Inspired Husky Defense Got the Michigan State Rout Started

EAST LANSING, Michigan — On the fifth play of the Washington-Michigan State football game, everyone was transported back in time for a moment — to 2020, when COVID was overly disruptive and so was Zion Tupuola-Fetui.

On this day, with 70,528 people packed together, most dressed all in green, and enjoying themselves at Spartan Stadium, the Husky edge rusher chased down quarterback Noah Kim from behind, dropped him hard for a 9-yard loss and ruined everything for the big crowd.

The ball came out, but wasn't ruled a fumble for some unknown reason. Yet at that point the Big Ten hosts were put on notice that this was a much different UW football team from a year ago and it wasn't long before this game got completely out of hand.

Three series later, the 6-foot-4, 254-pound ZTF, who was out with an injury the week before against Tulsa, did it again, bringing down the now gun-shy Kim for a 7-yard sack in what would turn into a resounding 41-7 road victory.

"It was good to have ZTF out there," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said. "The pass rush, the pressure was there consistently at a higher level than we had the first two games."

While these Huskies are widely known for their high-powered offense, DeBoer's staff patiently has been trying to build a defense that resembles it for big plays and creating havoc at times.

Most impressive is this team showed up without the services of three veteran defensive backs in safeties Asa Turner and Kamren Fabiculanan, plus cornerback Davon Banks, something that happened similarly the year before and proved disastrous. The Huskies just plugged the holes and didn't blink this time.

"That's one of the things I was real proud of this week — we know those guys who weren't playing were all impact players," DeBoer said. "We came out here knowing there wouldn't be any excuses."

Michigan State got so unnerved, multiple guys moved before the snap when UW linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala rushed up to the line as if he was blitzing. As the penalty yardage was being marked off, Tuputala emphatically slapped hands with edge rusher Bralen Trice to celebrate his successful intimidation move.

For ZTF, it was his best game since that aforementioned 2020 season when he piled up 7 sacks in four games and nobody could handle him. Since then, he's dealt with an Achilles tendon tear, a season-ending concussion, getting beat out as a starter and overcoming his latest round of bumps and bruises.

When he's on, this sixth-year senior from Hawaii makes opposing offenses greatly uncomfortable, which was the case here in Michigan's state capital. ZTF's menacing presence made it easier for the UW secondary to do its thing, with Kim relegated to a mundane 12-for-31, 136-yard passing effort.

As for that depleted secondary, Husky safety Dom Hampton quietly shared the team lead in tackles with linebacker Carson Bruener, each finishing with 6; nickelback Mishael Powell had his first career interception between the ZTF sacks; and cornerbacks Jabbar Muhammad and Elijah Jackson were rarely out of position in coverage.

In the end, the UW used both facets of its game to crush the Spartans in total offense, coming away with a commanding 713 to 261 advantage in yards. The defense limited Michigan State to a paltry 53 yards rushing.

"They had a great week of practice — there was just a lot of positives," DeBoer said. "You could feel it building all week long. It came out. I thought we got a consistent pass rush. We were really good against the run. We didn't really let too much get away from us. ... [The defense] did set the tone and the offense was just working and feeding off it."

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