COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Washington Pulls One Out of the Hat : Pacific 10: Trick touchdown pass from tailback Shehee dooms Arizona State, 23-20.

Washington worked on its trick play for 20 minutes every day after practice this week.

When Saturday’s Pacific 10 opener with Arizona State was on the line, the Huskies got the call from their bench to use it.

Backup tailback Rashaan Shehee caught the Sun Devils with their defense down by throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Fred Coleman with 2:53 to play to give No. 22 Washington a 23-20 comeback victory.

The pass wasn’t an artistic spiral. It was more of a wobbler. But it worked.

“When the ball was in the air, I started having flashbacks of punt returns,” Coleman said, grinning. “I was so wide open I just concentrated on cradling the ball.”

The Huskies’ trick play put them ahead for the first time in the game, left the Sun Devils shocked and sent the crowd of 73,129 at Husky Stadium home happy.

“We were a better team,” Arizona State linebacker Justin Dragoo said. “We just let a trick play beat us today.”

Fans saw Washington’s first game after a two-year bowl ban, but saw the Huskies fall behind, 14-3, in the first half and trail, 20-15, late in the game.

It was the first time the Huskies won a game in the fourth quarter in Seattle since Sept. 24, 1988, when they did it in beating San Jose State, 35-31.

And it was the first time that a player other than a quarterback has completed a pass for Washington since Oct. 27, 1990, when tailback Beno Bryant passed 11 yards to quarterback Mark Brunell for a touchdown in a 46-7 victory over California in Seattle.

Washington drove 66 yards in seven plays for its winning touchdown, the first six of which were rushing plays.

From their vantage point, Washington Coach Jim Lambright and offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick waited for the right opportunity.

“It was a matter of watching their secondary,” Lambright said. “They were coming up quick to support the run.”

On the seventh play, Shehee, a redshirt freshman, took a pitchout from quarterback Damon Huard and threw to Coleman to give Washington a 21-20 lead.

Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder blamed his secondary.

“They’ve got to stay with the receivers,” he said. “That’s their job.”

Huard then passed to Dave Janosky for a two-point conversion and Washington’s defense gave up a lone first down thereafter.

The Huskies won on a day when the Sun Devils’ combination of Jake Plummer (19 of 32 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns) and Keith Poole (nine receptions for 162 yards) nearly did them in, combining for two first-half touchdown passes for a 14-3 lead.