By Danny Williams Posted on

Washington’s miraculous fourth quarter comeback sinks Nebraska

Through three quarters Nebraska (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) looked like it would end the night with a Halloween treat in front of its home crowd. However, with under two minutes to go in the game, Washington (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) pulled off a trick and stunned the home team, stealing the victory, 17-10.

“All together, it was all three phases that got this win, what a cool place to get a win…this was a Big Ten win,” Fisch said.

Down 7-3 late and with no offensive rhythm, Fisch made a change at quarterback. Elijah Brown started the game and threw for just 136 yards on 19 completions. After missing the previous game against Purdue with an injury, Demond Williams Jr. came in with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

“I know that [Demond] was ready, he was ready, I looked at him, and I just said, ‘you ready?’ he said, ‘I’m ready,’ that’s all I needed to hear,” Fisch said.

With 4:29 remaining, Williams marched the Huskies down the field. The drive nearly stalled when UW found itself with a fourth-down and 18 yards to go. Somehow, Williams maneuvered out of the pocket and found receiver Chris Lawson on the sideline. Gain of 24 yards, Washington first down.

Two plays later, it was Lawson again who eluded a defender and dove into the endzone to put Washington up 10-7 with 1:36 remaining. Lawson finished the game with 12 catches for 155 yards. Both career highs.

Nebraska now had 1:36 to tie the game. On the second play of the drive, Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea dropped back to pass and was picked-off by Washington safety Alex McLaughlin. 48 yards and a shush of the crowd later, Washington was up 17-7. Ballgame.

Demond Williams saves the day

Heading into Saturday, Fisch made it unclear who would start the game, but did say both QB’s would have a chance to play. Whether it was the previous lack of production from Williams, or wanting to ease him off an injury, Fisch gave Brown the nod.

When it came time to make the switch, Williams immediately refreshed fans on his elite play-making ability. Williams ended the night as UW’s leading rusher, four carries for 28 yards, including a 19-yard scamper. Admittedly, there were some throws where the rust clearly revealed itself, but when it mattered most, Williams delivered.

“If at any time they asked me to go in there and try to win the game for us, I was going to go in there and do just that,” Williams said.

Defense dominates

McLaughlin’s interception was the obvious highlight of the night, but the UW defense played a bend-don’t-break game all night. UW recorded two more interceptions, both in the first quarter. The first from safety Rylan Dillard-Allen and the second from cornerback Emmanuel Karnley.

Although neither turnover resulted in points for UW, the defense never waivered. Nebraska missed it’s only field goal try in the redzone in the third quarter, keeping the deficit to just four. The Huskers totaled 387 yards of offense, but the Huskies’ defense kept them out of the redzone and subsequently off the scoreboard.

Nebraska’s only touchdown came late in the first quarter on a Colandrea pass to tight end Carter Nelson. Besides the score, the UW pass defense made the night rough for Colandrea. The Nebraska QB finished completing just 55% of his passes with the aforementioned three interceptions to boot. Colandrea hadn’t thrown more an one interception in a game all season.

“We knew [Colandrea] was going to give us some chances to make plays on the ball, we just had to catch it, so shoutout to [Dillard-Allen] and [Karnley] for making plays on the ball,” McLaughlin said.

Up Next

Washington returns home to take on Penn State on Saturday, November 7 at 12:30 pm. The game will air on FS1.

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