Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said his team took a step up after hitting what he called “rock bottom” the week prior. The final score, 53-16 in favor of the No. 1 Oregon Ducks, was not nearly as close as the Huskies made it feel during the first 30 minutes of action.
The Husky defense held Oregon’s high-powered offense scoreless in the opening quarter and trailed just 18-6 going into halftime. The focus for defensive coordinator Nick Holt was to slow the Ducks ground game early and often.
“Our whole d-line was attacking LaMichael James,” junior defensive tackle Alameda Ta’amu said.
Overall, Washington was able to throw a kink in Oregon’s offensive rhythm, though they still finished with more than 500 yards of total offense. Coming into the game, Sarkisian knew his team would have its hands full defensively, but he said there’s a lot more to this Oregon team than a high-scoring offense.
“I understand why they’re the No. 1 team in the country — they played like it,” Sarkisian said. “Everybody wants to continually talk about their offense — it’s not just their offense. They’re an exceptional special teams team, we knew that coming in, and they’re very good on defense.”
Special teams miscues led to consistently good field position for Oregon, particularly in the return game. Oregon freshman Josh Huff fielded three kickoffs for 132 yards, while sophomore Cliff Harris took four punt returns for 127 yards. The Huskies didn’t allow a touchdown on special teams, but the momentum shifts were undeniable.
Huff’s longest return, an 80-yard sprint early in the third quarter set the table for Oregon to outscore Washington 35-3 to close out the game.
“That kickoff return, I think, really took a lot of wind out of our sails,” Sarkisian said. “Which is unfortunate. I thought that kind of really strung the game really back in their favor and got their mojo going. And when they got rolling they were hard to stop.”
Offensively, the Huskies gathered 263 yards — 136 rushing and 127 passing. Redshirt freshman Keith Price was in the driver’s seat with regular starter Jake Locker out of the lineup with a broken rib. In his first collegiate start, Price completed 14 of 28 pass attempts for 127 yards and one touchdown, but was sacked five times.
Sarkisian was pleased with the effort from his backup quarterback. After Price took a tough shot late in the game, Sarkisian offered a few words to his young signal caller.
“Just keep playing, just keep fighting,” Price recalled. “You know, we had nothing to lose, obviously. They had more pressure than we did.”
The loss was the third straight for Washington, which has been outscored 138-30 in those contests.
The Huskies will host UCLA after a bye week before road games at Cal and Washington State to conclude the season.
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