Washington WR Kasen Williams caught a career-high 10 passes, including the game-winning touchdown, in the Huskies upset of No. 8  Stanford on Thursday. (US Presswire)

What a difference a year and no Andrew Luck makes. One season after losing to Stanford 65-21, Washington scored two late second-half touchdowns to upset the No. 8 Cardinal 17-13 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. 

For the better part of three quarters Thursday, the Husky offense looked helpless. In Washington's first 11 possessions of the game, they punted the ball eight times, threw an interception, failed on a fourth-down conversion and came away with only a single field goal. And it wasn't even that pretty.  

However, on the final play of the third quarter, the Husky offense finally broke through against the vaunted Stanford defense. Trailing 13-3, Washington tailback Bishop Sankey gave the team some hope with a 61-yard touchdown run that trimmed the Cardinal lead to 13-10. 

The Huskies struck again with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter when quarterback Keith Price hit Kasen Williams for a 35-yard touchdown pass that gave Washington its first lead of the game at 17-13. 

Stanford had a chance to win the game late, but quarterback Josh Nunes, who struggled all night, was unable to muster the magic of Andrew Luck . Nunes drove the Cardinal down to the Washington 34 yard line before being intercepted by Husky cornerback Desmond Trufant. Three plays before the interception, a wide open Ty Montgomery dropped what would have been a 45-yard touchdown. Nunes finished the game 18 of 37 for 170 yards. 

Price finished with similar numbers, going 19 of 37 for 177 yards, which includes the 35-yard TD pass to Williams. The Huskies shut down Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor, limiting the Cardinal senior to only 75 yards on 21 carries. Taylor's 3.6 ypc was his lowest per-carry average since November 2011. 

Game plan gone right: Washington loaded the box against Nunes most of the game, daring the first-year starter to throw the ball. The strategy worked for the Huskies; Nunes threw the ball 37 times and struggled most of the night. 

Murphy almost MVP: With Stanford's offense struggling most of the game, the Cardinal needed a big play from their defense and they got it from linebacker Trent Murphy. With Stanford clinging to a 6-3 lead in the third quarter, Murphy tipped a Price pass, picked it off, and returned 40 yards for a score.

Williams turning into a weapon: Washington WR Kasen Williams is slowly becoming Price's favorite target. The sophomore receiver caught 10 passes for 129 yards, including the game-winning 35-yard TD in the fourth quarter. The 10 catches and 129 yards were career highs. 

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