Utah gets revenge on Washington football

Washington football once again couldn’t hold a lead, this time against the ninth-ranked Utah Utes, who came away with a 33-28 victory.

Washington football beat the Utes twice last season, both in Utah and in the Pac-12 championship game, but they couldn’t get the job done in what’s now a lost season.

The Huskies were able to score on their first possession of the game as they’ve so often done this season. The defense played well for most of the first half, including in a crucial moment after a Jacob Eason fumble inside the Dawgs’ own 20.

Hunter Bryant had a huge day, which included two long touchdown grabs from Eason, in what was his biggest day in purple and gold. This might not bode well for the Huskies, as the draft-eligible junior increased his NFL draft stock against a great defense

Eason made a few overaggressive decisions in the second half that led to interceptions. One took points off the board for the Huskies, as it was in the red zone and the other directly translated into points as Jaylon Johnson took it back for a pick-six.

Utah fumbled twice in the third quarter, but Washington wasn’t able to take advantage and score off either of them. In fact, the Utes picked off an Eason pass right after the second fumble for a touchdown for them to get within two points. They were not able to tie the game with a two-point conversion.

This game was similar to the Oregon game two weeks ago where Washington took the lead early but allowed the opposition to come back and finish them off. For a team that had two weeks to prepare for Utah, the Huskies looked like a sloppy team after good drives to open the first half and the second drive in the second half. Don’t forget that Chris Petersen was undefeated when coming off a bye week before this game.

With the win, Utah is now in first place in the Pac-12 South since Oregon beat USC 56-24. The Huskies stay in fourth place in the North Division with a conference record of 2-4 while having an overall record of 5-4.

Despite the two interceptions, Eason still had a pretty good day, going 29/52 for 316 yards and four touchdowns. On the other hand, running back Salvon Ahmed couldn’t get going, having only 50 yards on 14 carries. The Huskies rushed for one yard in the second half.

The Huskies have a short week as they prepare to take on Oregon State in Corvallis on Friday night.