UW Huskies roar back in second half to beat Utah, 24-21
Washington cornerback Trent McDuffie leaped for Jake Bentley’s pass, crashing to the turf near the sideline with the ball in his hands.
With McDuffie down and the interception secured, the play was over. But McDuffie still scrambled to his feet, taking off toward the end zone as the rest of the Huskies’ defense swarmed around him. And there, with seconds left on the clock and a 24-21 victory over Utah all but official, the players posed for a group photo in front of the media cameras and a nonexistent crowd.
“That was the moment that all our hard work paid off for the day,” senior defensive back Elijah Molden said afterward, his voice hoarse.
Had fans been allowed in Husky Stadium, the noise would have been deafening.
Had fans been allowed, you would’ve felt the swell as momentum shifted in the second half.
Maybe it wouldn’t have been all that different in the first half. As the Huskies fell behind by three touchdowns, maybe the fans wouldn’t have made that much more noise than the rows of cardboard cutouts. But later? When UW started its second-half comeback? It would have been loud — nearly bursting — as the deficit shrunk from 21-0 to 21-17 to 21-10 and 21-17.
The score stalled there for a while, but UW’s defense — the one that held Utah scoreless in the second half, the one that forced three turnovers — didn’t give an inch.
In between UW’s final two scores, the defense forced a fumble and recovered it, stuffed Utah on 4th-and-1 and forced a three-and-out. And then, with 4:31 left in the game, redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan Morris led the Huskies’ offense back into the field.
Imagine the roar as he completed 7-of-10 passes for 71 yards, or when tight end Cade Otton hauled in the game-winning 16-yard touchdown pass with 36 seconds left.
Imagine the explosion when, just seconds later, McDuffie secured the victory with his first interception of the season.
Instead, the Huskies were left to celebrate on their own.
“I was kind of overcome with emotion,” said outside linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui. “The game was up in the air for so long. … When (McDuffie) came down, that’s actually probably the first comeback I’ve ever been apart of. I just had to take in the moment. I was just overcome, in such awe of this team.”
An unsportsmanlike conduct flag came down after UW’s gathering in the end zone, but it was hard to blame the Huskies for the outburst of joy — most because, back in the first half, it seemed impossible.
UW trailed 21-0 at the break, and everything that could go wrong did. Even Morris’ Hail Mary pass on the final play was intercepted.
“In that first half, it was a little flustering to give up so many points,” Tupuola-Fetui said. “We just came off a week of really solid defensive play. For a second there, it just seemed like we were taking a couple steps back.”
But after allowing 221 total yards and 134 rushing yards in the first half, the Huskies held Utah to 138 and 81, respectively, in the second. Offensively, UW had just 127 total yards before halftime. But on the first possession of the second, the Huskies marched 72 yards in six plays to score on a 2-yard run from tailback Kamari Pleasant.
Then Molden picked off Bentley, running the ball back 24 yards to Utah’s 27-yard line. UW stalled in the end zone, settling for a 26-yard field goal from Peyton Henry. The Huskies then stopped Utah on 4th-and-1 from Utah’s 41-yard line. That allowed UW to pull within 21-17 with 2:49 left in the third quarter on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Morris to Otton.
After not turning the ball over in the first two games of his college career, Morris threw two interceptions in the first half and nearly added a third. Having completed just 10-of-18 passes for 77 yards at halftime, he had every reason to crumble.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he responded by completing 13-of-20 passes for 195 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the second half.
“At halftime, that guy was about as positive (as anyone),” Lake said. “You could look him in his eyes. You could tell that he was going to lead our team and put some points on in the second half.”
There was a moment — after Morris threw his third interception of the game with 6:47 remaining — that it seemed like UW’s comeback would fall just short. But Morris didn’t flinch then, either. He walked to the sideline and told his teammates that the defense would get the ball back. After watching his prediction come true, he led the game-winning drive.
“I think it was perfect,” Molden said. “We kept on saying to each other, ‘We’re really going to do this, we’re really going to this.’”
They really did. Because of Morris and McDuffie and Molden. Because of Otton’s eight catches for 108 yards, and sophomore receiver Puka Nacua’s back-to-back catches on that final, decisive drive. And because of Tupuola-Fetui — an unexpected starter who just won’t be stopped. He finished with four tackles, 3.0 sacks, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He now has 7.0 sacks in just three games.
“(Tupuola-Fetui) just comes out, just comes to work,” Lake said. “He harasses our quarterback (in practice), harasses our offensive line. He’s hard to block. Our opponents are having a really hard time keeping him covered up.”
As Lake stood on the field after the game, he couldn’t help his eyes from wandering to the stands where 70,000 fans should have been. In the strangest of seasons, he still found himself waiting for the cheers — the celebration that should have ensued after UW overcame a 21-point halftime deficit for the first time since 1988.
But he’ll take what he can get.
“I’m so proud of our staff,” he said. “I’m so proud of our players. It’s been a difficult year for everybody. To see the looks on their faces going through all the adversity that we’ve all gone through in 2020, for us to go through all of this adversity in the first half and the second half and find a way … to come out of there with a victory is just a huge growing moment for our program.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 8:35 PM.
