Washington Huskies thumped in 41-24 loss to No. 20 Iowa
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- The Washington Huskies fell 41-24 to No. 20 Iowa on Friday night after trailing 27-0 in the first half.
- Iowa's Kamari Moulton rushed for 208 yards and two touchdowns, while Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. exited with an injury.
- Backup Elijah Brown threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns in relief, but Washington couldn't overcome the early deficit.
SEATTLE – Kamari Moulton rushed for 208 yards and two touchdowns through the Washington defense as the No. 20 Iowa Hawkeyes battered the Huskies in a 41-24 loss on Friday night.
Jeremy Hecklinski – starting in place of an injured Hank Brown for Iowa – threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns as well as Iowa led 27-0 in the first half.
Demond Williams Jr. completed just 6-of-11 passes for 69 yards while being sacked four times before exiting late in the first half with an injury. Elijah Brown threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns in relief of Williams for Washington in the loss.
Dig deeper
Washington appeared thoroughly outclassed right from the start. About the only positive for the Huskies in the first half was that eventually, it was over.
The opening kickoff by Hunter McKee went out of bounds as the errors started immediately for the Huskies.
Three Iowa runs picked up 34 yards before the drive stalled out, leading to a 51-yard Caden Buhr field goal and a 3-0 Hawkeyes lead.
After a three-and-out for Washington, the Hawkeyes were on the march again. An eight-play, 56-yard drive came to a halt at the UW 6, but another Buhr field goal made it a 6-0 Iowa lead.
The Huskies couldn't move the ball enough to change field position as they remained backed up deep in their own end. After picking up a lone first down, another punt followed and Iowa struck quickly. Moulton sprung free up the Washington sideline, breaking a pair of feeble tackle attempts from Husky defenders as he walked into the end zone for a 56-yard touchdown and a 13-0 Iowa lead late in the first quarter.
(Leslie Plaza Johnson / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)
Another three-and-out and another Iowa scoring drive followed.
Tight end DJ Vonnahme was left uncovered off a play-action pass for a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jeremy Hecklinski that made it a 20-0 lead. Williams was sacked twice on the next Washington drive ahead of another punt, and Vonnahme was left uncovered, again, for a 24-yard touchdown.
Iowa led 27-0 with more than five minutes remaining in the half. Washington was being out-gained by a staggering 274-14 margin. Williams had more rushes from sacks and scrambles (10) than passes attempted (3).
Williams picked up first downs on throws to Chris Lawson and Dezman Roebuck as Washington managed to finally sustain an offensive drive. The Huskies reached the Iowa red zone, but a third down scramble by Williams came up shy at the Iowa 13-yard line as Williams was hit hard by Jacob Wallace and Jayden Montgomery.
Tyler Robles converted a 30-yard field goal to get the Huskies on the board as Williams went to the sideline injury tent for evaluation.
Brown took over at quarterback when Washington returned to the field for the final drive of the half, and again to open the third quarter. Brown led a really solid scoring drive for the Huskies to open the second half. UW marched 75 yards on eight plays as Brown connected with Lawson on a 10-yard touchdown that cut the Iowa lead to 27-10.
However, Iowa continued to carve holes in the Huskies' defense as they quickly restored the advantage.
A 31-yard pass from Hecklinski to Reece Vander Zee pushed the Hawkeyes into Washington territory. A jet motion from Iowa then caused the entire UW defense to bite, leaving Vander Zee wide open for an 8-yard touchdown that pushed the lead to 34-10 midway through the third quarter.
Brown continued to shine in relief of Williams. An 11-play, 75-yard drive – aided by multiple defensive penalties by Iowa – was capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Roebuck. A successful 2-point conversion followed to cut the Hawkeyes lead to 34-18.
But Washington just couldn't slow down Moulton and Iowa's offense.
A 33-yard screen pass from Hecklinski to Braeden Jackson set up a 3-yard Moulton touchdown that pushed the Iowa lead to 41-18 with 12:06 left to play.
UW scored on the final play of the game, with Brown connecting with James Mason on a three-yard touchdown. The final score was 41-24.
By the numbers
The Huskies finished the game with -3 rushing yards and 263 passing yards. Iowa finished the game with 263 rushing yards and 202 passing yards, totaling 148 more total yards than UW. It was the worst rushing performance by a UW team since a 53-24 loss at Arizona State in 2013 when the Huskies managed -5 rushing yards.
What's next
The Huskies now hit the road to take on the Purdue Boilermakers in another Friday night game on Oct. 16.
Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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