10 more notes from the Huskies’ 20-13 win over Stanford
More than 5,000 days removed from their last win inside Stanford Stadium back in 2007, the Washington Huskies (4-4) found a way to end their long streak of losses to the Cardinal there Saturday night before it reached an even 15 years.
The offense produced the decisive touchdown when it was needed most, in the game’s final moments, after the defense and kicker Peyton Henry kept the Huskies in reasonable position to win throughout, and UW closed out a needed 20-13 victory on the road, adding a refreshing energy to this season with one month of the regular season to play.
Here are 10 more notes from the win:
▪ After turning the ball over on downs twice in the fourth quarter, the Huskies found an offensive spark late to take the decisive lead in the final seconds. Here’s how the game-winning drive unfolded with two minutes, 51 seconds to play: Dylan Morris opened with an 11-yard completion to Jalen McMillan. Then Sean McGrew broke a 16-yard run that pushed the Huskies across midfield. Two more rushes each from McGrew and Cameron Davis, and a keeper from Morris pushed them to the edge of the red zone with 26 seconds left on the clock.
Trailing 13-12 at that point, they were facing third-and-2. They could have opted to set up a game-winning field goal try for Henry, but instead took a shot at the end zone. Morris took the snap, looked McMillan’s way, tossed the ball toward the end zone and the receiver hauled the pass in on the run for the touchdown.
“I love it,” Morris said. “That’s just the aggressiveness of this team. The offense, defense, the whole team together — we’re aggressive and we want to put up points on the board.”
▪ After averaging 111.3 yards per game on the ground through their first seven, the Huskies doubled that production against Stanford, stacking up a season-high 229 rushing yards.
McGrew led the way with 19 carries for 114 yards, while Cameron Davis added 18 carries for 99.
“We were just hungry,” McGrew said. “We knew we were struggling in the run game, we knew we had to come out, this was going to be a heavyweight fight. We know when you play Stanford you’ve got to be able to run the ball against them, and we just wanted to do that tonight, and we were just happy to get it going.”
▪ Not only did the Huskies establish the run — they also stopped it. After allowing 200-plus yards on the ground to Oregon State, UCLA and Arizona in consecutive games, UW held Stanford to 71 — the fewest the Huskies have allowed a Pac-12 opponent this season.
The 265 yards of total offense Stanford collected was also the fewest the Huskies have allowed an FBS opponent this season.
▪ Here are a few more defensive highlights: Carson Bruener, in his first start, led the Huskies with a career-high 15 tackles and added his first sack and forced a fumble in the third quarter. Sav’ell Smalls scooped it up for the first recovery of his career. Voi Tunuufi tallied the first and second sacks of his career on back-to-back drives to open the game. Jackson Sirmon hauled in his first career interception in the second quarter. And Brendan Radley-Hiles added his first interception as a Husky to close out the win.
▪ The Huskies are the only FBS team that has scored on every single trip to the red zone this season. UW has marched inside the 20-yard line 24 times through eight games, and come away with points on each drive, scoring 15 touchdowns and nine field goals.
Keep in mind the Huskies do have fewer red zone opportunities than many others. For example, fourth-ranked Oklahoma ranks second in the nation in red zone efficiency, scoring on every trip but one, but has also reached the red zone twice as many times as UW.
Still, the consistency is impressive, even if the Huskies haven’t produced the ideally desired result of a touchdown on every trip. Saturday, they reached the red zone on five drives, and scored on all five, but four ended short of the goal line and instead with field goals.
“We definitely don’t want to come up short with field goals there,” Lake said. “Definitely have to go back and watch every single sequence there, and how they shaped up. … We’ve got to execute better. We want to make sure all 11 guys are on the same page.”
▪ Though, as much as any offense is looking for a touchdown on every trip to the red zone, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a kicker as accurate as Henry has been of late. In this game, he was 4-for-4 with field goals of 24, 37, 32 and 35 yards. He is 9-for-11 on attempts this season and hasn’t missed inside of 40 yards. He is also a perfect 18-for-18 on extra-point tries.
▪ Injuries continue to impact UW’s depth chart. Left tackle Jaxson Kirkland missed a second consecutive game, while safety Alex Cook remained out after he was injured against Arizona. Outside linebacker Ryan Bowman and safety Asa Turner were both noticeably absent after starting last week. Tailback Kamari Pleasant was with the team, and would have been available if needed, Lake said, but is “dealing with some injuries from the last game” and did not play. Lake said he would have further injury updates Monday.
▪ UW did return a pair of regulars who missed the Arizona game in defensive tackle Sam Taimani and safety Cameron Williams. Taimani returned to his starting role and played 51 defensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus, while adding two tackles. Williams played for the first time since the Oregon State game, and was in on three defensive snaps. Wideout Ja’Lynn Polk participated in warmups, but did not play. Polk left UW’s season-opener against Montana after he was injured on the game’s first play. Lake noted then it was likely Polk would miss the rest of the regular season.
▪ UW’s chances to advance to a bowl game seem much more realistic now than they did two weeks ago. Their road wins over Arizona and Stanford the past two games give the Huskies four with four regular season games remaining to pick up two more. Three of the remaining games — against Oregon, Arizona State and the Apple Cup — are in Seattle, with only one road trip to Colorado left on the schedule. The possibility of working back into the race for the Pac-12 North doesn’t seem as bleak earlier, with the Huskies now suddenly one game out of a tie for first place.
▪ Speaking of first place, the seventh-ranked Ducks (7-1) are a team UW could catch in the division standings with a win next weekend. The Huskies host Oregon at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Interestingly, Oregon’s only loss this season so far is to … Stanford in overtime in early October.
