10 more notes from the Huskies’ 24-17 loss to UCLA
Washington has reached the halfway point of this 2021 college football season — and the Huskies (2-4) aren’t exactly in the position they were hoping to be at this stage.
After opening Pac-12 play late last month with an overtime win over California, UW has dropped its past two conference games, including a loss to Oregon State two weeks ago in Corvallis, and another to UCLA this weekend in Seattle.
In Saturday night’s game at Husky Stadium, a late costly turnover and UCLA’s relentless rushing attack were among the points that contributed to a 24-17 loss for UW.
Here are 10 more notes from the game:
▪ UCLA had one of the most productive rushing offenses in the Pac-12 entering this meeting, and the Huskies had one of the least efficient rushing defenses, and well, that combination favored the Bruins, who piled up 237 rushing yards on 5.9 yards per carry.
Their final offensive drive, during which they held the ball for nearly five minutes and rushed on each play while clinging to a one-touchdown lead, secured their win. Zach Carbonnet carried the ball on six consecutive attempts and picked up a pair of first downs before quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson converted a third-and-5 that allowed UCLA to kneel three times and burn the remaining time.
Charbonnet (21 carries, 131 yards) became the fourth running back to rush for 100-plus yards against the Huskies this season, joining Michigan’s Blake Corum (172) and Hassan Haskins (155), and Oregon State’s B.J. Baylor (112).
Thompson-Robinson added 87 yards and a rushing score on his 12 attempts, while Brittain Brown added three carries for 26 yards.
“They’ve got good running backs. They have a good quarterback who’s extremely elusive,” UW 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.”
▪ The Huskies, meanwhile, still have one of the least productive rushing offenses in the conference — they rank tied for 10th in yards per game (111) with Washington State, and 11th in yards per carry (3.4) — after Saturday’s loss, and ended the game with 83 rushing yards and 2.7 yards per attempt. They ended the first half with 4 yards on 13 tries, including a high snap that cost them 25.
A bright spot on the ground for UW, though, was sixth-year senior tailback Kamari Pleasant, who led the Huskies with nine carries for 80 yards. Pleasant tallied a pair of explosive runs on back-to-back carries of 32 and 15 yards that helped set up the Huskies’ third quarter touchdown that tied the game at 17-17.
It was the second consecutive game Pleasant has rushed for 80-plus yards after he collected a career-high 84 on 12 carries two weeks ago against Oregon State.
▪ Lake also pointed to UW’s negative turnover margin as one of the difference-makers in the loss.
“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,” he 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.”
The Huskies’ two turnovers were a pair of interceptions — one on their first drive, one on their last — thrown by second-year quarterback Dylan Morris. The first, on UW’s opening series, was on a deep pass from Morris to Rome Odunze down the right sideline. Morris was hit as he threw, and UCLA safety Quinton Lake snagged the pass. The second was on UW’s final offensive possession when Morris looked downfield for Jalen McMillan for what may have resulted in the game-tying score late in the fourth quarter, but the throw was short of McMillan, and Bruins cornerback Devin Kirkwood hauled it in. Then the Bruins ran out the clock. The interception was Morris’ eighth of the season.
UW’s turnover margin is now at minus-3 this season, which ranks second-worst among Pac-12 teams and tied for 108th among 130 FBS programs.
▪ When asked if he thinks he needs to consider a change at quarterback, Lake said: “Not at this point, no, I do not. 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.”
▪ Odunze caught his first career touchdown pass against UCLA, when he beat a defender down the left sideline and corralled Morris’ 26-yard pass in the back left corner of the end zone. The touchdown grab cut a 14-point lead by the Bruins back to one touchdown just before the break.
The second-year freshman wideout, who has appeared in the past three games after missing the first three, led the Huskies with a season-high 58 yards, hauling in four of his seven targets.
Odunze was the Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior in 2019, after he wrapped up his high school career at Bishop Gorman with 121 catches, 2,699 yards and 31 touchdowns. He was also a member of The News Tribune’s 2020 Western 100 class.
▪ All-American linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui, who has been working his way back from an Achilles injury since spring practices, made his much anticipated return on UW’s first defensive series.
Tupuola-Fetui played limited snaps in his season debut — 10 total, per Pro Football Focus — but reached the backfield more than once when he was on the field, recording one hit and three hurries of Thompson-Robinson.
Lake indicated postgame he anticipates Tupuola-Fetui’s playing time will increase each game after missing the past six months.
“Everything is always in the best interest and health of our players, so coming back from such a devastating injury like that, we had a plan with the trainers, the doctors, with him, how he was feeling,” Lake said. “It was going to be limited reps. There was no way we were going to send him out there and just play 80, 100 snaps.
“Of course, we would love to see him play that much, because he did make a difference while he was out there, but we had a plan to keep it very, very limited. And thankfully he came out of the game healthy, and he’ll come back and get stronger and more healthy as another week goes by, and I can see here moving forward every game he’ll get more and more and more reps.”
▪ How effective has Race Porter been for UW this season? Through six games, the sixth-year senior punter is averaging 47.6 yards per attempt on 25 tries, which ranks eighth among FBS punters.
He continued to flip the field against UCLA, punting three times for 65, 52 and then later 38 yards on a short field to pin the Bruins at their own 10 in the fourth quarter.
It was the second time this season Porter has averaged more than 50 yards per punt in a single game. Last month against Cal, he averaged a season-best 55.5 yards on four attempts, including a career-long 67-yard boot.
▪ Fife High School product Ulumoo Ale made his first start of the season against the Bruins, replacing Julius Buelow at left guard. Ale played each of the Huskies’ 64 offensive snaps, per PFF. He had started every game at left guard during the four-game 2020 season, but Buelow claimed the starting job during fall camp. Asa Turner also made his first start of the season against UCLA in place of Cameron Williams, and played each of UW’s 68 defensive snaps, per PFF. Turner also started the four games in the shortened season last fall.
▪ Saturday’s game also included the returns of some of the Huskies’ regular contributors. All-Pac-12 tight end Cade Otton played 64 offensive snaps, per PFF, after missing both the Cal and Oregon State games, and caught three of his five targets for 26 yards. Richard Newton, who started the first three games for the Huskies at tailback, played four snaps, per PFF, after also missing Cal and Oregon State, and caught his only target for 9 yards. Nickelback Brendan Radley-Hiles, after leaving the Cal game early and missing Oregon State, returned to play 62 snaps on defense, per PFF, and finished with four tackles and a pass break-up.
▪ The Huskies’ four losses in six games is their most at this point since the program’s winless 2008 season. Here’s a look at the remaining schedule: Arizona and Stanford on back-to-back road trips, Oregon and Arizona State at home, Colorado on the road, and the annual Apple Cup matchup against Washington State at home to wrap up the regular season next month. UW likely needs to win four of those to receive bowl game consideration.
