Washington pummels Eastern Washington to finish non-conference 3-0

After two close victories to start the season, the Washington Huskies (3-0) finally cruised to a victory against the Eastern Washington Eagles (1-3), 48-16.

Although Washington showed a 2-0 record heading into this weekend’s game against Eastern Washington, a host of question marks and concerns still swirled around head coach Jedd Fisch’s team.

Those concerns took awhile to alleviate with UW only up 14-10 early in the second quarter. However, 17 unanswered points before the half put the Huskies up by 21-points and set the game on cruise control.

“Having a good game to have under your belt, especially before Big Ten play is super important for us and our confidence and going into the [conference] season strong,” UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said.

The lopsided victory calmed many nerves of the Husky faithful, mainly concerns surrounding the efficiency of the offense. UW scored 48 points and totaled 546 yards, a much-needed sign after its previous two performances.

Dynamite Demond

The gaudy offensive numbers all start at the helm with Demond Williams Jr. and Williams conducted the offense to a litany of explosive plays and scoring drives.

One major concern heading into Saturday was the slow starts for the offense. Washington only mustered three combined points in its first quarters. No problem on Saturday. An eight play, 74-yard drive spanning 4:06, capped off with a 15-yard touchdown reception by Chris Lawson, set the tone for the rest of the afternoon offensively.

“Going into this game it was all about starting fast and once we got that out of the way, we were able to click throughout the first half, and for the rest of the game [the offense] felt really good,” Williams said.

In the first two games, Williams’ explosive plays came on the ground, on Saturday he found several targets for major gains through the air. Williams had six completions for over 20 yards, with none larger than a 75-yard catch-and-run by tight end Baron Naone. On the day, Williams finished with 373 passing yards and four passing touchdowns.

Young Talent Shines

Three touchdowns on Saturday were scored by true freshman and another by a true sophomore. Receiver Jordan Clay scored the first of his career on a back-shoulder fade in the second quarter to put Washington up 21-10. Another receiver, Trez Davis, scored the last touchdown of the game on a jet pass from two yards out.

“I think you see it from week one to know, how comfortable they are and how in-themselves they are,” Williams said about his freshmen receivers. “Seeing them go out there and having fun, playing the game that they love, and also making big time plays.”

Running back Ansu Sanoe scored his second touchdown of the season, capping off the 75-yard Naone reception with a one-yard dive into the end zone. Another freshman running back, Brian Bonner Jr. didn’t score, but ripped off a 55-yard run in the second quarter, the longest gain of his career. Bonner finished with six carries for 81 yards.

Defensive ups and downs

16 points is not a large number of points to allow by any means, but in the first 20 minutes of the game it looked like Washington would allow much more than that.

Eastern put together two long scoring drives on their first two possessions of the game, the first ending in a field goal, and the second with a 14-yard touchdown scamper from quarterback Nate Bell. Bell and the EWU offense utilized his rushing ability and misdirection to confuse a UW defense that had looked unbeatable up to that point.

“I was a little surprised, they’re a good football team, they’re well coached over there and their quarterback made some great plays, and they had a good scheme for us,” Washington safety Alex McLaughlin said.

The success was short lived, however. Washington’s defense made adjustments and allowed just six points the rest of the game. UW finished with seven tackles for loss, two sacks, and another turnover, a forced fumble by McLaughlin.

Even though the defense allowed just six points after the initial Eastern barrage, it could easily be argued that it shouldn’t have even allowed the six. Like what was seen against Washington State, the defense committed head-scratching penalties and gave Eastern life on multiple drives.

The Huskies committed three pass-interference penalties, two coming from freshman cornerback Jeron Jones. UW also tallied three unnecessary roughness penalties, including a targeting call on linebacker Xe’Ree Alexander that kicked him out of the game. In total, those six penalties cost Eastern Washington 88 yards.

“I’m very disappointed in the penalties, that is not okay to have 100 yards in penalties,” Fisch said. “Multiple drives were kept alive because of penalties. We’re too talented on defense to let our emotions get the best of us.”

This marks the second game this season with Washington surpassing 100 yards of penalties. It fortunately was able to get away with the infractions against lower-level opponents, but come next week when Big Ten play begins, the defense, and team as a whole will have to start getting out of its own way.

Up Next

Washington begins Big Ten play at home against Minnesota on Saturday, September 26 at 8:00 pm. The game will air on Fox.

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