Washington Huskies clamped down by top-ranked Ohio State in 24-6 loss to Buckeyes
SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 27: .Running Back Jonah Coleman #1 of the Washington Huskies is tackled by Linebacker Arvell Reese #8 of the Ohio State Buckeyes and .Defensive Lineman Kayden McDonald #98 of the Ohio State Buckeyes during a B1G football game (Jeff Halstead / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)
SEATTLE - C.J. Donaldson scored two touchdowns in the second half, and the Huskies were held without a touchdown as top-ranked Ohio State pulled away to beat Washington 24-6 on Saturday afternoon.
In front of the largest crowd in the history of the renovated version of Husky Stadium, Washington kept the reigning national champions within reach throughout the first half. But the scales tilted heavily toward the Buckeyes in the second half as they clamped down on the Dawgs.
Jeremiah Smith – the cousin of former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith – caught eight passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. Bo Jackson had 80 yards on 17 carries, but it was Donaldson that twice found the end zone for Ohio State with both a rushing and a receiving touchdown as they pulled away in the second half.
The Huskies didn't convert a single third down until early in the fourth quarter as Ohio State's defense held them to just 1-of-11 on third downs for the game. Washington was unable to turn any of their three drives into the Ohio State red zone into touchdowns, settling for a pair of field goals instead. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes were 3-of-5 in scoring touchdowns in UW's red zone, with one field goal and a turnover on downs.
"We weren't very good on third down, which hurt us. We're not accustomed to that," head coach Jedd Fisch said. "We got to a situation where we were in the red zone and we had some penalties, and that hurt us. We took some sacks that hurt us. So some situational football that we've been good at, we struggled in this one."
Washington weathered an early storm from the Buckeyes and seized momentum for much of the first half but ended up with only one field goal to show for it.
A three-and-out on their opening drive and a shanked punt by Luke Dunne immediately had the Huskies on the backfoot against the Buckeyes. Ohio State took over at midfield and quickly moved inside the UW 10-yard line. Julian Sayin scrambled to seemingly set up a first-and-goal at the UW 4, but a review showed Sayin just short, which set up a fourth-and-inches.
Xe'ree Alexander jumped into the backfield to drop C.J. Donaldson on fourth down for no gain as the Huskies' defense held.
A sideline interference penalty, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Fisch, and an illegal snap by Landen Hatchett kept Washington's offense backed up deep in their own territory as Washington again had to punt.
But Brandon Inniss coughed up the ball on the ensuing return on a forced fumble by Quentin Moore as Washington regained possession with a chance to shift momentum.
A 34-yard scamper by Jonah Coleman through the Ohio State defense combined with a 17-yard strike from Demond Williams Jr. to Denzel Boston moved the Huskies into Buckeyes' territory. A 20-yard completion to Dezman Roebuck and a 10-yarder to Moore put the Huskies at the OSU 2-yard line.
However, Coleman was stopped for negative yardage twice, and a false start on Hatchett moved UW to settle for a 28-yard Grady Gross field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Washington was driving again on their next possession before Williams was sacked by Kenyatta Jackson Jr. to stall the drive. But instead of attempting a 45-yard field goal with Gross, the Huskies ran a fake field goal on fourth-and-14. Decker DeGraaf appeared to not know the play as he was downfield looking for a block instead of looking for a pass on the play as Gross' heave fell incomplete.
"We thought we had a look all week of how they were going to play, how they were going to rush when we were on the right hash and it didn't get executed well," Fisch said.
Ohio State pounced on their chance to shift the game back into their control. The Buckeyes marched down the field with consistent gains into the UW red zone. A false start penalty on Tegra Tshabola put OSU in a third-and-11 at the Washington 18-yard line as the Huskies. However, Washington would bring an all-out blitz on third down that would spectacularly backfire.
Jeremiah Smith – arguable the top receiver in the country – was left uncovered for an easy 18-yard catch-and-run into the end zone for a touchdown and a 7-3 Buckeyes lead with 1:08 left in the first half.
"I think (defensive coordinator Ryan Walters) felt that we were going to be able to get one or two guys free on that pressure based on what we expected for them to do protection wise on third down," Fisch said. "We didn't get to the quarterback fast enough and when that happens, even if you're playing zero coverage behind it, you hope that somebody could be there to just make a tackle to save a touchdown and we weren't able to that.
"That was an unfortunate turn of events in that game."
Ohio State also got the ball to open the third quarter and quickly doubled their advantage.
Smith caught four passes on the drive as OSU marched into Huskies' territory. A personal foul on Phillip Daniels pushed the Buckeyes back to the edge of field goal range and put Ohio State into a second-and-20. UW pressured Sayin into a throwaway that would have set up a third-and-long, but Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei was called for a marginal roughing the passer penalty for a blow to the head of Sayin that gifted the Buckeyes a first down.
Fisch was asked for his thoughts on the roughing the passer penalty.
"They called roughing the passer," Fisch stated, showing obvious disagreement with the penalty.
Is there any coaching point you can give him on that?
"No," Fisch said.
Three plays later, Sayin connected with Carnell Tate for 11 yards down to the UW 1 before Donaldson punched it into the end zone for a 14-3 Ohio State lead.
The Huskies put together another promising drive with the aid of a facemask penalty on Tywone Malone as they moved into Buckeyes' territory. DeGraaf caught a 23-yard pass down to the OSU 7 as Washington neared the goal line. However, a third down sack of Williams by Kayden McDonald forced a 28-yard Gross field goal as the lead was trimmed to 14-6.
Williams completed 18-of-22 passes for 173 yards, but was sacked six times in the game.
"I gotta help Demond understand that an incompletion is OK sometimes," Fisch said. "He doesn't throw many incompletions at all. Sometimes that leads to holding the ball a little bit longer and unfortunately at times could turn into a sack. Demond is exceptionally accurate, he's really good with the ball, he makes extremely good decisions, he protects the ball at all costs."
Another 11-play Ohio State drive led to a 34-yard Jayden Fielding field goal that restored a two-touchdown lead with 13:19 left to play.
Donaldson's 4-yard touchdown catch with 4:56 left to play served as the final blow for the Huskies in their first loss of the season.
"I feel like we got a really good football team and I'm really excited about getting on the road on Thursday and flying to Maryland and then seeing how well we can play. It'll be a great challenge for our team to see how well we can play coming off the frustration of this one," Fisch said.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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