SEATTLE -- Jerome Pathon had a pair of touchdown catches and Corey Dillon added a short scoring run during a 21-point fourth quarter as 18th-ranked Washington rallied for a 27-6 victory over Pac-10 Conference rival Stanford on Saturday.

"It was definitely a defensive battle and I am extremely pleased with our defense to hold the score down," Washington coach Jim Lambright said. "It is a tremendous credit to the team that we had 27 points on the board and got better as the game went along. I was pleased overall but not at all pleased with the raggedness of the first half."

Washington (2-1 in Pac-10 play, 3-1 overall) was held to just a 30-yard field goal midway through the third quarter and trailed the Cardinal (0-1, 1-3) by three points.

But John Wales kicked a 42-yard field goal to knot the game, sparking a run of 24 unanswered points.

Brock Huard replaced the injured Shane Fortney and found Pathon for a 15-yard score just over two minutes into the final period.

Dillon then plunged over from the 2 just over two minutes later and Fortney capped the scoring by completing a 23-yard touchdown strike to Pathon with 1:41 left.

Pathon finished with six receptions for 128 yards while Dillon had a career-best 173 yards on a school-record 36 carries.

Dillon was starting in place of Rashaan Sheehee, who sat out the game because of a sprained right ankle.

"I found out I would start on game day," Dillon said. "Coach told me that I was going to be starting so I just had to prepare from there. . . . It felt like I carried 58 times."

Fortney completed 8-of-14 passes for 118 yards while Huard was 5 of 16 for 102.

The Huskies know they have to play better next week when Washington travels to take on Notre Dame.

"We came back and got things going in the fourth quarter," Fortney said. "But we've got to start doing that sooner."

Cardinal quarterback Chad Hutchinson was 12 of 21 for 148 yards while Mike Mitchell led Stanford with 61 rushing yards.

Stanford has yet to score more than 10 points in any of its four contests.

Stanford was limited to 59 yards rushing, and the Huskies recorded six quarterback sacks.

"They just keep pressure coming and we were unable to stand up to it for the whole game," Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham said.

"When you are playing against a good team such as the University of Washington, we knew they had some real strong points, some real fine players. We had some things going for us in the first half and weren't able to sustain those things in the second half."

After Pathon caught Huard's touchdown pass in the third quarter to take a 13-6 lead, the Huskies got a big break on the ensuing kickoff.

Wales then kicked a high and short kickoff that Kai Bynum recovered at the Stanford 13 after the ball hit Stanford's Adam Salina. Dillon scored four plays later for a 20-6 lead.

"The kick was high and short," Salina said. "I made the mistake of trying to catch it when I should have let our long men take it."

Stanford's last chance to make a comeback ended when Mel Miller intercepted Hutchinson in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter. The Huskies then drove 80 yards, ending with Fortney's 23-yard scoring pass to Pathon with less than two minutes to go.

Hutchinson played in the second half with a mild concussion. Hutchinson was injured late in the first half when he was hit by Washington's Nigel Burton. Hutchinson sat out the final series of the first half.

"I'll have to look at the film to tell you what happened," he said. "I remember some plays, but not too many."