This Time, Buffaloes Hold Their Ground : Colorado: After two last-minute breakdowns, they stop Washington twice at the goal line for a 20-14 victory.

Enough was enough for linebacker Kanavis McGhee and the Colorado defense.

The Buffaloes were unable to stop Tennessee from scoring a tying touchdown and Illinois from scoring a winning touchdown, both in the closing seconds. But on Saturday, Colorado’s defense twice turned away Washington (3-1) at the goal line in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Darian Hagan’s two third-quarter touchdowns and the fourth-quarter defensive stands gave the 20th-ranked Buffaloes a 20-14 victory over the No. 12 Huskies.

“Everybody’s been beating us in the fourth quarter,” McGhee said, “and we just said, ‘We’ve got to stop it.’ ”

Safety Tim James thwarted one threat with an interception at the goal line with 10:59 left after Washington drove to Colorado’s 20-yard line.

With time running out, the Huskies drove to first and goal at the seven. But Mark Brunell threw three incomplete passes and on fourth down his lofted pass intended for Mario Bailey was picked off by cornerback Deon Figures in the end zone with 59 seconds left.

“I had a feeling it was coming my way,” Figures said. “I was looking at his (Bailey’s) eyes. It looked like he was woozy. I don’t think he wanted to be in there.”

Four plays earlier, Bailey left the field briefly after a vicious hit by James on a six-yard reception.

“The defensive effort we got was tremendous,” Colorado Coach Bill McCartney said. “We mixed our defenses and showed them some fronts we’ve never used before. At the end, it looked like they dropped a couple of passes that could have won it for them, and then we got a great play from Figures.

“We’re finding what it takes to extract a victory, but it wasn’t easy.”

Washington Coach Don James said he considered calling a draw play after reaching the seven, but “realistically we felt like for us to win we’d probably have to throw it.

“Those were two pretty good teams out there, with a lot of great athletes. We had it, they had it.

“We played a good team on the road and gave ourselves a chance to win right to the end. A year ago we didn’t even compare to Colorado (losing 45-28 in Seattle).”

Before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury, Hagan had scoring runs of 15 and three yards to help erase a 7-3 halftime deficit as Colorado improved to 3-1-1.