The Huskies rode running back Dwayne Washington to their first touchdown in the first quarter against California on Saturday. But the Huskies never got back into a rhythm with the run game, handing the ball off only eight times in the second half.
Just when one problem was solved for Washington’s offense, another surfaced in alarming fashion during Saturday’s 30-24 loss to California.
The Huskies rode running back Dwayne Washington to their first touchdown in the first quarter against California on Saturday. He made it look easy, carrying the load on the entire drive — five rushes for 71 yards — capped by his 14-yard touchdown run to give the Huskies a 7-3 lead.
Those 71 yards more than doubled the 34 total yards he had gained (on 17 carries) in UW’s first three games, and they offered hope for a running game that struggled mightily during nonconference play.
saturday
No game
OCT. 8
Washington @ USC, 6 p.m., ESPN
But the Huskies (2-2) never got back into a rhythm in the run game, handing off just eight times in the second half while trying to rally from a 27-7 halftime deficit. Forced to throw, true freshman quarterback Jake Browning did help the Huskies get within six points twice, completing 12 of 18 passes in the second half, but he was often under pressure (five sacks) and he committed three of UW’s five turnovers.
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The passing game — and, more directly, the offensive line’s pass protection — is a concern as UW’s young offense approaches its first Pac-12 road game at USC on Oct. 8.
“I thought we were going to be able to throw the ball. I thought we were going to be able to have a great offensive game against Cal,” UW senior tight end Joshua Perkins said. “The turnovers really killed us. We didn’t have that much time of possession; we were putting the defense on the field for way too long.”
The UW defense was on the field for almost 40 minutes, surrendering 481 yards, which isn’t egregious considering Cal ran 92 plays (5.2 yards per play). The Huskies sacked star QB Jared Goff five times, which was good, but the Bears converted 10 of 20 third downs, which wasn’t good. The Huskies also lamented their many missed tackles on Cal’s running backs.
No, UW’s stalled-out offense didn’t do its defense any favors, but the Huskies weren’t pointing fingers afterward.
“It’s a team sport,” UW defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said. “We’ve got to do a better job to hold up our end of the bargain.”
On offense, the Huskies want to have better balance. Last season, the ran the ball 60 percent of the time, more than any other team in the Pac-12.
On Saturday, the Huskies had a season-low 55 offensive snaps, and UW’s top two running backs — Dwayne Washington (10 carries, 109 yards) and Myles Gaskin (five carries, 16 yards) — combined for just 15 carries.
“In general,” UW coach Chris Petersen said, “we like to run the ball. We were running the ball better than we were throwing it, but we were playing catch-up the whole time. That wasn’t ideal.”
Washington did lose a costly fumble to kill a promising drive early in the fourth quarter. He said he expects the young offense to respond well during UW’s bye this week.
“After having all those guys leave last year, I feel like these young kids are more hungry,” Washington said. “They’re not going to back down from anything, even with the loss. They’re still going to come back strong.”