SEATTLE — John Ross was back.
Then it was like he was never there.
Washington’s speedy sophomore receiver, who missed last week’s game against Georgia State with a knee injury, made an instant impact against Stanford.
He returned Stanford’s first kickoff 99 yards for a would-be touchdown that was wiped out by an illegal block.
Ross then, however, disappeared from the game. He didn’t touch the ball again until midway through the third quarter when he had a six-yard reception. He finished with three receptions for 16 yards.
Ross had just six catches in his four previous games. But he averaged 37.3 yards per reception and had three touchdown catches, the shortest being 55 yards.
With Washington’s offense needing a jump-start, coach Chris Petersen was asked by Ross why he wasn’t involved more in the offense.
“We’ll hand the ball to him if we have to,” he said. “We need to figure out more ways to get him the ball. We’re going to do that.”
Petersen tried to get Ross the ball with a coaching gamble that backfired after Stanford scored the go-ahead touchdown with 7:37 left.
The ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, which would have given Washington the ball at the 35. Petersen elected to have Stanford re-kick from five yards back, thus allowing Ross a chance to break a big return. He was tackled at the 16 yard line.
“We were trying to get the ball in our playmaker’s hands to see if he could get something done.”
Another in the bag
With a sack in the third quarter, UW defensive end Hau’oli Kikaha has a sack in each game this season. His seventh of the season was the 24th of his career, tying Andy Mason for sixth most all-time.
Kikaha also tied teammate Danny Shelton with seven sacks, the most in the nation.
Quick kicks
• Saturday’s game was of interest to a few Seattle Seahawks. Stanford grads Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin were on the Cardinal sideline, while UW grad Jermaine Kearse was by the Husky bench.
• The national champion UW men’s crew team was saluted on the field during the second quarter. However, the Huskies kicked off while the rowers were still standing on the 10-yard line.
• Linebacker John Timu had a team-high 11 tackles.
