By Khalid Bennett, The Seattle Medium
The University of Washington Huskies, coming off one of the biggest wins in program history over Oregon last week, were looking to beat the Arizona State Sun Devils and extend their current win streak to seven games this season and 14 games dating back to the last time these two teams played each other on October 8, 2022, when Arizona State triumphed with a 45-38 win in Tempe.
Washington secured a top 5 ranking this week after their 36-33 win over the 8th-ranked Ducks, putting Washington in the top spot in the conference. It was crucial for the Huskies to prevent a letdown against a 1-5 Arizona State team and continue to build momentum as the schedule gets tougher with each passing week.
Heisman Trophy frontman Michael Penix Jr. began the game with an uncharacteristic turnover on Washington’s first drive, which set up good field position for the Sun Devils. With most of the attention focused on the Husky offense, the defense, which controlled the nation’s #2 offense in Oregon last week, stepped up and forced a missed field goal attempt by Dario Longhetto to keep the game scoreless in the early stages of the game.
Arizona State managed to keep the high-scoring Husky offense on the sideline for the majority of the first quarter. The defense still kept the Sun Devils off the board, but the offense couldn’t minimize the mistakes. Penix Jr. threw his second interception off a tipped ball in the red zone, marking his first interception in the red zone all season. A third turnover was credited to Penix when a botched handoff ended up in the hands of the Sun Devil defense midway through the second quarter. Arizona State capitalized on the Washington mishap and took a 7-0 lead. Washington would tack on a field goal just before halftime, but only three points marked their lowest point output in a half since Kalen DeBoer was hired. Arizona State took a 7-3 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The struggles for Washington continued into the second half. The Huskies would give up the ball for a fourth time when Ja’Lyn Polk fumbled after a catch and run, setting up the Sun Devils in Washington territory. The defense stood tough and held Arizona State to another field goal attempt that Washington was able to block, keeping the score at 7-3 in favor of the Sun Devils.
The Husky offense had a difficult time achieving anything positive, while Arizona State relied heavily on the tough running from Cam Skattebo, who refused to be brought down by a single Husky defender. The Washington defense, which had played well all game long, put the first touchdown on the board for the Huskies when defensive back Mich Powell returned an interception 90 yards, giving the Huskies a 12-7 lead with about 8 minutes to go in the game.
“I think the last time I scored was when I was playing for the CD Panthers at age 10, and they had me playing tight end. I stiff-armed two people and scored,” Powell expressed when asked about the last time he had a touchdown.
A late field goal gave the Huskies a 15-7 lead, but the defense was the story of this night, stopping Arizona State on fourth down in the final drive to secure the victory for Washington. The final score was
Huskies 15, Sun Devils 7. This marked only the third time in program history that Washington won a game without an offensive touchdown. They will go on the road to face Stanford next Saturday.
