UW’s Chris Petersen says he would like ‘a do-over’ after clock-management confusion in loss to Oregon

The message from Chris Petersen was black-and-white Monday.

Two days after the Huskies’ 30-27 overtime loss at Oregon, the Washington coach wore a black T-shirt with “Stay Positive” and a smiley face emblazoned in white.

Petersen also wasn’t subtle when asked about the Huskies’ clock-management confusion in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Yes, he said, in retrospect he would have preferred to run at least one more play to give walk-on kicker Peyton Henry a closer chance at a game-winning field goal.

“Hindsight, if I knew then what I know now … ” he began.

To rewind: With the score tied 24-24 in the fourth quarter, the Huskies drove from their own 7-yard line to the Oregon 20, where they had a third-and-1 play with about 35 seconds left (and the clock running) and two timeouts available.

Petersen said immediately after the game, and reiterated Monday, that the ball was placed just about where Henry liked it — near the right hash — and the 37-yard field goal was within Henry’s range.

But the Huskies could have stopped the clock, at least momentarily, with a potential first down, and they did have those two timeouts to use if they wanted to get closer for the redshirt freshman’s first game-winning field-goal opportunity.

After Sean McGrew’s run to the Oregon 20, UW players on the field were pointing to the clock and looking to the sideline, expecting to receive another play-call via first-year offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. Instead, Petersen elected to run the clock down to three seconds and let Henry kick from 37 yards.

“At that time, we really felt good about where we were,” Petersen said. “But with two timeouts, I probably would have called timeout, discussed with Bush if he had a play he really liked. Now with that said, you’re not going to call time out and not run a play. So you’re probably going to run a play, get Peyton a little bit closer, just make him feel more comfortable.

“But it was all extremely calculated. We kicked into the wind in the third quarter knowing we wanted the wind in the fourth quarter, knowing it could come down to this. So leg strength and all that was not even kind of an issue from where the ball was. We’ve practice that exact situation for probably the last eight weeks — that hash, that situation, calling time out. Now, the games are different than practice, like we always say. I think everybody on our sideline thought we would get that done.

“But for me to have a do-over knowing what I know now to get the ball a little closer for him? Yeah.”

Henry’s left-footed kick hooked just to the right, no good.

He did convert a 22-yard field goal in overtime, but Oregon then scored a touchdown for a walk-off victory.

“You feel like you have a really good chance to make (the kick), from everything we’ve seen in practice for a long period of time now. And you do what you think is right and what is best,” Petersen said. “But we’re not going to take a shot in the end zone at that situation to chance that ball getting picked off, to get knocked back out of field-goal range or something like that. And we’re also exactly where we want to be hash-wise. But all that being said, would you like — I think it makes the kicker feel a little more comfortable because you’re a little bit closer.”