But the Huskies gambled Saturday at Stanford, deciding to kick it deep to the Cardinal's Chris Owusu, who already had two returns for touchdowns this season and came in leading the nation in kickoff return average at 52.8.
The move backfired on the Huskies as Owusu took the kick at his own 9-yard line, found a seam, and quickly darted through the middle of the field essentially untouched for a touchdown to put Stanford up 7-0 just 10 seconds in.
Owusu's third return for a touchdown tied him for the Pac-10 season record with USC's Anthony Davis in 1974 and UCLA's Matthew Slater in 2007.
It also meant that Stanford had scored a TD on its opening possession in all four games this season.
It was also the second straight game that UW won the toss and elected to defer and then saw the opponent score. Last week, USC drove for a TD on its first drive.
The Huskies learned their lesson from there as they kicked it short on their following kickoffs of the first half, not allowing Owusu to get the ball.
Owusu is a sophomore from Oaks Christian High in Southern California, the same school as heralded UW commit Nick Montana, a quarterback who has said he will sign with the Huskies as part of the Class of 2010.
