The Washington Huskies didn’t play like the 8th ranked team in the nation in the first half of it’s 41-7 victory over the Michigan State Spartans–they played like they wanted to stake a claim on the top spot.   In the first half alone the Huskies had 409 yards of offense, scoring 35 points.

Early on, Michael Penix did his best to overthrow his receivers but Ja’Lynn Polk and Rome Odunze weren’t having anything to do that.  Polk got it started with a the catch below.

 

In fact, receivers Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk both had 113 yards receiving but no TDs at intermission.  Washington has had 8 games with 2 guys over 100 yards receiving–3 of those have occurred this year, this time my half time.

Deservedly, Washington’s offense will receive the the headlines, but Zion Tupuola-Fetui announced that he’s back with 2 first half sacks and creating chaos.  He could be seen waiving his arms after forcing a false start early in the game and then again later in the 3rd quarter.  He was a tone-setter for the Washington defense that had an early interception by defensive back Mishael Powell.

On the night UW’s defense had 7 tackles for loss, 2 pass breakups and 8 quarterback hurries.  MSU’s QB Noah Kim had the exact opposite experience as Penix who had a clean pocket most of the night.  Kim was never able to get settled as he missed wildly on a half-a-dozen throws.  The MSU offensive line also had 3 false starts among its 7 penalties.

Washington got onto the board with former Spartan receiver, Germie Bernard who took the ball in from 1 yard line.  Sort of like in the off-season, the Spartans had Bernard in their backfield couldn’t hold onto him.  The Bernard TD was set up A 39 yard Penix to McMillan that McMillan caught on the Spartan 28 and took it 16 more yards to the Michigan State 16 yard line.  After back to back punishing runs from of 9 then 6 yards, 7 yard line he was stopped at the 1-yard line.

A drive Jalen McMillan fair caught the ball and the Washington 44 yard line.  Penix subsequently drove the Huskies down the field in 3 plays in just over a minute and the route was on.  McMillan was injured late in the game and didn’t return but Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer said that he should be back in time for next weeks Pac-12 opener against California.

Again, the Huskies offensive line that was minus starting center Matteo Mele, didn’t give up a sack.  The offensive line that had true freshman Landen Hatchett on the field at one point, helped the Washington ground game have its best night of the year.

Both Dillon Johnson and Will Nixon are running with purpose, bordering on violently.  But a hold on a big pass completion to Johnson followed by a false start by offensive lineman Nate Kalepo and the late-arriving Spartan crowd forced the Huskies to call a timeout on 3rd and 10 at the Washington 44 yard line.  Penix had a fairly clean pocket but overthrew Jalen McMillan.

Carson Bruener and Tristan Dunn teamed up to drop the kickoff returner as Washington’s special teams continue to stand out. Germie Bernard returned a the only returnable kickoff 30 but seemed to be within a whisker of breaking it off for a very big run.

Dillon Johnson showed the reason the Huskies went so hard after him with a big pass reception for 25 yards that was called back on the Kalepo hold.  He also had a 10-yard run wiped out.  But it his pass protection that really stood out.

After a Mishael Powell interception that the returned to the 44 of Michigan State, the Huskies went quick strike going with a TD pass to tight end Jack Westover.  Jalen Polk set up the score with a spectacular catch   Penix finished the first quarter 6-7 for 109 yards and a TD.  Two of the passes were for 39 yards to McMillan and the 39-yard Polk catch at the MSU 6 yard line.  The Huskies had 141 yards of offense in the first quarter and but 409 in the first half.