Huskies Come Up A Couple Points, And A Couple Players, Better Than The Beavers
The possibly (probably?) final showdown between the 5th ranked and unbeaten Huskies and the 11th ranked Beavers, winners of 16 of their last 17 games at Reser Stadium, turned into a soggy slugout in a downpour that deserved the national TV audience it got. In the end, the Huskies came up a couple points better than the Beavers, winning 22-20, despite not scoring in the second half. In part, because Washington only ran 6 plays in the 3rd quarter.
But the Beaver second half rally came up short when a 4th down pass from DJ Uiagalelei missed TE Jack Velling, and a 3rd down pass from Michael Pennix to Rome Odunze did not.
“Jack got on the backside of the play. We were looking at frontside progression, that was not there.” Coach Jonathan Smith explained.
The game started with the Huskies exchanging nearly 5 minute scoring drives, with Pennix connecting with Odunze for the first score of the game, and Damien Martinez capping Oregon State’s answer with a 6 yard scoring run.
After that, the remainder of the first half was mostly Washington. A punt snap over Josh Green’s head resulted in a safety that gave the Huskies a 9-7 lead late in the first quarter.
“Obviously, we’re not trying to snap it over his head,” Smith said. “I do think Josh did a good job by making it only two points, not seven.”
An exchange of turnovers early in the second quarter appeared initially to give the Beavers a chance to escape a Husky threat, but ultimately only forced Washington to go a few more yards before Pennix ran for a 5 yard touchdown.
Oregon State got back within a single score on Atticus Sappington’s 38 yard field goal, but Washington took a 22-10 lead less than a minute before halftime, on Pennix’s 32 yard touchdown pass to Odunze on the left side of the end zone.
The Huskies had a chance to blow the game out of the water early in the 3rd quarter, after Jabbar Muhammed picked off an Uiagalelei pass, setting Washington up on the Oregon State 22, but Grady Gross pushed the resulting field goal attempt wide left.
The Beavers responded with a nearly 10 minute drive that consumed almost the entirety of the 3rd quarter, and culminated with Martinez’s second touchdown, which cut the deficit to 22-17.
Another 50 yard Oregon State drive that Sappington capped with a 35 yard field goal made it a 2 point game, with still over 10 minutes of, as it turned out, dry football to go.
Washington picked up a couple of first downs, the most important of which was a 19 yard Pennix pass to Jack Westover, which got the Huskies nearly to midfield.
The Oregon Stage defense stiffened though, forcing a Washington punt. But perfect placement resulted in Anthony Gould fair catching it at the 5 yard line.
The Beavers, needing a game winning drive that only needed to reach Sappington’s considerable field goal range, stalled just short of midfield, on the 4th down pass on a deep cross to Velling that wasn’t run out.
The Huskies ran the ball enough to exhaust the Beavers’ supply of time outs, but needed a first down to be able to run out the clock. At that point, the Huskies turned to what they do best.
Coach Kalen DeBoer elected to risk stopping the clock with a pass play, and Offensive Coordinator drew up a play with 4 wide outs flooding the right side of the field. And Odunze isolated on true freshman Jerrod McCoy. And Pennix threw it up, and called for Odunze to go make a game winning play.
He did, and all that was left was for the Huskies to kneel down and seal their 18th win in a row.
The TV assignment that put the game into an evening time slot that coincided with a deluge for the first 3 quarters, whereas a 12:30 start would have got the game over in mostly dry weather. But that ABC time slot wouldn’t have had the mostly undivided attention of the football nation, and instead went to the UCLA-USC game between bigger market brands than Washington and Oregon State that were both already eliminated from the final Pac-12 Championship race, and possibly the CFP playoff.
The weather was a factor, especially for the first 3 quarters, resulting in turnovers, slips, and incompletions, that would not have normally occurred, for both teams. And held down the overall passing numbers, especially for Washington, who under the command of QB Michael Pennix, has hovered around the top of the passing yardage and touchdown numbers all season.
“I think for both teams the weather was a factor,” Smith said. I thought they made a couple plays catching it. and they dropped a few balls, just like we did. The ball was on the ground for both sides. It was wet.”
