SEATTLE — Mike Stoops spoke softly, dejectedly, just outside the Arizona Wildcats' locker room late Saturday night when Washington's Mason Foster walked by.
As the UA coach tried to hide his heartbreak, Foster — his game uniform still on, eye black smeared with tears of joy — bit his lip and smiled.
Saturday night, the difference between joy and dejection, between a miracle finish and a heartbreaking loss, was the width of the sole of a shoe.
Foster intercepted a Nick Foles pass when it glanced off wide receiver Delashaun Dean's cleats and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown, giving Washington an improbable 36-33 win over the Wildcats at a raucous Husky Stadium.
The Huskies overcame a 12-point deficit in the final 4 minutes 16 seconds to hand the Wildcats a loss unlike any in the team's 30 years of Pac-10 play.
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Stoops called the pick, and game-deciding touchdown, "just a freak play." Foles called it "a weird bounce," and said Washington "got a lucky break."
Pressed for a reaction, UA wide receiver David Roberts started, then stopped.
"It's very tough," he said. "When you lose a game like that at the end, it really hurts. Especially when you worked so hard the whole game."
Describing the Wildcats' loss, you have to start at the end. Or near it, at least.
The UA was coasting 33-21 when Washington took over with the ball with 4:16 remaining. But the Wildcats' Vuna Tuihalamka was flagged for a late hit on a missed pass, getting Washington past midfield. It took quarterback Jake Locker merely six plays to travel 59 yards; his 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kavario Middleton cut the Wildcats' lead to 33-28 with 2:55 left.
The Huskies (3-3, 2-1) then chose to kick the ball deep, figuring that — with two timeouts left — they could try to force Arizona to punt. The Wildcats instead went for the kill.
On first down, the Wildcats called what Stoops dubbed "a run-pass" option play, meaning Foles could check down to a run or choose to throw.
He threw.
When his first few options weren't there, the quarterback attempted a short screen route to Dean. The ball glanced off the side of his right shoe and into Foster's hands.
The Huskies' linebacker ran in untouched.
Following the game, Stoops said Arizona coaches were to blame for the poor call — even though Foles had been running the play all night with great success. He completed 39 of 53 passes for 384 yards and a touchdown.
Offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes, however, defended the call.
"I have no problem with going with the screen. It's a high-percentage pass," he said. "We weren't trying to punt the ball with 2 minutes left. We were trying to make a first down, make a play, and there's not a more high percentage than the screen. It just hit the guy's foot, and bounced right to him."
Though Arizona's players were heartbroken by the finish, they insisted the game wasn't defined by one play. Arizona (3-2, 1-1) settled for four field goals and continued to struggle in the red zone. The Wildcats limited Locker to just 140 passing yards, but let him drive at will when one stop would have ended the game.
And given a chance to drive for the tying — or possibly winning — score, Arizona's offense faltered. Foles got the team into Washington territory with 1 minute left, but took a sack and was limited to short passes. On fourth-and-eight, Foles tried to go deep but was intercepted by Desmond Trufant at the Huskies' 22.
One play may have decided the game, but missed opportunities defined it.
"There's blame to go around to everybody," safety Cam Nelson said. "That specific play didn't determine the game."
Up next
• Who: Stanford at Arizona
• When: 4:30 p.m. Saturday
• TV: Versus
• Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM, 990-AM (Spanish)
