Oregon piles up rushing yards, Huskies offense stalls as Ducks pick up third consecutive win in rivalry series
The rain was still pouring when the Washington Huskies returned to their locker room after another frustrating loss in this rivalry series.
It had been pouring all evening.
It started in the first quarter, when the Huskies had built an early lead on the visiting Ducks, thanks to an energizing interception by freshman linebacker Carson Bruener, a quick touchdown by tailback Sean McGrew, a perfectly placed punt by Race Porter and a safety by linebacker Jackson Sirmon.
UW’s defense held up well enough early to keep this close throughout, but much like the rain that cascaded down on Husky Stadium, once No. 7 Oregon found the momentum it needed, the downpour didn’t stop.
By the time this rivalry renewal was over on a soggy night in Seattle, the Ducks had piled up a season-high 329 rushing yards on 56 carries, led by a career night from running back Travis Dye, and controlled possession late to outlast the Huskies, 26-16, here Saturday.
“It’s definitely tough,” McGrew said. “It’s definitely one that stings a lot.”
The Ducks (8-1) kept their College Football Playoff hopes afloat with the win, after debuting at No. 4 in the first set of rankings released earlier this week.
They also extended their current winning streak in this rivalry game to three seasons. They won in overtime in 2018 to send the Huskies home from Eugene with a heartbreaking loss. In 2019, they won here with a late rally.
The game wasn’t played last season due to COVID-19 issues in UW’s program, and when the Huskies had to withdraw from the Pac-12 Championship Game for the same reason, it was the Ducks who replaced them, and went on to win a second consecutive title.
The Huskies (4-5) entered the week looking not only to flip the recent results of this series, but challenge for the Pac-12 North title. A win would have moved them into a tie for first place, but a loss now has them searching for likely two needed wins in their final three games to be bowl eligible.
“Another tough one,” Huskies coach Jimmy Lake said postgame. “I’m proud again of the way our guys fought. We needed to execute a lot better, especially in that first quarter, that first quarter-and-a-half when we had a lot of momentum going.
“If we were able to do anything offensively and put some points on the board we really felt like we could have really got the momentum on our side.”
Bruener, after being named both the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week following his impressive performance against Stanford in the first start of his career, made a key play early this week for the Huskies, too.
Six plays into Oregon’s opening drive he snatched a pass from Ducks quarterback Anthony Brown and returned it 50 yards to the 6-yard line to set the Huskies up with an immediate chance to score.
Two plays later McGrew — who led the Huskies with 15 carries for 48 yards and their only two touchdowns — was in the end zone after bursting forward for a 1-yard score.
Oregon answered with Camden Lewis’ 46-yard field goal on the ensuing drive, but UW pushed its lead to 9-3 not long after. The Huskies went three-and-out, but a perfectly placed punt by Porter pinned the Ducks at their own 1. On the first play of the drive, Sirmon pulled Dye down behind the goal line for a safety.
UW’s momentum, though, seemed to end there.
“Extremely frustrating,” Lake said. “If we’re able to convert some of that momentum into touchdowns, field goals and just move the ball and get first downs, we’re going to be able to wear our opponent down and that changes the whole makeup of the game.
“And that’s what we’ve got to work towards. We’ve got to be able to move the chains and score points, especially when we’re feeling that energy and juice from our crowd and we’re making plays on the other side of the ball.”
The Huskies didn’t score again until the fourth quarter, when McGrew capped a long drive with a 2-yard touchdown. That cut the Oregon lead to 24-16, but the Huskies never got closer.
Lake noted the lack of offense “allowed our opponent to sit there and just hand the ball off and not put them in any dangerous situations.”
Oregon is the fifth team to rush for 200-plus yards against the Huskies this season, and second, joining Michigan, to pile up more than 300.
Dye — who finished with 28 carries for a career-high 211 yards and a touchdown — led the way for the Ducks, becoming the fifth opposing running back to collect more than 100 rushing yards against the Huskies this season.
Brown added another 63 yards on 12 carries, while Byron Cardwell had 55 yards on 16 carries.
Oregon took the lead for good in the second quarter, when Brown found Devon Williams behind the UW secondary for a 31-yard score to make it 10-9.
But, the Ducks completely opened the running lanes in the second half, when after a quick Huskies three-and-out to open the third quarter, Dye rushed five times for 68 yards before Brown capped Oregon’s scoring drive with a 2-yard keeper to give the Ducks a 17-9 lead.
With a short field two drives later, Dye needed only two plays to find the end zone, scoring on a 19-yard burst on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 24-9.
“Unfortunately we didn’t execute well enough,” Lake said. “And that’s a continuing theme … in our losses, but also in our close victories. We need to execute better in all three phases, but especially on offense.
“We didn’t play good enough on offense tonight. We didn’t get enough first downs. We didn’t score enough points. We didn’t run the football well enough. We didn’t throw the football well enough. We didn’t catch the football well enough.”
The Huskies scored 16 points — their lowest total since they scored 17 combined in back-to-back losses to Montana and Michigan to open the season.
They picked up a season-low seven first downs — and only had three across the first three quarters.
They rushed for a season-low 55 yards.
They passed for a season-low 111 yards.
They rarely crossed midfield. Seven drives ended in punts. One ended in a Dylan Morris interception in triple coverage looking for Jalen McMillan. Another ended in a turnover on downs on a fourth-and-1 attempt. And their final chance on offense, when they were still only trailing by eight with 2:14 to play, ended in a safety.
Oregon had taken nearly nine minutes off the clock in the final quarter, but two personal foul penalties forced the Ducks to punt on fourth-and-28, and the Huskies were set up at their own 10 with a late opportunity.
But, after three quick incompletions from Morris to Cade Otton — whose 30 yards on four catches led the team — and McMillan, the Huskies opted to punt again, hoping for a quick stop and a last chance. The snap on the punt attempt went out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety and Oregon’s final 10-point lead.
“We had two timeouts and if we punt the ball and we stop them, we’re going to have the ball with 50 seconds left to go down and score a touchdown,” Lake said. “So that was the thought process there. We weren’t obviously planning on getting a safety there with our punt operation.”
They never got the ball back after that. The Ducks ran five more times to run out the clock, nearly scored again, and ended the game at UW’s 1-yard line.
Then the frustrations poured out.
After time expired, several UW and Oregon players looked to be involved in a heated skirmish on the field.
“There was a lot of chipping going back and forth,” Lake said. “Obviously a rival game, and during the game that was happening. All I saw was there were guys chipping. 18-to-22-year-olds and they were talking trash back and forth. I didn’t hear what they were saying. But, our staff and their staff did a good job of separating the guys before anything seriously escalated.”
Lake was also asked postgame about a video clip from the telecast circulating from another skirmish in the first quarter after a special teams play, which Lake hurried over to break up, and appears to show him pushing his right hand forward into the face mask of Huskies walk-on linebacker Ruperake Fuavai and then shove him.
“I separated them. I didn’t strike him. I separated them,” Lake said when asked if he regretted “striking” him.
UW athletic director Jen Cohen later released the following statement:
“We are aware of an interaction between Head Coach Jimmy Lake and a student-athlete during the first half of Saturday’s game. We have high expectations of the conduct of our coaches and we are working to gather more information on this matter.”
The Huskies host Arizona State next Saturday before traveling to Colorado for their final road game, and then hosting Washington State in the Apple Cup in the final game of the regular season.
This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 8:21 PM.
