Pickett Pulls Out Another Comeback

Cody Pickett the former rodeo team-roper showed the toughness his coach has been talking about all season.

Two weeks after separating his throwing shoulder, the Washington quarterback ran three yards for the winning touchdown with 13 seconds left as the No. 15 Huskies managed yet another amazing fourth-quarter comeback, beating Arizona, 31-28, Saturday at Seattle.

“When you get out there and get the adrenaline going it helps a lot,” said Pickett, a former cowboy from Caldwell, Idaho. “After the game is when the pain starts setting in.”

Pickett threw touchdown passes of 78 and 75 yards in the first quarter and finished 29 of 49 for a career-high 455 yards, with three touchdowns and four interceptions.

“It was like something out of a movie,” said receiver Paul Arnold, who caught the 78-yarder. “Two weeks ago he separated his shoulder as bad as you can, and today he’s out there throwing TDs and setting records.”

The Huskies (5-1, 3-1 Pac-10) overcame five turnovers to bounce back from their first loss in 13 games. They haven’t lost two straight since Coach Rick Neuheisel’s first two games in 1999.

Saturday’s win marked the fourth time this fall the Huskies have come back to win in the final quarter. They did it five times in last year’s Rose Bowl season.

Arizona is winless in four Pac-10 games and has lost nine consecutive conference games. For the second consecutive year, the Wildcats (3-4, 0-4) surrendered a fourth-quarter lead at Husky Stadium.

“We played better but the bitter taste is still in our mouth,” Arizona linebacker Ray Wells said.

On third down, with less than 25 seconds on the game clock, Pickett faked and took the ball to his right into the end zone for the winning score.

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Arizona State 41, Oregon State 24--Delvon Flowers ran for 226 yards and two touchdowns as the Sun Devils defeated the Beavers at Temple, Ariz.

Flowers scored on runs of 74 and 28 yards in the biggest game by an Arizona State running back in the last 28 years, and the sixth-best ever. His yardage in 23 carries was the most since Ben Malone set the record of 250 against Oregon State in 1973.

Jeff Krohn threw a 63-yard pass that the receiver, Shaun McDonald, turned in another score when he recovered his own fumble in the end zone, Justin Taplin threw a 23-yard TD pass on a trick play and Tom Pace scored on an 11-yard run.

Mike Barth had two field goals for the Sun Devils (4-2, 1-2).

Jonathan Smith threw a 40-yard scoring pass to Tim Euhus and a 7-yarder to James Newson for the Beavers (2-4, 1-3), and Ken Simonton scored on a 1-yard run.