Inside The Huskies

Tuputala Replays Interception Turned Fumble, Owns It

The Husky linebacker called the play a lack of awareness on his part.
Dan Raley|
Tuputala Replays Interception Turned Fumble, Owns It
Tuputala Replays Interception Turned Fumble, Owns It

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Washington Huskies

Standing not far from where he dropped the football on the 1 against Utah, Alphonzo Tuputala replayed the moment on Tuesday and took full responsibility for what happened.

For those who somehow missed it, the University of Washington linebacker intercepted a tipped Bryson Barnes pass and rumbled 76 yards up the right sideline for what should have been an uncontested third-quarter touchdown in the 35-28 victory.

Instead, Tuputala let go of the football right before crossing the goal line, thinking he was in the end zone, and the Utes recovered it — turning his pass theft into a fumble, his turnover into another turnover, resulting in no points from the play, with 30 seconds left in the quarter.

"I one hundred percent own it," he said after practice. "Lack of awareness of my part."

With his team leading 33-28, Tuputala said Utah called for a trick play the Huskies hadn't seen on tape, where tight end Noah Bennee blocked and ran a delayed route, leaving the UW linebacker responsible for covering him.

The Utes' Barnes, however, threw the ball behind Bennee, who got a hand on it but tipped the pass right to Tuputala, who caught it in full stride with nothing but open space in front of him. He covered 76 yards without a hitch, getting a late block on Barnes from UW cornerback Elijah Jackson. It was the additional yard where he got caught up in the excitement of it all.

"I've got to be better than that and learn from it," Tuputala said. "It was that big moment. I was like I finally get to score. Crucial moment. Get my team up."

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound junior from Federal Way, Washington, initially was shocked to learn what he had done before he watched Husky teammates Carson Bruener and Tuli Letuligasenoa force a safety on the very next play for a seven-point margin that held up the remainder of the game.

Without no time to dwell on it, Tuputala had to go back to work as if nothing happened.

"My mindset was already kind of made up in terms of what I had to do because we had a quarter left to play," he said.

While the fifth-ranked Huskies and the veteran Tuputala survived a tough, physical battle to run their record to 10-0, the TV college football highlight shows and social media outlets replayed the blooper moment over and over and had fun with it.

The linebacker, however, isolated himself and paid no attention to the outside reaction to a very weird play. He knows the only way to completely erase it would be to come up with another interception runback opportunity that he turns into a score.

"That's always the goal every game," Tuputala said. "Whether it's a pick-6, a fumble, any way I can help my team win, that's what's going to happen."

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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