Washington coach Chris Petersen first came to fame during his time in charge at Boise State. His Broncos were known for three things: Dominating the Mountain West Conference, pulling a big upset or two each year, and trick plays.
His signature win came in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, when Boise State used a hook-and-lateral, a pass by a wildcat quarterback, and then the Statue of Liberty play to shock Oklahoma.
Exactly 12 years to the day from that win, Petersen has a chance to score the biggest win of his Washington tenure in the 2019 Rose Bowl.
And you can bet that he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve to try to pull it off.
“I think generally you may want to go into a game and say, hey, we want to call one a half,” said Washington offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. “Like any other play, it’s probably called two weeks in advance. You’ve got to have the right look.”
“They’re as much for us as they are for trying to surprise the defense. I think our players enjoy practicing them, they enjoy the energy it creates.”
Wide receiver Aaron Fuller agreed.
“A little wrinkle in the game plan is nice to see, you have fun with it in practice,” he said. “Seeing it work in games is always pretty fun, especially when somebody is going to score.”
Fuller was the centerpiece of one of Washington’s most recent trick plays. With the Huskies leading just 14-7 over arch-rival Washington State in the third quarter, they called a double-pass.
Quarterback Jake Browning lateraled the ball to Fuller, who turned and threw it 22 yards to Hunter Bryant for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
“Over the years we have had a bunch of double passes or flea flickers, and things like that, that we put it into the game plan,” Fuller said. “More than anything it’s fun seeing other people get the ball and seeing it being tossed around like that and seeing it work in games is even better.”
The guy who will be calling plays for the Huskies at the Rose Bowl has seen the impact a timely trick play can have.
Hamdan was a backup quarterback on the Boise State team that pulled off the big win over Oklahoma. He said that Petersen had been holding that Statue of Liberty call in his back pocket for a long time, waiting for just the right moment.
“That play probably had been on the board for about two years and got called,” Hamdan said.
“I think we might have been up three, four touchdowns in that game and that became very close at the end. And looking back on that, I don’t know if we were to receive the same amount of attention unless it ended the way it did.”