Utah’s Defense was dominant
Utah was able to set up their whole game around their dominant defensive line and corners. Early in the game Salvon Ahmed had a few good carries but was never able to break one. The Utah defense made the necessary adjustments putting their corners in man coverage on the outside and loading the box. This forced UW to try to spread Utah out and throw the ball against a very good Utah secondary. UWs receivers were not able to get the separation needed or win jump balls against Utah’s corners. Even though UW had the lead 21-13 in the second half Utah’s defense dictated how the game went down the stretch. The strong defensive line for Utah shut down the run and forced UW to become one dimensional. Ahmed only had 5 carries in the second half as Eason threw the ball 35 times. Utah was able to force Eason into two turnovers and returned one for a touchdown.
Eason made some good plays early but his mistakes were huge
In the first half Jacob Eason looked like he was ready to carry the team to a victory. He had a few huge throws in the first half that showed why he will be a first round pick. He had 2 nice touchdown throws in the first half but he also had a costly fumble on their own 15 yard line that led to 3 points for Utah. At halftime Eason was 12-17 for 129 and 2 TDs. In the second half UW came out and tried to spread out Utah and throw the ball. Eason had 35 attempts in the second half to only 5 carries for Ahmed. Once UW was one dimensional Utah was able to bring pressure and get to Eason. As Eason started to get hit, his decision making became questionable, he threw two interceptions in the second half on two of his worst throws of the season. The first one he forced into triple coverage, the second he tried to throw a curl as he was getting hit and the route got jumped and returned 39 yards for a touchdown. Jacob Eason also threw two touchdowns in the second half, a nice catch and run by Hunter Bryant early in the third quarter and a late touchdown to Aaron Fuller. Eason finished the game 29-52 for 316 yards, 4 TD, and 2 Interceptions.
Hunter Bryant made big plays
Utah loaded the box and played a lot of 1 on 1 coverage against the Huskies today. Hunter Bryant was the only receiver for UW who was able to take advantage of the 1 on 1 coverage and make big plays down the field. He only had 6 catches in the game but for 105 yards and 2 TDs. Hunter Bryant has been a mismatch for defenses all season but has been inconsistent at times. Hunter has 36 catches for 557 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season. It would be nice to see the offense get him some more targets in what could be his last few games for the Huskies if he decides to enter the NFL Draft early.
UWs D-Line carried the defense
Joe Tryon stepped up and had his best game of the season rushing the passer. He finished the game with 6 tackles, 2 sacks and 3 TFL. Levi Owuzurike was able to use his quick first step to get in passed the offensive line and break up the Utah run game in the backfield. Levi had 7 tackles, .5 sacks, 1.5 TFL in the game. Taki and Tuli came in and helped bolster the UW run defense. Where UW struggled was if Utah was able to get into the second level of the defense there was no one there to make the play. After Utah started to establish the run UW’s pass rush started to disappear, UW had 4 first half sacks but none in the second half.
Zack Moss provided the spark for Utah’s offense and set them up for big play action passes
After only getting the ball 4 times for 10 yards in the first quarter, Zack Moss turned it on in the second quarter. He had 9 carries for 45 yards and 3 catches for 23 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter. He provided the spark that Utah needed after UW came out and took the lead early. Moss is a big back and was hard for the Huskies to tackle at times. He really carried Utah through the game and set up the big passing plays that killed UW in the end. Zack Moss finished the game with 27 carries 114 yards 1 TD and 5 catches 41 yards 1 TD.
