UW Goes Down Gopher Hole and Doesn't Come Back

The Huskies were beaten in every facet of the game, which was surprising.

Linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale tries to bring down Minnesota's Darius Taylor. | Dave Sizer photo

The University of Washington football fans who sat this one out, uninspired by the 8 p.m. kickoff and leaving huge gaps of empty seats throughout Husky Stadium, must have had a premonition.

Boos were evident from those who came.

Offense and defense were not.

It was a stinker, one of the most unexpected in coach Jedd Fisch's time in Montlake.

On Saturday night, the Huskies found themselves up past their bed time and were handed a rather disheartening 27-24 defeat by the Minnesota Gophers, a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team.

On this night, the Huskies (3-1 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) resembled the Mariners -- once harboring plenty of promise but continually striking out.

They tried trickery. Swapped out the offensive line. Went with three linebackers. Not much could change the course of this one.

Most telling, UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. was sacked 7 times. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 239 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions.

He's the trigger of an offense that was supposed to churn out a lot of points and yards, but continually has been jammed up.

"Definitely upsetting," Williams said. "We've just got to figure out a way to get it going. Obviously we have a whole lot of season left and one loss isn't t going to define us. That's on me to reciprocate that to the rest of the team, to make sure that everybody knows from me directly that we have to turn this around."

Things began to unravel as soon as the Huskies took their first snap of their second offensive series.

UW receiver Dezmen Roebuck comes down with this catch against Minnesota. | Dave Sizer photo

Getting a running start, Minnesota edge rusher Anthony Smith had a clear shot at Williams and hit him as he threw, sending a fluttering football into the hands of linebacker Maverick Baranowski for an interception at the Husky 15.

The Gophers (3-1, 1-0) wasted no time in cashing in on this defensive gift. A play later, quarterback Drake Lindsey drilled a touchdown pass to freshman Quayd Hendryx on a crossing pattern in the end zone, beating new UW starting cornerback Elias Johnson, and this smackdown at home was on.

Fisch's third Husky team was simply not as good as everyone initially thought.

"We've got to play better," he said. "I've got to coach better. I've got to do a better job of getting the team ready."

After a change of possessions, the Huskies trailed 14-0 as their once vaunted defense couldn't get in anyone's way in a Minnesota uniform. That was more surprising than anything else.

"We've got work to do," UW linebacker Jacob Manu said. "But I still feel good about our team."

The Gophers quickly moved into scoring position after running back TJ Thomas got loose for a 45-yard to the Husky 20 in a most unexpected manner -- honors candidate safety Alex McLaughlin whiffed on a tackle.

Two plays later, the Gophers had their second touchdown when the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Lindsey hit wide receiver Jalen Smith on a 9-yard crossing pattern in the end zone, with the visitors picking on new starter Elias Johnson again.

Johnson was a replacment for Manny Karnley, out a second consecutive week with an unspecified leg injury.

The UW runs a double-reverse pass with Chris Lawson flipping the ballmto Demond Williams Jr. who threw it to Decker DeGraaf. | Dave Sizer photo

With 1:57 left in the first quarter, the Huskies found themselves staring at a two-touchdown deficit for the first time this season.

The Huskies finally picked up their initial first down when Williams connected with tight end Baron Naone on a 16-yard pass play to their 42.

Six plays later, Williams dumped a pass to the right side to Dezmen Roebuck, who slipped round the corner, dove for the end zone and reached the ball over the pylon for a 16-yard touchdown pass. At 13:09 in the second quarter, the Huskies trailed 14-7.

UW special-teamer Paul Mencke Jr. and a teammate wrap up a Minnesota return man. | Dave Sizer photo

Minnesota immediately responded with an 11-play, 74-yard drive, capped by Davon Tracy's 6-yard scoring catch to boost the lead back to 21-7.

Struggling to get any conventional offense going, Fisch called for a double-reverse pass that saw the ball flipped to a pair of receivers before it ended up back in Williams' hands and he threw a 30-yard strike to tight end Decker DeGraaf.

That bit of trickery, however, landed the Huskies just three points on Tyler Robles' 33-yard field goal with 1:56 left in the half and it was 21-10.

At halftime, Fisch's team had 120 yards of total offense and six first downs and things looked bleak.

Minnesota went up 24-10 on Luke Drzewiecki's 31-yard field goal in the third quarter before the Huskies finally made a game out of it.

After the teams traded interceptions, the UW moved 66 yards to score early in the fourth quarter on a hope play.

With Williams under a heavy rush, he lobbed one toward the back of the end zone where Naone pulled the ball in for a 15-yard TD catch. Naone might have pushed off a little, but nothing was called. The UW trailed just 24-17 with 11:03 left.

The defense, however, couldn't get a stop. It held the Gophers to a field goal, a 51-yarder by Drzewiecki, that turned out to be a most critical kick, with the Huskies now trailing 27-17 with 7:28 left to play.

At the 1:53 mark Williams scampered into the end zone from 13 yards out to pull the UW within 27-24, but there wasn't enough time or firepower to pull this one out.

All he did was make the game seem closer than it was.

"Not good enough for what we would want to be at this point in time," Fisch said, who takes his team to USC (4-1, 1-1) next weekend. "We also recognize that this is what Big Ten play is."