Huskies bounce back, score 7 touchdowns, rout Arkansas State for first win of season
Two weeks ago, there were countless boats anchored in the harbor behind Husky Stadium.
Fans poured into the seats for the return of college football in Seattle, excitement palpable, so many months removed from the last time this stadium hosted a crowd.
The Huskies ran out of their tunnel and through the purple smoke to roars. They scored on their first drive and the siren blared. But, as the evening progressed, the cheers softened.
Washington didn’t score again, and the stadium emptied in a hurry after Montana shocked the Huskies in their season opener, handing them their first loss to an FCS program in their history.
A week later, thousands of miles away in Ann Arbor, the Huskies dropped a three-touchdown loss to Michigan, beginning 0-2 for the first time since their winless 2008 season.
And so they returned home to a much different environment here Saturday afternoon. Two deflating losses to open the season, a first meeting with a nonconference, Group of Five opponent in Arkansas State on deck, and of course the chance of rain — which, yes, did eventually pour — wasn’t a combination that generated much buzz.
In the minutes leading up to kickoff, there were fewer than 20 boats floating in the harbor. Fans still trickled into the stadium, but the lower bowl and the upper bleachers were much more sparse than they were two weeks ago.
But, perhaps the stands will fill up again in the weeks ahead — because the Huskies, after two troubling performances to open this season, bounced back and put on a show for their rain-soaked fans in collecting their first win of this 2021 season.
After managing only two touchdowns the first two weeks, UW’s offense scored four — on consecutive drives — in the first half against the Red Wolves, and added two more and a field goal in the second half.
And, the Huskies’ defense had little trouble containing Arkansas State’s attack, shutting out the Red Wolves in the first half, allowing a single field goal late in the third quarter when their offense had already built a five-touchdown lead, and forcing three turnovers in the final two quarters.
The end result? A refreshing 52-3 victory that gives this Huskies team some much needed momentum with their Pac-12 opener against California one week away.
Perhaps junior nickelback Brendan Radley-Hiles, who transferred in from Oklahoma this spring, phrased the outcome of this game best:
“What you saw today was execution on a dominant level,” he said.
The product the Huskies put on the field Saturday looked much more like what they showed throughout preseason practices, and a lot less like the disappointing results the past two weeks.
“I’ll say the momentum that we had coming out of spring football and the momentum that we had coming out of training camp — that’s what it looked like,” Huskies coach Jimmy Lake said. “It was awesome to see us put our players in position to go out there and make plays.”
If there was a moment of doubt in the opening seconds of this game — the Huskies went a quick three-and-out on short run and two incompletions — that this offense could indeed make a turnaround, that doubt disappeared quickly.
“After the first drive, you saw our offense getting in a rhythm, and that was one of the keys to the game,” Lake said. “Our offense had to get in rhythm, and we saw that tonight.”
That led to four consecutive scoring drives.
The game still scoreless, UW’s offense marched 88 yards down the field on its next drive. Dylan Morris found Taj Davis for 14 yards. Then he connected with Jalen McMillan — who missed the season opener still recovering from an apparent injury during fall camp, and played sparingly last week against Michigan — for a 39-yard completion that sparked the crowd.
It was the first catch of the season for McMillan — and only second of the second-year freshman’s career — who went on to finish with 10 catches for 175 yards and a score.
McMillan’s first catch took the Huskies across midfield, and they steadily moved the closer to the end zone, eventually capping the drive with a 13-yard touchdown toss from Morris to his trusted tight end Cade Otton on fourth down.
“Any time you can score it’s going to give you mojo, but on a fourth-and-1, big moment like that, it definitely gave us some juice for the rest of the game,” Morris said.
UW grabbed the lead at that point for the first time since its season-opening drive against Montana, but this time never seemed in jeopardy of losing it.
Another long completion from Morris to McMillan down the sideline on the Huskies’ next drive — this time for 30 yards, and McMillan made a leaping grab behind a defender — again helped spur the offense forward. Sixth-year tailback Sean McGrew, making his first appearance of the season in the backfield, finished the drive by jump cutting between two Red Wolves defenders, scampering 13 yards into the end zone and letting out an emphatic yell.
Another 19-yard grab by McMillan over the middle on the next drive helped set up what was a 2-yard score by tailback Richard Newton out of the wildcat formation two plays later.
McMillan’s first career touchdown came on the next drive. He caught an 18-yard pass from Morris to again set the Huskies up inside Arkansas State territory, and then hauled in a 33-yard pass from Morris as he trotted into the end zone, and gave UW a four-touchdown lead it took into the break.
UW added another touchdown in the third, this time on a 2-yard scoring run by McGrew to make it 35-0 before the Red Wolves scored their first points.
Morris — who finished 23-of-39 passing for 367 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions — later connected with Terrell Bynum on a 42-yard touchdown to give the Huskies a 42-3 lead.
And Peyton Henry added a 38-yard field goal in the fourth, capping what was the first drive of freshman five-star quarterback Sam Huard’s career.
The Huskies finished with with 598 yards of offense — nearly matching the 634 yards their offense combined for the first two weeks — and averaged 7.2 yards per play.
Beyond McMillan’s career performance, Davis added five catches for 94 yards, and Bynum four catches for 64 yards and the one score.
Newton led the Huskies in rushing with 10 carries for 52 yards and the touchdown, while Kamari Pleasant had eight carries for 48 yards and McGrew six for 31 yards and the two scores.
The Huskies defense, meanwhile, had little trouble with a Red Wolves offense that had scored 90 points and averaged 596.5 yards per game through their first two games.
Arkansas State punted on 10 of its drives — and one of those attempts not long before halftime was blocked by Alex Cook. One of the Red Wolves’ two best scoring opportunities of the game resulted in a missed field goal in the first quarter.
Then, the Huskies forced three turnovers in the second half.
Linebacker Carson Bruener stymied one drive by forcing a fumble, which Radley-Hiles recovered, though the Red Wolves’ defense intercepted a tipped pass on the next play, setting up what was Arkansas State’s only score moments later on a Blake Grupe 26-yard field goal late in the third quarter.
In the fourth, Faatui Tuitele sacked Red Wolves quarterback Layne Hatcher for a 12-yard loss, and Bralen Trice scooped up the loose ball and returned it 72 yards for UW’s final touchdown of the game.
Julius Irvin then ended Arkansas State’s final drive with an interception.
“We talked about it last week — turnovers come in bunches,” Lake said.
The Huskies now have the momentum they’ve been seeking after two disappointing losses to open the season.
The next question is, can they carry it through Pac-12 play?
“I’m just proud of our guys for just going back to work,” Lake said. “We knew we had not played our best football — not even close to our best football, and I’m just proud of our leadership on our team, keeping everybody grinding and working, and knowing that there were going to be better days ahead.
“ … They just kept at work and stayed unified and this will create a ton of momentum going into conference play.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 4:42 PM.
