Washington to Rose Bowl
Washington wins Pac-12 title as only touchdown comes on interception return.
It’s no thriller, but Huskies top Utes for Pac-12 crown.
No. 11 WASHINGTON 10 No. 17 UTAH 3
SANTA CLARA — Byron Murphy returned a deflected interception 66 yards for the game’s only touchdown to lead No. 10 Washington to a 10-3 victory over No. 17 Utah in an offensively challenged Pac-12 championship game Friday night.
“The ball came up and I just knew I had to make a play,” Murphy said. “The opportunity was there. I just had to make sure I took it.”
With a Rose Bowl spot at stake in a matchup of the two stingiest defenses in the conference, neither offense could get much of anything going at all. So it was only fitting that a dropped pass by No. 17 Utah (9-4) led to an interception for No. 11 Washington (10-3) and the only touchdown.
Both teams had been held to just one field goal when the Huskies broke through in the third quarter.
Jason Shelley’s pass hit Siaosi Mariner in the hands inside the Washington 35. But Mariner couldn’t hold onto the pass and it ricocheted off his leg and into the hands of Murphy, who raced 66 yards for the score that made it 10-3.
Jordan Miller intercepted another pass from Shelley on the following drive and Murphy got his second interception of the game the next time Utah had the ball. The Huskies sealed the victory with a fourth-down stop in the final minute to earn a trip to Pasadena for the first time since the 2000 season.
“We do it the hard way sometimes and this was one of those times we did it the hard way again,” coach Chris Petersen said.
Murphy broke up the final pass on a throw to Mariner that the Utes thought should have been called pass interference.
“Everybody’s hurt,” Shelley said. “We were that close. We played that bad and we still lost by only seven points.”
The Huskies had four drives of at least 10 plays but got only one field goal out of those. They were stopped on a fourth-and-6 from the Utah 23 on one drive, threw an interception in Utah territory on another drive and had a field goal blocked in the fourth quarter.