The Washington Huskies improved to 7-1 on the season after yesterday’s 44-23 win over UCLA. Here are my grades for the game….
The Offense
Washington ran the ball at will on the struggling UCLA Bruins defense. After only scoring seven points two weeks ago at Arizona State, UW had no problem on offense yesterday. The Huskies rushed 58 times for 333 yards. What was most impressive was UW’s 5.8 yards per rush.
Myles Gaskin ran the ball 27 times for 169 yards and a touchdown. Lavon Coleman added 94 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
UW’s passing game wasn’t great as expected when running the ball 58 times. Jake Browningcompleted 8-of-11 passes for 98 yards and an interception.
Overall, this is more like the UW offense of last year. Sure they wont be able to run the 58 times every game but the physicality UW brought was more like it.
Grade: A-
The Defense
The score won’t indicate how well Washington’s defense played yesterday afternoon. UW’s defense allowed just 16 points (7 points came from a UCLA fumble recovery TD).
Despite missing both starting cornerbacks (Jordan Miller and Byron Murphy) the Huskies held UCLA to 170 yards passing. UCLA QB Josh Rosen was sacked four times in the first half and eventually left the game in the third quarter and did not return.
The Huskies allowed just 232 yards of total offense and 3.8 yards per play.
Once again it was starting middle linebacker Ben Burr-kirven who led the team in tackles with seven.
Another dominant performance by Washington’s defense even with the injuries.
Grade: A-
Special Teams
This was arguably Washington’s best special teams performance of the season. UW’s kicking game has been an issue all season but yesterday it was not. Tristan Vizcaino was back at starting kicker and he was perfect on the day. Vizcaino went 3-for-3 on field goals and made all five extra points. The senior looked calm and confident all day long.
Washington’s punt and kick return teams were also very good. True freshman Salvon Ahmedhad four kick returns for 161 yards, including an 82-yard return that he almost scored on. Dante Pettis was close to breaking multiple punt returns for touchdowns. Pettis returned five punts for 55 yards with a long of 21 yards.
Overall, this is more like what a Chris Petersen coached team looks like in the special teams department.
Grade: A
