10 more notes from the Huskies’ 21-16 win over Arizona
After trailing much of the way here Friday night, the Washington Huskies (3-4) avoided a third consecutive Pac-12 loss by rallying for three second-half touchdowns to escape with a 21-16 win over Arizona (0-7).
Here are 10 more notes from their much-needed victory in the desert:
▪ UW’s offense was scoreless the first two quarters in what Huskies coach Jimmy Lake termed as a “very frosty first half.” UW had six drives in the first half, all of them ended in punts, and the Huskies crossed midfield only once.
They ran 31 plays, walked into the locker room with 65 yards of total offense — their worst showing in an opening half this season, managing even fewer yards than they did in a scoreless first half in the loss to Michigan last month.
Here’s what Lake said about the sluggish start: “I would explain it, bad execution by us and good execution by Arizona. We huddled up at halftime, there were some things that all of the coaches were discussing that they were doing, and we were able to change what we were doing in the second half and expose what they were doing.
“So, I give a lot of credit to our staff to be able to see that, and that’s where you saw a bunch of explosive plays going to our wide receivers, and then all the sudden then we got them on their heels a little bit, and the run game opened up and we got some points on the board finally.”
The Huskies ultimately outgained the Wildcats, 305-280, propped by some lengthy throws that contributed to touchdowns on three of their first four drives in the second half.
Dylan Morris completed long passes to Jalen McMillan (29 yards) and Terrell Bynum (28) before connecting with Bynum for a 16-yard touchdown on UW’s first drive of the third quarter.
On the next two scoring drives — which resulted in Cameron Davis’ 9-yard score and an 8-yard touchdown pass from Morris to Rome Odunze — Morris twice connected on deep 51-yard throws to Bynum that gave the Huskies immediate red zone opportunities.
▪ For the third consecutive game, and fourth this season, UW’s defense was gashed for 200-plus rushing yards. Joining Michigan, Oregon State and UCLA, which ran by the Huskies in previous weeks, Arizona rushed 40 times for 218 yards and a touchdown, averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff to clean up,” Lake said postgame. “Run defense is very poor right now. Our run fits and tackling. It’s unfortunate that we’ve played that bad in the last three weeks. And so we’ve got a lot of work to do in that department.”
▪ Where would the Huskies be if Tuli Letuligasenoa hadn’t hauled in that fourth quarter interception? Perhaps not celebrating a victory.
Arizona held a 16-7 lead, and was on the move again when the fourth quarter opened. Five rushing plays and a face mask penalty against UW had the Wildcats at the 28, in good position to push the lead to three scores.
The next play, though, the Huskies created the momentum shift they so desperately needed. Arizona quarterback Will Plummer made a short off-balance throw into traffic, and Letuligasenoa snagged it.
“They were going on that drive, and it was 3, 4 yards every run, and that play by Tuli was a huge charge to the whole sideline — for the defense, the offense, for the whole team,” Lake said.
It was a decisive swing in the Huskies’ favor. The offense scored on back-to-back drives to take the game’s final lead, and UW held Arizona in its own territory the rest of the way.
“It seemed like that was the spark that we needed,” Letuligasenoa said.
It was the first career interception for the sophomore defensive tackle.
▪ All-American outside linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui is continuing to get more involved. Returning from an Achilles injury, Tupuola-Fetui made his season debut last week against UCLA, playing a limited 10 snaps.
He played 24 defensive snaps this week, per Pro Football Focus, adding two tackles and his first sack of the season. On Arizona’s second drive, Tupuola-Fetui charged into the backfield, and chased down Plummer for a 12-yard loss on third down.
“He causes a lot of havoc in the backfield,” Lake said. “And seeing what I saw, and seeing him afterwards, I would say that his pitch count is going to be even more now going into the next game.”
▪ Five-star freshman quarterback Sam Huard entered the game for one series in the first quarter. He started warming up on the sideline following the Huskies’ first offensive series, when Morris was shaken up on a sack on third down. While Morris was tended to in the medical tent, Huard lined up behind center for the second time this season — he also played one series against Arkansas State — handing the ball off to sixth-year tailback Sean McGrew on five of the drive’s six plays. His only pass attempt that counted was an incompletion down the right sideline intended for McMillan that was nearly intercepted.
Morris returned the following drive and played the rest of the way, but Lake said postgame the Huskies had planned to get Huard involved for one series this week.
“It was interesting how it all played out,” Lake said. “Dylan took a huge hit, his face mask and everything came up on him, and they couldn’t get his nose to stop bleeding, I believe. Our plan was to get Sam in the game even before that happened. We know Sam has come along every single day since spring football up until now. It has nothing to do with Dylan. We just want to make sure we’re ready, because you can see at any moment we can lose our starting quarterback … so we’ve got to make sure that next guy is ready to go.”
Huard has now played in two games this season, and should the Huskies redshirt him, can still play in two more.
▪ Bynum tallied his second 100-yard game of his career against Arizona. The junior caught five of his six targets for a career-high 143 yards and the 16-yard touchdown catch from Morris. His two 51-yard catches were the two longest plays of UW’s season to this point.
“He was bullseye on those,” Bynum said of the two long tosses from Morris.
Bynum’s other 100-plus-yard game this season was against Michigan in Week 2, when he hauled in five passes for 115 yards and a score, including UW’s previous season-long play on a 45-yard catch.
He leads the Huskies in receiving with 25 catches for 427 yards and four touchdowns in his six games played.
▪ Davis capped the Huskies drive that followed Letuligasenoa’s interception with a 9-yard touchdown run to bring UW within one score early in the fourth quarter. It was the first touchdown of the redshirt freshman’s career. In his first appearance since the Oregon State game, Davis carried six times for 27 yards and the score.
▪ Asa Turner’s interception on Plummer’s final throw as time expired officially sealed the win for the Huskies. It was Turner’s second interception of the season. He is now tied with cornerback Kyler Gordon for the team lead. Turner added nine tackles against Arizona, tying inside linebacker Jackson Sirmon for the team lead in the game.
▪ UW was without several impact players in Tucson, including left tackle Jaxson Kirkland, defensive tackle Sam Taimani, inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, safety Cameron Williams and tailback Richard Newton.
Lake said expected to have further injury updates Monday.
“Obviously some key guys, and we’re hoping for a quick recovery,” he said.
Huskies junior safety Alex Cook, who was injured during the first quarter and carted off the field, was responsive and had movement in his arms and legs as he was taken to a local hospital, a UW spokesperson said.
“He was taken to the hospital, he has movement in all of his extremities, he’s awake and they’re bringing him back from the hospital to the stadium here so he can get on the bus and go back to Seattle with us on the flight,” Lake added postgame. “So that’s all good news. Still some tests to be run. But, I think that’s the most positive news that we could receive with him being able to come back with us.”
▪ Two players — redshirt freshman Troy Fautanu and true freshman Voi Tunuufi — made their first career starts against the Wildcats. Fautanu started in place of Kirkland, and played 65 snaps at left tackle, per PFF. Tunuufi started with Taimani out, and played 40 defensive snaps. Redshirt freshman Daniel Heimuli made his second start in place of Ulofoshio and tallied eight tackles on 24 snaps at linebacker. Redshirt freshman linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala, a Federal Way High School product, made his season debut and played 14 snaps.
This story was originally published October 23, 2021 at 2:43 PM.
