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Originally published October 27, 2012 at 11:02 PM | Page modified October 28, 2012 at 9:08 AM

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Huskies upset No. 7 Oregon State

The story of UW's 20-17 win over Oregon State on Saturday night was pretty simple, Washington tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins said. "It was a physical...

Seattle Times staff reporter

Murderer's row

Washington's home wins over Stanford and Oregon State are the bookends of a five-game stretch against four teams ranked in the top 10 nationally:

Sept. 27

No. 8 Stanford

W, 17-13

Oct. 6

at No. 2 Oregon

L, 52-21

Oct. 13

No. 11 USC

L, 24-14

Oct. 20

at Arizona

L, 52-17

Oct. 27

No. 7 Oregon St.

W, 20-17

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The story of UW's 20-17 win over Oregon State on Saturday night was pretty simple, Washington tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins said.

"It was a physical game and we were the most physical team and that's why they lost, because they are not physical like us," said Seferian-Jenkins. "We knocked them out, we punched them in the mouth and they didn't want to do anything about it, and that's why we won."

Indeed, UW hit Oregon State hard from start to finish in a bounce-back win that went a long way toward silencing their critics. Those included Oregonian columnist John Canzano, who had written during the week that the Huskies were the "softest, least resilient" team in the Pac-12.

Washington players saw the story and afterward said it helped serve as a wake-up call for a season that appeared to be slipping away after a 52-17 loss at Arizona last week.

"Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian) put up an article and he (Canzano) was talking a lot of foolishness," said quarterback Keith Price. "We knew that our manhood was being tested and it was just about having pride and kind of changing what people thought about our team."

The Huskies took a 10-0 halftime lead, then withstood numerous Oregon State counterpunches in the second half, never falling behind and scoring twice after OSU tied the score.

UW got the winning points on a 30-yard field goal by Travis Coons with 1:20 left, then held off a final OSU drive that reached the Husky 38-yard-line.

Afterward, Sarkisian appeared to refer to the Canzano column when he said, "I thought our kids showed a great deal of resiliency. It was a tremendous amount of adversity that they were faced with in the game and they continued to show the mental and physical toughness that teams need to possess to beat a top-10 ranked team."

UW is 4-4 overall and 2-3 in Pac-12 play, while OSU fell to 6-1, coming into the game with its best start since 1907 and ranked No. 7 in the country.

The game also marked the 10th straight time UW has won a game decided by fewer than 10 points — seven of those have come at home, including a 35-34 double overtime win over the Beavers in 2010 as well as a 17-13 win over No. 8 Stanford earlier this season. It's the first time since the national-title season of 1991 UW has beaten two top-10 teams.

Washington set the tone with a physically dominating first half in which it took a 10-0 lead.

Typifying the action was a play by safety Sean Parker when OSU got the ball at the 43 in the second quarter.

Beavers quarterback Mannion tried to loft the ball to a momentarily open Markus Wheaton. Parker, though, came up fast to hit Wheaton hard and the ball caromed into the air with Justin Glenn diving to pick it off at the UW 16. Wheaton — the third-leading receiver in the Pac-12 coming into the game — was down for a few minutes before walking off. He did not return to the game.

"That just set the tone for the whole game," said Parker. "Offense, defense fed off that energy."

That was one of four interceptions thrown by Mannion that helped turn the game UW's way.

With the score tied at 10, the game took a curious turn early in the fourth quarter when Oregon State faced a third-and-three at the 50 and Mannion threw a pass right into the hands of UW linebacker John Timu. Timu ran the ball back for an apparent touchdown — fumbling the ball into the end zone where UW recovered.

But the return was brought back because of a personal foul on Danny Shelton, and UW started at its 39. A long gain on the first play was brought back because of a holding penalty, leaving the crowd booing and the Huskies frustrated.

A third-and-15 pass went incomplete and the Huskies were forced to punt with 10 ½ minutes remaining.

Mannion then threw his fourth interception with Marcus Peters returning it to the OSU 15, but another personal foul — this one on Talia Crichton — moved the ball back to the 30.

On first down, Price threw to Kasen Williams to the 1-yard-line and Sankey scored on the next play, putting UW ahead 17-10 with 8:19 remaining.

Price was 18 of 30 for 194 yards and one interception, which came on a play when receiver DiAndre Campbell appeared to stop his route.

"Keith's coming," Sarkisian said of his oft-maligned quarterback. "He is starting to come for us."

Cody Vaz, who had led OSU to wins the last two weeks over BYU and Utah, replaced Mannion after the fourth interception.

He needed little time to drive the Beavers for the tying touchdown. A 29-yard pass to Connor Hamlett, a sophomore from Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood, capped a seven-play, 76-yard drive.

Washington took over at its 25 with 4:58 left and on first down Price hit Seferian-Jenkins for 20 yards.

On third-and-seven at the UW 48, Price hit Williams for 19 yards down the sideline. A 15-yard penalty on Oregon State's Anthony Watkins put the ball at the 18 with just over three minutes left, setting up Coons' field goal.

"We couldn't get anything going in the first half and we turned the ball over," said Oregon State coach Mike Riley. "Washington played well, they played hard and they made some good plays."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @bcondotta.

Sankey om the run
Bishop Sankey continued a strong sophomore season. A look at his rushing stats this season:
Opponent No. Yds TD Lg
S. Diego St. 22 66 1 20
LSU 8 16 0 9
Portland St. 14 103 2 21
Stanford 20 144 1 61
Oregon 25 104 2 15
USC 14 54 0 14
Arizona 19 87 1 14
Oregon St. 25 92 2 13
Totals 147 666 9 61

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