions, he'd throw a delay-of-game flag.  Sure enough, to everyone's astonishment, this idiot official threw a flag on Washington for 10 yards even before the game started for being
about five minutes late!  You live long enough you see everything.  This official is in dire need of a course in fuzzy logic.  His thinking is binary.  Forget that ABC uses up about an hour in commercial time-outs!  I'm sure if Gil Dobie were coach he'd have some colorful comments for this idiot official.

- WSU foolishly left Reggie Williams in single-coverage
repeatedly.  Whenever Reggie was lined up against one guy, which was a frequently to say the least, there was no doubt where the ball was going.  Some of his catches were truly astonishing.  Several times I was saying "don't throw it, Cody, no, he's covered..." and Williams would make
an astonishing grab!

- The WSU crowd was very loud at the beginning of the game, but quieted down when things started to slip.  Of special note was a fence that had been put in place around the WSU band, which was stationed in front of the WSU section.  I can't remember another school being "put in jail" like
this, but I suspect that UW officials were worried that if WSU won, they'd all storm the field and cause mayhem and rabble-rousing, them being WSU and all!  Lou Gellerman repeatedly warned the crowd not to go onto the field
after the game, however it was clearly a moot point as there were no crazed Cougars to be found.

- Prior to the fourth quarter, Beno Bryant was presented to the
audience.  He ran to the fifty yard line, amidst thunderous applause, and appeared to kiss the "W" in the middle of the field.  Nice to see Beno again.

- There was also an introduction of the Seattle Bowl committee, which includes none other than the Dawgfather himself, Don James.  Curiously, they were outfitted in green jackets.  Evidently they envision Oregon being in the Seattle Bowl frequently.

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Scoring

 

WSU	0	7	0	7	14
Washington	7	6	6	7	26

 

Statistics	WSU	Dawgs
First Downs	21	25
Rushing yards	95	79
Passing yards	227	371
Sacked-yards	1-3	2-12
Return yards	2	18
Passes	22-35-1	25-38-1
Punts	5-47.6	4-26.0
Fumbles lost	4-3	1-1
Penalties-yards	9-85	11-99
Time of Possession	26:52	33:08

Passing:

Pickett 25-38-1, 1 touchdown

Gesser 22-34-0, 2 touchdowns

Minnich 0-1-1           

Individual Statistics:

Rushing

Receiving