If the Huskies could somehow skip the third quarter, they might not be in the hole they are right now. But the rules mandate that the third quarter be played, even if Washington usually doesn't follow suit.

Once again, the Huskies fell apart in the third quarter on Oct. 13 to turn a promising start into a desultory loss, falling 44-20 against Arizona State.

Washington led 17-13 at halftime, getting 120 yards from a revived running game. But a fumble and a missed field goal helped open the floodgates for ASU to score 21 points in the third quarter and run away with the win, outscoring Washington 31-3 in the second half.

Washington has now been outscored 56-0 in the third quarter of five of its six games. The lone exception was the opener at Syracuse, when the Huskies outscored the Orange 21-0 in the third quarter en route to a 42-12 win.

"That's a tough locker room," coach Tyrone Willingham said after Washington fell to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in Pac-10 play. "Because that should be a very disappointed locker room that I just walked out of, which it was. Gosh, they don't have an explanation, I don't have an explanation for our third quarter, why we are right there, and why we do some things, or a series of things, that let it get away."

The loss put Washington's hopes of getting to a bowl game in serious jeopardy. Washington now has to win five of its last seven games to get to a bowl, and up next is high-flying Oregon at Husky Stadium.

"The key is to just keep working and keep working, and good things will happen," Willingham said.

But ominously, the Huskies were coming off a bye week that they said had allowed them to get healthy and refreshed for the final eight games of the season.

The Huskies indeed looked revived early, taking a 17-10 lead midway through the second quarter.

But the roof again caved in during the second half, as it has too often this season. Washington has been outscored 105-41 in the second half of its last four games.

Once again, a lax running defense was much of the problem, as ASU scored on runs of 57 and 76 yards in the third quarter alone to rush for 227 yards in the second half and 296 overall. Washington has allowed an average of 279 rushing yards in the last four games.

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