The game was billed as an upset, and the Washington Huskies had themselves in position to take down number 1, Ohio State but mistakes proved costly in 24-6 loss.  Washington head coach wasted no time in point the finger directly at himself.

“We’re going to coach better.  We’re going to play better,” he said about the array of miscues and negative plays.

Demond Williams, now 3-3 as a starter, went 18-22 for 173 yards and no TDs but also no interceptions.

The growth on the Husky defense is evident, holding the top ranked Buckeyes to 24 points.  Newcomer safety, Alex McLaughlin did a great job of keeping Washington the game.  A week after his two interceptions against Washington State, he led both teams with 13 tackles.

Amazing Fisch was able to patch together a defense, missing corner back Tacario Davis, nickels Rahshawn Clark and Dyson McCutcheon

Ultimately, it was UW ineffectiveness on 3rd down, going 1 for 11 that did the most damage.

“We weren’t very good on 3rd down,” Jedd Fisch said after the game.  “We’re not accustomed to that.”

Right out of the gate Washington’s first drive ended with a punt–it’s first punt since the first game of the season.  After a short punt of 17 yards by Luke Dunne the Buckeyes drove to the Washington 5 where backup linebacker Xe’ree Alexander made a huge stop of 4th down to turn away OSU.

Washington’s next drive stalled out on a series of untimely penalties: Sideline interference, unsportsmanlike conduct on Fisch, illegal snap by Landen Hatchett, and false starts by offensive linemen Carver Willis and Geirean Hatchett.  The Huskies drove to the visitors’ 2 yard line only to shoot themselves in the foot and settle for Gross’ first field goal.  On the 10-play, 69-yard drive the Huskies had 9 instances of negative yardage, 5 penalties and 4 tackles for loss.

In the first quarter alone, the Huskies had 5 offensive penalties for 34 yards including 3 false starts.  One occurred with the ball on the Ohio State 3 yard line, bringing up 2nd and goal at the 8 yard line.  Coleman lost 2 yards on the next play and UW had to kick a field goal.

And the Husky offense was not very good in the red zone, settling for 2 field goals on three trips.  Twice UW had the ball inside the 3 yard line only to back up to the 10 on an array of miscues, forcing Grady Gross to kick 2 field goals.  On another field goal attempt Gross threw to a spot on the field where Decker DeGraaf was supposed to be but the sophomore tight end was blocking for a running call and wasn’t anywhere near where the ball was thrown.

The nation’s leader in scoring, UW running back Jonah Coleman was kept out of the end zone for the first time this season.  He had 13 carries for 70 yards putting him at 411 yards on the season.  He only touched the ball 2 times in the 4th quarter as the Huskies as UW tried to catch up.

Outside of the first quarter, Washington’s offense wasn’t flagged.  But the early penalties, including 3 false starts, when they were able to move the ball ended up proving to be insurmountable.

In fact, its defense had only one flag thrown on it, a roughing the passer penalty that left many scratching their heads, including former Husky QB Brock Huard who posted on X: “that’s one of the worst roughing the passer calls I’ve seen in all of CFB in ‘25”.

A lot of questions were answered for the Huskies.  Firstly, they look like a Top 25 team, although it may take some time to work their way into the rankings.  The second question, was executing in critical times, and the answer is no.

Early in the Huskies lost game the nation’s leader, according to Pro Football Focus, Zach Durfee.  Also, later on in the game, Jacob Lane got the one and only sack of the game for UW.

Washington was only able to run 7 plays in the 3rd quarter, closing the gap to a one-score game, 14-6 on Gross’ second field goal of the game.

Denzel Boston had 3 catches on the night but Ohio State kept him at bay for the middle portion of the game as Boston went 2 and a half quarters without a catch.  He was only targeted 5 times with one being thrown where Washington-native was looking into the sun and interfered with, though there was no flag thrown on the Ohio State defender.

Defensively, the Washington defense prevented the Buckeyes’ offense from fully breaking loose, which bodes well for the remainder of the season.  Up next the Huskies take on Maryland, with a 12:30 kickoff from College Park, Maryland.