UCLA piles up rushing yards, runs out clock after late UW turnover to hand Huskies 24-17 loss
The ending felt familiar as Washington watched the clock run out on its fourth loss Saturday night at Husky Stadium.
Another solid opponent rushing performance proved enough to keep the Huskies (2-4) out of the win column. This week, it was UCLA, which entered this contest with the top rushing offense in the Pac-12 South to this point, that bested UW on the ground, averaging 5.9 yards per carry on its way to 237 rushing yards.
And when it mattered most, in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, the Bruins charged ahead behind their leading rusher and dual-threat quarterback, and UW couldn’t come up with a late stop in what resulted in a 24-17 loss at home, and the Huskies’ second loss in three games of conference play.
“They’ve got good running backs. They have a good quarterback who’s extremely elusive,” Huskies coach Jimmy Lake said. “But, we’ve definitely got to tackle better, we’ve got to swarm better. There’s no question. We gave up over 200 yards. We’ve got to clean some stuff up.”
Leading by a single touchdown with less than five minutes to play, the Bruins won the ball back when cornerback Devin Kirkwood stuck his left hand out on a deep pass from Dylan Morris, tipped the ball back to himself, and held on as he was brought to the ground inside his own 5-yard line.
The pass, which Morris threw from near midfield, was intended for Jalen McMillan, but it seemed to fall a step short of the receiver, and instead of what likely would have resulted in the game-tying score, the Bruins kept their slim lead and never gave the Huskies another chance to even it.
They spent the final four minutes, 50 seconds surging ahead on the ground, burning UW’s final timeouts and eventually running out the clock. Zach Charbonnet — who finished with a game-high 131 rushing yards on 21 attempts — carried the ball on six consecutive plays, twice converting first downs. Dorian Thompson-Robinson then kept the ball on a pivotal third-and-5, and picked up 8 yards and the first down that ended the contest. He took three knees to make it official.
“I think it just comes back down to execution,” Huskies cornerback Trent McDuffie said of the Huskies’ continued troubles defending the run this season. “Guys are in the right spot, but we have to wrap up, and at the end of the day we have to get them down.
“I feel like it’s just a few minute details we have to clean up, and I think we can get it back going.”
UCLA is the latest team to pile up more than 200 yards rushing against this Huskies. Two weeks ago, before UW’s bye week, Oregon State, which entered the week as the conference leader in rushing, collected 242 to hand the Huskies their first Pac-12 loss of the season. Michigan, of course, piled up 343 to rout UW back in Week 2. All four of the teams the Huskies have lost to this season have in fact outperformed them on the ground. So, too, did California, even though that game resulted in an overtime win in UW’s favor.
“There’s a few teams here that have leaned on the run game, and haven’t thrown it very much,” Lake said. “When they run the ball obviously more, they’re going to get some more yards and that’s been the case here for a few of our games.
“But, we’ve definitely got to be better. We’ve got to be way better. And it starts with us coaches just making sure we put guys in good position to stop the run.”
Lake noted seeing a shift in how heavily programs now lean on the ground game. And, this season, UW has had trouble containing it and is allowing 190.5 yards per game rushing on average through six games, which ranks 10th in the Pac-12.
“There’s a lot more runs going on across the whole conference,” Lake said. “Teams are becoming more run-based, and you’re seeing a lot of teams giving up more rushing yards. So, we’ve got to be better at it. We’ve got to make sure we’re tackling better. And then also make sure we’re putting our guys in position to slow it down.”
The Huskies couldn’t do that often enough against UCLA — the Bruins scored on four of their 10 drives, punted on three, had the first half end on a missed field goal attempt, and then the game end on the drive that secured the win — yet still remained within reasonable distance to pick up their second conference win until the final minutes.
They rallied from what was once a two-touchdown UCLA lead on their first drive of the second half. They were quick to drive down the field, boosted by back-to-back rushes of 32 and 15 yards from Kamari Pleasant — who finished with a team-high 80 yards on nine carries — that set them up at the Bruins’ 7. Four plays later, on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Morris kept the ball on a quarterback sneak, and dove into the end zone to make it 17-17.
The score remained there until midway through the fourth, when UCLA took the final lead. Thompson-Robinson completed all eight of his passes on the drive, and he and Charbonnet found the needed room to run on five carries before Thompson-Robinson connected with tight end Greg Dulcich for the decisive 9-yard score with 8:19 left.
The third dual-threat quarterback the Huskies have faced in as many games, Thompson-Robinson finished 21-of-26 passing for 183 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 87 yards and another score on 12 carries.
