By Khalid Bennett
The Seattle Medium
Looking to bounce back from their 21-16 season opening loss to Auburn in Atlanta last week, the University of Washington Huskies welcomed North Dakota into Husky Stadium for their first home contest of the 2018 campaign. North Dakota not known as a powerhouse by any stretch, came into the game looking to make the most out of an opportunity to play a top 10 program in Washington. Meanwhile, the Huskies were looking to use this game as an opportunity to sure up some weaknesses that caused them to fall short last week.
Red zone execution was a high priority going into this week as Washington failed to come away with points on three separate occasions in the red zone in the loss to Auburn.
After an uninspiring first series that ended with a punt, it was the Husky defense that made the game’s first big play. UW’s Ariel Ngata forced a fumble on North Dakota’s third offensive play which was recovered by junior safety Taylor Rapp. The turnover set up a 23-yard drive that took 6 plays ending with a 4-yard touchdown pass from UW quarterback Jake Browning to sophomore wide receiver Ty Jones.
However, red zone touchdowns were still seemingly a challenge for Washington while still having difficulty running the football which stemmed back to last week’s game in Atlanta. When asked about whether there was any progress made in the red zone, Husky head coach Chris Peterson said “yes and no” in response to the question.
“We got tight in the red zone,” said Peterson after the game. “I wasn’t really feeling good about things to tell you the truth. We did score 4 out of 6 times, but it was a little tougher sledding than we’d like it to be.”
Browning finished the game with 313 yards, but had 2 turnovers. After the game, Browning acknowledged that he must play better in order for Washington to achieve the goals set for this season.
“I don’t feel like we dominated really at all,” said Browing. “We made a couple of big plays here and there, but I don’t feel like we dominated. If we play like that for the rest of the season, we won’t be very happy with the result, so we got to play a lot better and that starts with me, I got to play a lot better.”
The Husky running game, according to Petersen, was subpar. Senior tailback Myles Gaskin, who broke the UW school record for career rushing yards last week against Auburn, had only 53 yards rushing on the afternoon. Sophomores Salvon Ahmed and Sean McGrew both had rushing touchdowns in the second half, but they came after Washington had pulled most of their starters with a 31-3 lead in the third quarter.
“(The running game was) not good, we got to be able to run the ball better,” said Petersen.
Washington managed to show depth in the second half at the running back position, as well as at quarterback. Redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Heaner went 7 for 7 for 110 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown pass to receiver Quentin Pounds in the fourth quarter pushing Washington’s lead to 38-3.
The Husky defense remained solid throughout the game giving up only 262 yards of total offense and holding North Dakota out of the endzone for a 45-3 victory.
Washington will go on the road next week to face Utah in their first Pac-12 conference game of the season.
Pictorial Highlights of UW vs. North Dakota
Photos by Aaron Allen
