Michigan runs over Washington, hands Huskies first 0-2 start since 2008
The cheers echoed through the tunnel, and rang around the stadium as Michigan’s players returned to their locker room, moments removed from a decisive victory over their Pac-12 visitors.
There was much cause for celebration for a Michigan team that piled up nearly 350 rushing yards, four touchdowns, and locked down a Washington program that only two weeks ago entered the season ranked No. 20.
But, for the Huskies, for the second consecutive week, there was much cause for concern. Their postgame walk up the tunnel was much quieter, as they prepared to return to Seattle, left to evaluate this 31-10 loss, their stunning loss the week before, and how to turn around a season that has started 0-2 for the first time since the 2008 edition of the Huskies finished without a single win.
Where this team and their season can go from here will be the question this Huskies team will look to answer in the coming weeks, with two disappointing losses behind them, and the entirety of their conference schedule still ahead.
“We’re going to get back on the flight, get back to Seattle, and our whole coaching staff and our players will get back to work,” UW coach Jimmy Lake said postgame Saturday. “And what I told those guys is now we need to see some results.
“Our guys have been working hard, and they’ve been staying unified. They’re fighting to continue to grow and develop, and now we need to show some results — and those results need to be shown quickly.”
Results were surely slow to show up Saturday night at Michigan Stadium, and by the time they did, it was too late.
The Huskies were flagged for delay of game on the first play of their first offensive series as a crowd of 108,345 roared, and perhaps that set the tone for how most of the night would play out.
Their first drive ended in a three-and-out. So did their second drive. And their third. They didn’t convert a first down until the closing seconds of the first quarter — and it was on a roughing the passer call on Michigan. It wasn’t until the second quarter, on a 16-yard pass from Dylan Morris to Taj Davis on a third-and-15, that UW converted a first down through a successful play, and that fourth drive still ended in a punt.
The Huskies crossed midfield for the first time on their fifth drive, on Morris’ 17-yard pass to tight end Cade Otton, but turned the ball over four plays later, when Richard Newton was tackled for a loss, the ball came loose, and was recovered by Michigan.
UW punted again its sixth drive, and its seventh and final of the half ended without points when time expired.
When Lake was asked postgame what changes the Huskies tried to make in their offensive production this week after last weekend’s season-opening defeat, he said UW is “trying to do everything better right now.”
“We’re trying to run the football. We’re trying to give some easy completions. We’re trying to get our quarterback comfortable so he can get back there and see what he needs to see, and get the ball to who he needs to get the ball to,” Lake said.
“We started off slow. Now, late we had some plays here and there that were positives. But, it was too little too late. There will be some positive things that we can take from this. But, bottom line is we didn’t get it done to win the football game.”
Somehow, Michigan’s lead was only 10-0 at the break, but even then, given how sluggish the Huskies’ offense was playing — much like it looked last week against Montana, apart from the season-opening drive that resulted in a quick touchdown — the gap still seemed too overwhelming to overcome. And it was.
Michigan scored on its second drive on a 52-yard field goal by Jake Moody, and never lost the lead.
Two drives later, after the Huskies came up short after a replay review on a third-and-1 and elected to punt, Michigan ended up in a similar situation, but opted to run a fake on fourth-and-1, converted the first down, and a play later Blake Corum ripped through the defense, and raced 67 yards into the end zone untouched for the first of the Wolverine’s four scores on the ground.
“That was obviously a momentum killer,” Lake said. “They move it back there. We thought we had the first down. Then of course we punt, we stop them, and then they fake the punt on us and get the first down, and then hit us with a long run.
“It was a huge momentum shift. And that’s the nature of college football. Especially when you’re on the road in a hostile environment. Those things can sway some positive mojo for your opponent.”
For the most part, after the Huskies’ defense held up for most of the first half, the running lanes seemed to open up from there. On the first series of the second half, Michigan opted for eight consecutive running plays, capped by Corum’s 7-yard scoring run.
The next drive, the Wolverines ran on 11 of 14 plays — and benefitted from a taunting call on what would have resulted in a fourth down and likely a punt to give the Huskies the ball back, trailing 17-3 — and finished the drive with Hassan Haskins’ 6-yard score to make it 24-3.
Corum added a third touchdown on a 4-yard run to seal the win late in the fourth quarter.
He finished with a game-high 171 rushing yards and the three scores on 21 carries, while Haskins had 155 yards and a touchdown on 27 attempts.
Michigan’s offense finished with 343 rushing yards on 56 attempts, averaging more than 6 yards per carry, and the Wolverines had little need to throw the ball. Quarterback Cade McNamara was 7-of-15 passing for 44 yards.
“We’ve got to play as a team,” Lake said. “For us not scoring any points whatsoever, and we don’t give our opponent a reason to throw the football, and they can just keep pounding it at us, that’s not a good way to win football games. It’s team football. We’ve got to put points up.”
The Huskies did eventually in this game, but not nearly as early as they needed to. It wasn’t until the 5:54 mark in the third quarter they finally scored.
Four complete quarters — spanning two games — removed from their last scoring drive, the Huskies opened the second half with a 15-play drive that resulted in a 28-yard Peyton Henry Field goal, keeping the game somewhat within reach at 17-3.
UW finally connected for its second touchdown of the season on its first drive of the fourth quarter — 119 plays after scoring the first of the season on the opening drive last weekend against Montana.
It was well overdue.
Dylan Morris found Michigan transfer Giles Jackson for the Huskies biggest play to that point on a 33-yard connection. Two plays later, he threw a dart to Terrell Bynum in the end zone for a 22-yard score.
“I still think we’re just right there,” Bynum said of this offense’s capabilities. “We have a lot of good players. We just haven’t really put everything together yet. We came out really flat today.
“If we play like how we did in the second half, in the first half, we have a better shot. But, with what we did in the first half, I don’t think we’re going to be able to win many games like that.”
UW’s defense forced a quick three-and-out on Michigan’s next drive, giving the Huskies a chance to make up more ground with more than 10 minutes still remaining, but again, the offense stalled.
Morris completed five passes and scrambled to convert a third down to push the Huskies over midfield, but the drive fizzled out moments later on four straight incompletions, and Michigan answered by marching down the field for its final touchdown, pushing the lead to three scores.
Morris again found Bynum for a 45-yard gain on the first play of UW’s final drive. But, he then threw incomplete twice, was sacked — for the fourth time in the game — and threw incomplete once more as the Huskies turned the ball over on downs again.
Morris finished 20-of-37 passing for 293 yards and the tone touchdown. Bynum was the Huskies’ leading receiver, with five catches for 115 yards and the only touchdown a week after he sat out against Montana, while Davis added six catches for 78 yards. UW’s rushing attack was minimal, managing 50 yards on 32 attempts — or 1.6 yards per carry.
As the Huskies try to resolve what led to losses in the first two weeks, Lake noted he is confident in the leadership on this team.
“These guys are competitors and they want to make sure that they’re playing their best football here as we move forward,” he said. “And we haven’t come close to playing our best football. Obviously. Two weeks in a row. So, there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2021 at 9:54 PM.
