Special teams key for Cardinal

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When you win despite giving up 350 yards passing compared with 105 yourself, despite giving up 30 first downs and getting 14 and despite causing just one turnover, maybe Lady Luck is smiling on you.

Either that, or you're doing something very well in another area. That other area for Stanford on Saturday night was special teams.

In a 31-28 win that came down to the final 76 seconds, the Cardinal dominated Washington on the kickoff- and punt-coverage units.

Ty Montgomery took advantage of freshman Cameron Van Winkle's line-drive kickoffs and less than zealous coverage by the Huskies to uncork a 99-yard return for a touchdown on the opening play - unseen by ESPN viewers because the LSU-Mississippi State game ran long - and a 68-yarder in the third quarter to set up another touchdown.

"That always helps when they're kicking line drives," Montgomery said. "It helps give you time as a return team to get your return set up."

Barry Sanders contributed a 29-yard punt return on his first shot in that role.

Ty Montgomery, who also scored on a kickoff return, hauls in a TD pass in front of Washington's Marcus Peters on Saturday. Ty Montgomery, who also scored on a kickoff return, hauls in a TD pass in front of Washington's Marcus Peters on Saturday. Photo: George Nikitin, Associated Press Photo: George Nikitin, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Special teams key for Cardinal 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Additionally, the Cardinal held the Huskies to an 18-yard average on kickoff returns and 3.8 on punts. Punter Ben Rhyne out-punted counterpart Travis Coons by 5 yards, with a long boot of 58. Jordan Williamson reached the end zone on all five of his kickoffs, including three for touchbacks, and made his only field-goal try.

All in all, it was a banner night for coordinator Pete Alamar's special teams. The only real slip-up was a well-executed fake punt on which Coons ran 19 yards to keep a scoring drive alive.

Rhyne and Williamson "have done a phenomenal job," head coach David Shaw said. He said kickoff and punt coverage have to start with "getting the right kick that goes in the right place with the right hang time."

That said, he called Montgomery "the difference in the ballgame." The muscular, 6-foot-2 junior wide receiver gained 125 yards the first two times Stanford touched the ball. After his opening return, he went 26 yards on an end-around on the first scrimmage play.

Just before halftime, he gathered in an artful 39-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Hogan. "He's only going to get better," Shaw said. "He's just scratching the surface."

Even with Montgomery's performance, the game was there for Washington to win at the end. Keith Price, who can extend plays the way Ted Cruz can draw out his sentences on the Senate floor, wouldn't quit even though Stanford led by 10 points three times.

Price's short touchdown pass to Jaydon Mickens with 2:38 left - following a 40-yard completion to Kasen Williams - cut the lead to three points and made Stanford fans squirm. A last-ditch Washington effort ended when a fourth-down pass to Kevin Smith, ruled complete on the field for what would have been a first down at the Stanford 33, was judged a trap on a replay review with 1:16 left.

Price tried to get off a snap before the officials could halt play for the review but was a tick too late.

"I wish the game would have gotten won on the field," UW head coach Steve Sarkisian said, "and not in the booth upstairs with some guy that didn't get to feel the emotion and the hard-fought football game that that game was."

He said he thought the call looked too hard to overturn but said, "I didn't get to sit 50 yards up in a booth and play a video game and make a call."

Price didn't blame the officials. "We just have to play better," he said. "We were so close to winning a game we thought we could win."