It’s hard to recall a Washington quarterback throwing for over 350 yards, completing 75-percent of his passes but have no touchdowns.  In the Huskies 31-24 victory over the Arizona Saturday night Michael Penix did just that.  Most of the night the Wildcats dropped 8 men into coverage.  On Washington’s biggest play

And the Wildcats weren’t going to budge from their strategy of sitting on Washington’s deep passing game.  Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb countered by targeting his tight ends.  Between Devin Culp, Jack Westover, and Josh Cuevas they accounted for 5 receptions for 100 yards but zero TDs.

While Penix had no touchdown passes he also had no interceptions.  Washington’s only turnover came on a questionable Germie Bernard fumble where the defender went out of bounds then came in to punch the ball out at the Wildcat 3 yard line.  Bernard led all receivers with 98 yards on 8 receptions.  As a running back he had 5 carries for 12 yards and the only Husky turnover.

That turnover came after a defensive back Vince Nunley’s first career interception after the defensive pressure started to get to Arizona’s diminutive backup quarterback Noah Fifita.  He threw for 232 yards and 3 TDs.

Dillon Johnson got Washington’s offense going with two powerful runs on UW’s opening drive–three hours later he ended with 4 straight carries, wiping the final 1:06 off of the clock.  He finished the night with 91 yards on 16 carries and two TDs.

In all, the Huskies found a way to win in a place that’s not been kind to Washington.  In 2016, the last time the Huskies made the playoffs, they also survived an overtime scare, 35-28, in Tucson.  Two weeks later they beat Oregon.

The Wildcats fall to 3-2 while the Huskies move to 5-0.  The UW victory sets up a Top 10 matchup at Husky Stadium in two weeks between the Huskies and the Oregon Ducks–the first time in the 100 year history both teams have been in the Top 10.