Still, the Huskies had a chance to even the score a second time on their ensuing drive, when they worked into UCLA territory on carries by Pleasant and Sean McGrew — who carried 18 times for 38 yards — and three consecutive completions from Morris. But, a play after McGrew picked up a needed third-and-1, Morris tossed his second interception of the game and UCLA ran out the clock.
“We talked about over the bye week of making sure we’re trying to flip our turnover margin and make sure we’re protecting the football better and getting the ball back on defense,” Lake said. “We unfortunately were not able to do that tonight, losing 2-0 in the turnover battle there, and ultimately I think that was a big difference.”
Morris finished 20-of-30 passing for 184 yards, one passing touchdown, one rushing score and the two interceptions. He now leads the conference with eight through UW’s first six games. Lake was asked postgame if a quarterback change needs to be considered.
“Not at this point, no, I do not,” he said. “We’ve got to go back and watch the film and see exactly how it went down. We’re not going to play perfect, but we’ve got to see how our protection was, we’ve got to see how the route was.
“Interceptions aren’t always on the quarterback. And so, just to knee-jerk reaction go, ‘Oh, the interception’s on the quarterback,’ sometimes it can be on the protection, and a guy’s in his face and he’s not able to step into the throw, and sometimes it’s on the pass catcher, the pass catcher going up for the football, or whatever it may be. So, we’ll continue to take a look at all of that.”
How the Huskies’ final offensive possession ended mirrored their first. What started out as a promising drive on their opening possession of the game also turned into a turnover. UW converted a pair of first downs and were nearing midfield when Morris looked for Rome Odunze deep down the right sideline, but the second-year passer was hit as he released the ball, and it floated into the arms UCLA safety Quinton Lake.
The Bruins didn’t capitalize, though, and UW took its only lead on the next drive. Morris completed six passes as the Huskies marched down the field, aided in part by a pair of UCLA penalties, and a 16-yard shovel pass to Odunze that set them up first-and-goal from the 3. But, UW couldn’t convert an early touchdown. McGrew was stopped for losses on back-to-back carries, and Morris threw incomplete to Otton in the end zone on third down before Peyton Henry knocked a 25-yard field goal through the uprights.
UCLA took the lead for the first time less than three minutes later when Thompson-Robinson found Kam Brown out wide for a short completion, and Brown turned up the sideline and scurried into the end zone for a 17-yard score.
UW didn’t answer until the closing moments of the half. A high snap resulting in a 25-yard loss stymied one drive, and a quick three-and-out ended the next.
Meanwhile, UCLA added on a field goal and touchdown on its next two drives to take the game’s biggest lead at 17-3. Nicholas Barr-Mira capped one with a 39-yard field goal midway through the second quarter. Thompson-Robinson stretched forward on fourth-and-goal from the 1 to cap another.
On both drives, the Bruins had little trouble finding open running lanes, finishing the half with 133 yards on the ground and averaging 7.4 yards per carry. Three UCLA ball carriers — Charbonnet, Thompson-Robinson and Brittain Brown — individually outgained the Huskies on the ground in the first half.
UW finished with 4 rushing yards on 13 attempts, including the high snap, but even without it, the Huskies managed only 29 yards rushing in the opening two quarters. They finished the game with 83 rushing yards, averaging 2.7 per attempt.
It seemed after UCLA extended the lead to the two touchdowns, the Bruins would hold significant momentum heading into the half, but UW responded with a much needed touchdown to cut the lead back to one score in the closing minute of the second quarter.
The Huskies efficiently moved down the field, and Morris ended the drive by finding Odunze for a 26-yard score — the first touchdown of second-year receiver’s career. Odunze led UW’s receivers with four catches for 58 yards and the touchdown, while McMillan added four catches for 49 yards, Terrell Bynum had four for 28 yards and Cade Otton three for 26.
Saturday’s game also included the season debut of All-American linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui, who played limited snaps, but often found his way into the backfield, after returning from an Achilles injury he’s been recovering from since spring practices.
The Huskies are now at the halfway point in their season, with four losses in their first six games for the first time since the winless 2008 season. Arizona, Stanford, Oregon, Arizona State, Colorado and Washington State remain on the schedule.
“I think it’s just cleaning up the little details,” McDuffie said of how the Huskies can make a second half turnaround. “We have so much talent and we’re right there every week. It just comes down to a few plays, a few mistakes, and once we clean those up I think we’ll get back on track.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2021 at 9:02 PM.
