Stanback Turns the Tide, With Some Help From Moon

Quarterback Isaiah Stanback was having a horrible game. UCLA’s defense was knocking him around and the Washington offense was getting booed throughout Husky Stadium.

But before halftime, Stanback got his act together and led Washington on a 92-yard drive for a touchdown to cut the Bruins’ lead to 16-7. The rest of the game was all Stanback, who ran and passed the Huskies to a 29-19 come-from-behind victory Saturday.

“Their No. 4 really picked it up and played with a sense of urgency,” UCLA defensive end Bruce Davis said. “He really took over the game. I have a lot of respect for him. He just stepped up for his team when they needed him to.”

Stanback completed three touchdown passes and ran for 48 tough yards to carry Washington to its first victory over UCLA in six years.

“We knew that we were nowhere near out of it,” Stanback said. “We were playing flat. Come halftime, we had to make a decision.”

A former Husky recently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame helped Stanback.

“Warren Moon came over to me and said something in my ear right before the half, when we got that scoring drive, and ever since then I was focused,” Stanback said.

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Washington senior wide receiver Sonny Shackleford torched UCLA’s secondary with nine catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns. He said the Huskies’ wide receivers were motivated by a comment made by UCLA defensive end Justin Hickman.

“He said something in the papers, and it got back to us,” Shackleford said. “He said that UCLA’s defensive backs would not have a problem against our receivers. We took that to heart and so we came out and did what we had to do.”

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With four field goals and an extra point, UCLA kicker Justin Medlock moved to No. 4 on UCLA’s career scoring list, passing running back DeShaun Foster and kicker Alfredo Velasco.

With 278 points, Medlock trails only kicker John Lee, running back Skip Hicks and kicker Bjorn Merten.

-- Lonnie White

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Washington linebacker Dan Howell, whose father died Sept. 10, scored a touchdown on a 33-yard interception return in the fourth quarter.

“I almost couldn’t breathe. It was unbelievable. I just wanted to come out this week and have a great performance for my dad,” he said. “I knew he was watching me and all I could do was come out and play my hardest.”

Said Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham: “It’s one of those that he’ll probably say that someone from up above was looking down, and it was him.”

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Washington broke a five-year losing streak against UCLA.

“This is a whole different team from those other teams,” Stanback said. “The past doesn’t matter, and it was up to us to change that.”

-- Robyn Norwood

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For the first time this season, UCLA wore its new road jerseys, which feature outlined blue numbers that are the same color as the Bruins’ home jerseys.... Wide receiver/punt returner Ryan Graves had to switch from No. 2 to No. 31 for Saturday’s game because senior linebacker Eric McNeal wears No. 2 and is also on the punt return unit.... UCLA started junior defensive tackles Kevin Brown and Brigham Harwell together for the first time since the 2004 season.... Freshman cornerback Alterraun Verner led UCLA with nine tackles, including four solo. Junior safety Dennis Keyes finished with seven tackles and forced a fumble. Davis finished with five, including two for a loss, and one forced fumble.

-- Lonnie White