The Washington Huskies (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) were defeated 24-6 by the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) inside Husky Stadium on Saturday. Though the game remained close until the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes pulled away in the end. How? The Huskies were hampered by penalties, outdone at the line of scrimmage, and ineffective in the red zone.
Plagued by penalties
The Huskies suffered six penalties for 49 yards on Saturday. Five of those flags occurred in the first quarter, which stopped Washington from building any early momentum. To make matters worse, two of those early flags came from the Huskies’ own sideline.
The first came via a collision between a referee and Huskies coach on the Huskies’ second drive. The flag walked back a 16-yard completion from quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to true freshman wide receiver Dezmen Roebuck.
“He said he ran into one of our coaches on the sideline, but I didn’t see it,” Washington coach Jedd Fisch said of the referee collision postgame.
Two plays later, Fisch himself was given a personal foul after he came onto the field to berate an official, likely in regards to the previous flag. The Huskies punted following an illegal snap shortly after, though they managed to force and recover a fumble on the return.
The Huskies’ only penalty from beyond the first quarter was a killer, too. The Buckeyes’ opening drive of the third quarter had already bled seven minutes off the clock, but they now faced second-and-20 at the edge of field goal range.
The second-down pass was incomplete, but Huskies defensive lineman Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei was called for a controversial roughing-the-passer penalty. The penalty gave Ohio State a first down, and they scored their second touchdown of the game four plays later.
Fisch disagreed with the call, as did the CBS broadcasters and many other analysts. When asked if Uiagalelei could have done anything differently, Fisch simply said, “No.”
Struggles with sacks
The Huskies’ last game against a No. 1 team came only a year ago, when they were beaten 49-21 at Oregon to end the season. The Oregon defense dominated the line of scrimmage and picked up an astounding 10 sacks, which totally deflated the Huskies offense.
It was a similar story on Saturday. Williams was sacked six times and never found room to scramble. Sacks included, his rushing tally was 13 carries for -28 yards. Williams (18/22 for 173 yards) was still effective in places, including a streak of 14 straight completions, but couldn’t operate at his usual effectiveness.
“I’ve got to help Demond understand that an incompletion is OK sometimes,” Fisch said. “He doesn’t throw many incompletions at all. Sometimes that leads to holding the ball a little bit longer, and unfortunately, at times that could turn into a sack.”
Running back Jonah Coleman was contained as well. He broke off a 34-yard rumble in the first quarter, but picked up just 36 yards across his other 12 carries.
Red zone issues
The Huskies entered the red zone three times on Saturday, but emerged with only six points. On the Huskies’ second drive, they drove all the way into a first-and-goal scenario at the 1-yard line. However, it unravelled from there.
Coleman was stuffed for a one-yard loss on first down, and right guard Geirean Hatchett was called for a false start before second down, which was another short loss from Coleman. Williams was then swarmed on third down and could only fight back to the line of scrimmage, which set up a Grady Gross field goal.
The Huskies found themselves at the edge of the red zone on their next drive, but a sack pushed them right back out again. Washington ended up attempting a fake field goal, which failed when tight end Decker DeGraaf failed to get his head around in time for the pass from Gross.
The Dawgs’ final red zone appearance came in the third quarter, and they eventually found themselves facing third-and-goal at the 3-yard line.
“We wound up trying to get [Roebuck] the ball, and they had a hole player right in the throwing lane,” Fisch said. “We’ve got to throw that [ball] away so we have a chance on fourth-and-three to go for it. Unfortunately, we took a sack there and had to kick a field goal to make it 14-6.”