Washington Escapes Utah State 16-14

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Washington escapes Utah State after a Hail Mary attempt was intercepted by Rahshawn Clark as time expired inside Husky Stadium. The 16-14 win over the new Pac-12 team featured critical dropped passes, a struggling offensive line, and another week with a lack of rhythm on offense. 

“We need to do some things better,” Jedd Fisch said after the win. “We need to find points. We need to not pass up opportunities for touchdowns when they’re there. We need to put the team in a better position, starting with me.”

Washington Escapes Utah State

Run Game and OL Struggles

Entering this game, the expectation was for Washington’s offensive line to find some push and some rhythm against the Aggies, who struggled in some areas last week against Idaho State. That, however, was not the case in Saturday’s two-point win for Washington.

If you remove Demond Williams’ 11 rushes for 56 yards, the Husky running backs averaged just 2.3 yards per run. As a backfield, that group had just one rush for double-digit yardage. It was a 10-yard run by Trey Cooley in the second quarter. Washington ran the ball 30 times in the game, and 12 of them (40%) were stopped for gains of two yards or less.

“Very frustrating,” Fisch said after the game when asked about his assessment of the run game. “We were probably two yards a carry with the backs, so not good enough. So we have to find a way to make it better. But we also are going to recognize that there are going to be challenges,” Fisch said, alluding to the inexperienced running back room.

“We can’t be talking about a 35, 40-yard run [rushing] game by our backs and be really pleased [with] where we are as a running team right now.”

Offensive Line Push

But the shortfalls of the run game aren’t just a running back problem, but also a problem with the offensive line. The Aggies’ five tackles for loss and two sacks are what show up in the stats column. But the consistent theft of run lanes and push by the defensive line took away any opportunity to establish a run game ahead of the sticks.  

Washington’s offensive line had 2.67 line yards in the 16-14 win over Utah State. A week ago, Idaho State’s offensive line was responsible for 2.7 line yards per rush against the same Aggie defensive front.

“It’s hard to totally assess the difference,” Fisch said after the game, “The difference of the physicality versus handling some movements, and handling odd fronts and, handling some pressures and handling some twist games.” 

Alex McLaughlin Leads Defense

Despite escaping with a win, safety Alex McLaughlin had one of his best games in a Husky uniform. He led the team with nine tackles and had two tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups, and an interception. That’s two interceptions in two weeks for the Husky safety, but he was flagged for a critical unsportsmanlike penalty late in the game.

The penalty gave Utah State half the distance to the goal, where they ultimately threw a touchdown pass to cut the game to just two points. That drive alone featured three third-down conversions for the Aggies en route to a 13-play, 75-yard score to cut the Huskies’ lead to 16-14.

Dropped Passes Hurt Offense

Washington dropped three critical passes in its win over Utah State. Two of which kept points off the board, and the third allowed Utah State a chance to drive the field and win the game. Dezmen Roebuck had two of those drops, and the second of which came on first down following the Aggies’ onside kick attempt. With under two minutes to play, Washington could have had a better chance to run the clock out had Roebuck held on. But a stopped clock allowed Utah State to save its timeout and ultimately get the football back. 

Roebuck’s other drop was inside the red zone on a route to the nearside of the field. The pass was slightly behind him, but had he hung on, he likely would have beat the defender to the corner of the end zone for a touchdown. 

Cooley also dropped a pass on Washington’s second drive of the game. It was a fourth-down attempt, and there was not a defender in sight. Cooley would have likely taken it 33 yards for a touchdown. Those two drops kept 14 points off the board and made this game much closer than it needed to be. 

“I think the drops were a fluke,” Fisch said after the win. “To be honest, Dez Roebuck has the best hands of any player I’ve ever been around other than [Tetairoa McMillan], and they’re equal.” The head coach didn’t seem too concerned about the drops being a connection issue. All three of them were, however, significant moments in the game.

Freshmen Introductions

True freshman running back Ansu Sanoe got his first snaps as a Husky when Washington reached the Utah State 15-yard line late in the second quarter. Williams handed him the football on three of the next four plays for eight yards. The third of which was a one-yard rushing score, Sanoe pounded through the formation to fall over the goal line on just his fourth snap of college football. 

With Christian Moss out of Saturday’s game with what Fisch called a soft tissue injury earlier in the week, the Husky offense turned to Jordan Clay as its X-receiver. And in the first half, he quickly earned the confidence of Williams at quarterback. Clay pulled down back-to-back eight-yard receptions late in the first quarter to begin a drive. The two catches helped Williams complete four of five on that drive to set up a field goal. Before that possession, Williams had a couple of bad overthrows to begin the game, four of eight.

On the next drive, Clay elevated above the defender to grab a 19-yard back-shoulder catch along the near sideline. That catch helped set up the scoring drive capped off by Sanoe’s rushing touchdown. Clay finished with four catches for 42 yards.

Rashid Williams did leave the game with an injury in the first half. Fisch said after the game that he didn’t initially believe it was “anything that will [force him to] miss substantial time.” That allowed Trez Davis to get involved late in the second quarter. He had a pair of catches on his first drive with receptions of 19 yards and seven yards. The freshman from Louisiana finished the game with four catches for 44 yards.

Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

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