Washington Huskies: 4 Takeaways from 24-17 loss to UCLA
Despite rallying for a pair of touchdowns to tie UCLA heading into the fourth quarter, the Washington Huskies fell short at home Saturday evening. Here are our biggest takeaways.
The Washington Huskies had some missed opportunities early, falling behind 17-3 to UCLA in the first half. They rallied, putting together a couple of long scoring drives to tie the game midway through the third quarter.
Their first TD came on a 26-yard pass play from quarterback Dylan Morris to Rome Odunze, with under a minute to go in the first half. Morris scored on a one-yard, fourth down TD plunge in the third quarter to cap off a near five-minute possession.
From there on out, UW was held scoreless. UCLA put up their only second half points in the fourth quarter. They had a 90-yard drive culminated by a Dorian Thompson-Robinson to Greg Dulcich touchdown pass at the 8:19 mark of quarter four.
Here are our top four takeaways from the game.
Second half stall
The Washington Huskies offense played much like they did in the Oregon State game when they threw the ball more often in the first half. Dylan Morris threw the ball 22 times in the first half with 15 completions for 144 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. In the second half, Morris only completed 5 of 8 for 40 yards and interception.
For some reason, UW abandoned the pass in the second half. Strange because the Huskies tried to run the ball in the first half with Sean McGrew as their primary rusher, but he only gained 16 yards on 10 carries. Kamari Pleasant came on late in the half to pick up 13 yards on a pair of rushes.
In the second half, Pleasant carried the ball 7 times for 67 yards. The Bruins still kept McGrew in check in the second half with 8 carries for 22 yards. Despite the slight uptick in rushing production, embattled Washington Offensive Coordinator Jim Donovan got away from what worked, and the Huskies stalled out.
Can’t stop the run
The Washington Huskies’ struggles stopping the run continued this week. Coming into the game, UW gave up 179.6 yards per game; however, UCLA put up a total of 237 yards on the ground. As the game marched on, UCLA wore down the Huskies’ run defense.
In the second half, Zach Charbonnet had 13 carries for 71 yards, most of which came in the fourth quarter. It was part of a 21 carry, 131-yard game from the Michigan Transfer. QB Thompson-Robinson added another 87 on a dozen attempts. The Bruins are now 5-0 in games where they run for 200 or more yards.
Not good enough up front
All totaled, Washington had 267 yards of total offense. That’s not good enough to compete in a Power-5 conference. The Huskies’ offensive line not only failed to open holes for their running backs, but Morris also had to contend with pass rushers in his face all game.
Quality offensive line play is a hallmark of Washington Huskies football. Despite their youth, the O-Line has quite a bit of talent. Their performance this season is more than disappointing.
The end is near
The seat just got much hotter underneath Donovan. Despite Washington’s execution errors, the offense looked sluggish, and that’s on the OC. How much longer will Head Coach Jimmy Lake let him call plays?
The Huskies are now 1-2 in the Pac-12 and have an overall 2-4. They go on the road for a Friday night game against Arizona. Go Dawgs!