Huskies Usher In the DeBoer Era With a Point Fest, Win 45-20
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They threw out of their own end zone. They went for it on fourth down from the their 32. They intercepted the ball on the game's first play from scrimmage and scored on their fourth offensive snap.
These were not your predictable and frustrated University of Washington Huskies from a year ago. For this outing, try clever and content. Maybe even a little relentless.
On Saturday night, the reinvigorated guys in the purple shirts couldn't wait to get started and they launched the Kalen DeBoer era with a decisive 45-20 victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes before a three-quarters full Husky Stadium.
On a perfect night for football and a bad day for the Pac-12 Conference (see Oregon at Georgia), the Huskies held up their end by passing DeBoer's first test in Montlake.
"There's just great relationships being built right now; there's great trust," DeBoer said of his opening success. "It's something none of us take for granted. A.C. [Alex Cook] said some great things that I know mean a lot to me in the locker room about the leadership we're providing. Even before we had a chance to do that, these guys were willing to open up their arms to us and let us in and let us coach them up.
"That's hard to do, especially with the roller coaster they've been on being their third head coach some of these guys have had really in their last three years."
The Huskies scored all five times they had the ball in the first half on 28- and 1-yard runs respectively by new tailback Wayne Taulapapa and old tailback Cam Williams, and Michael Penix Jr. passes of 32 and 4 yards to Taj Davis and Rome Odunze, plus a 38-yard field by 38-yard field goal by Peyton Henry
They impressively rattled off first-quarter drives of 90, 75 and 83 yards.
They made it six consecutive series with a score into the second half.
Penix, the Indiana transrer, was sensational in his UW debut, completing 26 of 39 passes for 345 yards and 4 touchdowns, with no interceptions. He also rushed four times for 27 yards. Former starter Dylan Morris spelled him over the game's final seven and a half minutes.
"I feel I made a lot of great plays today but without the O-line I wouldn't have been able to do that," said Penix, who wasn't sacked. "I stayed up on my feet all game. I didn't touch the ground. I thank them for that."
Taulapapa led all Husky rushers with 57 yards on carries and scored that one time.
Odunze topped his team with 7 catches for 84 yards and a score and Jalen McMillan came up with 5 catches for 87 yards and 2 TDs. The UW had 10 different players catch passes.
As promised by the new coaching staff, the Huskies piled up a lot of yards, namely 525 in total offense.
Alex Cook wraps up Kent State
Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports
Now DeBoer's Huskies weren't perfect by any means against this overmatched Mid-American Conference team, which was coming off a bowl season. His secondary got lit up a couple times and his special teams played recklessly on occasion.
Sophomore cornerback Mishael Powell had a 47-yard scoring pass sail over his head. The Golden Flashes also came up with 33- and 29-yard catches on the sometimes generous UW secondary.
Kicker Peyton Henry also needed to make a saving tackle on a kickoff return and Giles Jackson fumbled the ball away on one of his runbacks.
Still, it was hard to pick at the UW effort much.
On Kent State's first scrimmage play, Husky safety Asa Turner stepped in front of Collin Schlee for his fifth career interception. He set up the Huskies on the 37. The game was six seconds old. Turner would enjoy a two-theft outing.
"The first came to me, it was the first play of the game so I didn't expect it," Turner said.
Four plays later, Taulapapa, the Virginia transfer ran around the left side, capitalizing on a block by tackle Troy Fautanu, to score standing up. The game was two minutes and 10 seconds old.
"It felt good getting out there and finally putting it on show against another defense," Taulapapa said. "It was nice just to be able to start the offense in a way, running the ball."
After forcing the Golden Flashes to punt, the Huskies put together their longest drive, going 90 yards in 10 plays. Taj Davis, earlier listed as a starter but coming off the bench, went the last 32 to the end zone by beating Kent State corner DJ Miller. It was 14-0 and the game was not quite 10 minutes old.
The UW next experienced it worst stretch of the opening half, giving up 99 yards on two plays.
On the ensuing kickoff, Kent State freshman Gavin Garcia raced 52 yards to the UW 47 before Henry, the last man, took him out at the legs and the kicker got pounded on the back by the relieved Husky coaches.
The Golden Flashes' Devontez Walker next outraced Powell up the left side and hauled in Schlee's 47-yard TD strike to cut the UW lead to 14-7.
For the Huskies, it was met with a shrug. They had a lot more points to score.
Penix calmly took the Huskies 75 yards, throwing to five different receivers before handing off to Cam Davis going over the right side for a 21-7 advantage with 1:18 left in the opening quarter.
In the second quarter, the UW forced a punt and Penix meticulously guided his team to another score, mixing passes and runs. He finished off the drive by sidearming one to Odunze for the 4-yard score. This series was notable for the new UW staff trying their double-reverse, flea-flicker pass that drew a penalty rather than a totally surprised defense. That made it 28-7 with 5:23 left in the half.
The Golden Flashes then traded two field goals to the UW's one and it was 31-13 at intermission.
The Huskies made it six-for-six on scoring drives after coming out of the break and moving 74 yards in 13 plays to push the lead to 38-13.
This TD was about redemption. McMillan dropped a pass from Penix near the goal line and then scored on the very next one by getting wide open in the end zone and hanging onto a 13-yard throw.
Turner's second interception on the UW 5 blunted a Golden Flashes' possession near the end of the quarter. For the first time all night, the Huskies played it cautious on offense, picked up just two yards in three plays and had to punt.
The quarter, however didn't end all that well. Cornerback Jordan Perryman and defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa were injured at the end of the quarter, with Perryman needing to be helped off the field by two trainers. DeBoer had no information on the seriousness of the injuries.
In the final period, following a Kent State TD, Penix and McMillan countered with another scoring pass, this one covering 10 yards. The UW receiver got free on one-one-one coverage over the middle, pushing the Huskies in front 45-20.
"I thought we were just steady throughout the whole game," DeBoer said. "Guys stepped up when they needed to. We got some turnovers and won the battle there and that's always a huge thing. We just took what they gave us."
DeBoer's guys, at least offensively, took a lot that was offered to them.
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