Pennix completed only 13 of 28 passes, for only 162 yards. But he threw 2 of them for touchdowns to Odunze, which brought Pennix’s total to 30 this season.
“We got what we wanted,” Smith said, “as far as shortening down the game, and controlling the ball. We had time of possession 15 minutes, more than them, we ran for more yards, and passed for more.”
The teams exchanged 3 point home wins on last second field goals the last couple of years, and the final game in the over a century old rivalry delivered the 2 things that were expected. Another close game, this one with very high stakes, and commensurate amount of disappointment for whichever side lost.
Husky fans are happy, having improved to 11-0, and secured a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game before they even play the Apple Cup.
Beaver fans are bummed, despite still being bowl bound for the 3rd win in a row, after dropping to 8-3 (5-3 in conference), and being eliminated from the conference championship chase before they play the Civil War, against Oregon, 49-13 winners at Arizona State, who are not eliminated.
Afterwards, there was much conversation about the impact of Oregon State’s turnovers, but not all turnovers are created equal.
One was the equivalent of a punt just before half time, and one caromed off a receivers’ hands in the wet conditions. And didn’t yield in any Husky points.
And Gould’s fumble could only happen because Kitan Oladapo never gave up on a big play by the Huskies, running down Dillon Johnson after a 43 yard run, and knocking the ball loose on the tackle.
Both were good knockouts, but both also only happened because of wet ball conditions. Under normal conditions, Washington’s highly productive offense very probably scores a touchdown anyway, just with less excitement.
Losing by 2 also led to a lot of angst over the safety, and though it was not a good thing for the Beavers, had it not happened, the Huskies would have kicked the PAT instead of trying for 2 later in the 2nd quarter, an analytics dictated decision, that failed, as most do. So the math at the end of the game would not have been different.
There is no difference between being down by 2 or 1 when you take over on the 5 yard line, and need a drive for a game winning field goal.
And as far as concerns about play calling, and going run heavy, that’s the same strategy that had produced the 3rd quarter dominating drive, and produced Martinez’s 164 yard rushing night.
A much more impactful sequence came late in the Beavers’ first drive of the 4th quarter. Uiagalelei completed a pass to Martinez, which turned into a 19 yard gain, down to the Husky 15. In the process, senior left guard Heneli Bloomfield, who was well downfield blocking, turned as he engaged a Husky safety, and injured his left knee in the process.
Bloomfield, one of the veteran linemen that has made the Beaver o-line one of the best in the nation, and was doing what they do to be a dominant unit, had to be helped to the exam tent, and did not return to the game. His status is questionable at best going forward.
Much less experienced Flavio Gonzales took over, and was promptly beaten badly by Husky DT Tuli Letuligasenoa, and the drive stalled. Gonzalez recovered and played well the remainder of the game, but the sequence meant the Beavers had to settle for Sappington’s field goal, whereas a touchdown would have given the Beavers the lead.
The closeness of the games between the good Husky and Beaver teams in recent years demonstrate that the teams are very close to each other in overall quality. But the difference Saturday was illustrated by the difference upwardly mobile Washington’s 2 players that wear #1 make.
Odunze is a difference maker, and a big WR, something Oregon State does not have. And in addition to the above documented game changing plays Odunze made, his 7 catch, 106 yard night also included a 25 yard crossing route that extended the first Washington drive that ended in his touchdown.
When Oregon State needed a game winning catch, the 7 inch shorter Gould could neither reach Uiagalelei’s pass in the back of the end zone for a diving catch, or elevate high enough to make the catch. And the last drive ending completion came on a mis-run route...to a tight end. A game changing receiver in addition to the speed of Gould and Silas Bolden would indeed be a game changer.
And when faced with a game changing WR, Oregon State does not have a lock down DB, like Muhammad, who had 2 interceptions, and a game high 4 break-ups. The only other player on the field for either team with more than 1 was Oregon State’s Ryan Cooper, with 2.
The Beavers played well, but the Huskies were not only better, albeit only a little, they were on a different level when and where it mattered.
Going forward, Coach Smith’s immediate concern has to be replacing a large number of seniors and other early departures, but to ultimately elevate the Beavers to the next level, a game changer on each side of the ball are needed.
Oh well, there is still a Civil War and a Bowl Game to go.
Cue the Fight Song!