Washington a Winner in Overtime

Jerome Pathon caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Brock Huard in overtime, and Corey Dillon tied two of O.J. Simpson’s Pacific 10 records as No. 12 Washington defeated Washington State, 31-24, on Saturday.

Michael Black’s 10-yard touchdown run for the Cougars, 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the Pac-10, tied the score 24-24 with 1:18 remaining, and then the Cougars blocked a 41-yard field-goal attempt by Washington’s John Wales with eight seconds left in regulation.

Huard’s pass to Pathon then won the Apple Cup in overtime for Washington (9-2, 7-1), which hopes to play in the Cotton Bowl. Ryan Leaf’s pass attempting to tie it in overtime was caught by Chad Carpenter out of bounds on the left side of the end zone.

Dillon, a junior college transfer from Utah, scored three touchdowns, raising his season total to 22, which tied the record set by USC’s Simpson and matched by the Trojans’ Marcus Allen 13 years later.

Dillon also tied the Pac-10 season scoring record of 138 points, held by Simpson and Allen.

Dillon gained 155 yards in 38 carries to end up leading the conference with 1,555 yards rushing. He scored on runs of one, one and five yards Saturday before leaving with a right hamstring injury in the fourth quarter that was later diagnosed as cramping.

While on the bench, Dillon watched as the Cougars erased a 24-3 Washington lead with three quick fourth-quarter scores.

“Our motto is to go out there and take care of business. Unfortunately, the game went into overtime, but we squeaked out the win,” said Dillon, who last week set a NCAA single-quarter rushing record with 222 yards against San Jose State. “Wazzoo is a great team. At any time, they can put points on the board.

“Please score and stop them. That was the only thing on my mind.”

Of the game-winning pass to Pathon, Huard said, “That’s got to be a quarterback’s dream. You’ve got the ball in your hands and you’ve got to make it happen.”