A loss at Arizona State (3-3, 2-1) for Washington (6-1, 3-1) is hardly a shock. The Huskies haven’t won in Tempe since 2001, when some of the current players were toddlers. What was shocking Saturday night was one of the nation’s most efficient offenses playing so inefficiently, a startling replication of the same case a night earlier in eighth-ranked Washington State’s 37-3 loss at Cal.
A late touchdown averted fifth-ranked Washington’s first shutout in seven years, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the first defeat of a season that otherwise had a straight road to another appearance in the College Football Playoffs.
The 13-7 loss (box) was perpetrated largely by a Sun Devils defense that had two weeks to concoct a series of blitzes and stunts that confused UW’s experienced line and sent QB Jake Browning into seemingly perpetual panic runs. Five of them ended in sacks, several of which were huge despite facing pressures from four linemen or less.
After the Huskies’ failures in their first pressurized game of the season, coach Chris Petersen sounded bewildered.
“I don’t know why,” he said. “It’s probably one of the more frustrating nights I’ve had on offense in a long, long time.”
One element was no mystery: Two missed field goals by Van Soderberg. The redshirt freshman replaced fifth-year senior Tristan Vizcaino, who had become inexplicably shaky. Then Soderberg wobbled in his footsteps, missing in the second and fourth quarters to put more pressure on the offense.
“I knew (field goals) would be a deciding factor, but I thought we’d make those field goals too,” he said. “We were pretty much like clockwork in practice. and we couldn’t get it done.
“It’s going to come up again.”
Averaging a conference-leading 432 yards of total offense a game, the Huskies managed 230, failing to get a second first down until the third quarter. The Huskies cleared few holes for the running game, the three backs accumulating 115 yards on 21 carries, most of that on the final drive to the touchdown that consumed 3:32 over 14 plays and 71 yards.
The most significant failure was pass protection. But even when Browning (17 for 30 for a career-low 139 yards) had a pocket, he often was off, or his receivers had drops. Even the coaches messed up, burning two timeouts in the second half because of misalignments.
“It was really frustrating that we had to use a couple timeouts on offense because we weren’t organized enough,” Petersen said. “Sometimes playing hard is not going to be good enough. If we don’t play to our standards we’ll get beat. And we did.”
Oddly enough, the Huskies were not sloppy — they had no turnovers and only three penalties. And the defense was its usual stout self. After a game-opening touchdown drive of 63 yards, the Sun Devils had only 121 for the rest of the game until the final possession, when they managed to burn the final 5:32 with two third-down conversions that kept the ball away from UW for a shot at a game-winning drive.
“I felt bad for the defense,” Petersen said. “They were stout.”
But the offense could not string together two good plays in a row until the final drive. But Petersen said overconfidence was not a factor.
“Trust me, we came in here knowing Arizona State was going to play good,” he said. “For whatever reason, we got nothing going on offense. Then we started pressing a little bit. When we did do something. we couldn’t capitalize on it.”
That happened early in the fourth quarter when freshman RB Salvon Ahmed took a reverse 50 yards for an apparent touchdown, only to have it negated by a holding call.
“When Savon hit the reverse, that was the break we needed,” he said. “I thought, here we go.”
Instead, they went nowhere.
Although the loss likely ends a return to the CFP, the Huskies still have many worthwhile things to play for. But as they enter the bye week ahead of an Oct. 29 home game against UCLA, they also know something else — they have been exposed.
Huskies lose two starters
The Huskies had two significant injuries. LT Trey Adams hurt a knee in the third quarter and did not return. CB Jordan Miller, second on the defense with nine tackles, had a leg injury on ASU’s final big pass play that put the game out of reach. An air cast was put on Miller’s right leg and he was taken from the field on a cart.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2235940 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2235940">7 Comments
This team is not nearly as good as last season. Injuries are starting to add up and the kicking game is pathetic. Browning holds the ball too long, receivers don’t seem to get separation. O line was supposed to be a strength, it now seems like a weakness. Slow starts on offense, much like the Seahawks.
Good analysis, Art, especially pointing out that the coaches share the blame for this abysmal debacle. It was the coaches who had to burn the timeouts, because they “weren’t organized enough”. That’s on the coaches for sure. Petersen says he’s going to give the team some time off. I hope it’s not too much time off. If I were a team member I’d be chewing on the bit, anxious to get back in the saddle and fix the myriad problems that brought the Huskies down.
A few things – I have thought the weakest coach on the staff is the OC Smith, and this pathetic display reinforces that belief. Ass coaches throughout the staff have been hired away, no one has bothered with any, or not much, of an offer to Smith. What OC in a major program does NOT get hired away.I had thought Petersen would have hired the OC or HC from Eastern Washington, who ended up at Cal and ASU. Peterson needs to hire away one of those two and say so long to Smith after this season.
Also, after starting FOUR years in a stellar HS career, then THREE years at UW, don’t you think throwing the ball out of bounds would be now be part of Browning’s DNA??? His taking sack after sack, or running out of bounds, would be minimized if he has just tossed the ball out of bounds. This again goes to coaching, and UW lost a LOT of yards from him not doing this, I would excuse a rookie, be he has how many passing plays under his belt? I am sure it is many thousands, including practice. Ugh………….
Jake didn’t play his smartest game, but the biggest shortcoming was inability to diagnose coverages and pressures. O-line was baffled too. I suspect Petersen had words with Smith and all O-coaches.
Part of it was what Petersen was complaining about: They play three times coming off a bye week, allowing for a two-week prep. Graham killed the Huskies with the extra time.
I don’t understand the purpose of the long slow developing handoff to the running back.
You know it’s been a bad couple days on the local sports scene when the weekend’s happiest news is that the Seahawks had a bye.
Maybe they just postponed it a week, and will flop against NYG.