Washington Huskies: 3 takeaways from 44-27 win over Arizona
1 Dominating Defense
For the second game in a row, the Huskies defense dominated play for the first three quarters. Surprisingly, Arizona decided to test the strength of Washington’s defense by throwing early and often. It was a bad strategy as the Wildcats ended up with only 45 yards for total offense in the first half. Trailing badly, they had no choice but to throw in the second half as well. The results in the third quarter were the same as the first two.
In the first half, Wildcats QB Grant Gunnell was seven-of-eleven passing for 33 yards. After 45 minutes, his passing yardage climbed to 45. It wasn’t until the Huskies replaced their starters for the fourth quarter, Arizona finally had some success. Too little, too late.
Gunnell was dropped five times and fumbled once (recovered by Washington). Linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui, who was the Pac-12 Defensive lineman of the Week for his performance against OSU, had another outstanding game. ZTF had a pair of sacks and a pass defended. MJ Tafisi, Ryan Bowman, and Edefuan Ulofoshio also had sacks.
If there is one area the Washington Huskies can count on it’s their strong defense.
Related Story: 2020 Apple Cup game in jeopardy
The Huskies are scheduled to play Washington State in Pullman on Friday for the Apple Cup. Unfortunately, the Cougs game against Stanford on Saturday was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns at WSU. There is a good chance the Apple Cup might suffer the same fate. In that event, Washington’s next game would then be against Stanford at home on Saturday, December 5.