By Danny Williams Posted on

Washington dismantled at home by No. 20 Iowa

After back-to-back conference losses to Minnesota and No. 19 USC, the panic meter rose to mildly concerning. Friday night turned the meter all the way up to complete panic. Washington (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) couldn’t stop the run all night as No. 20 Iowa (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) cruised to a 41-24 victory in Montlake.

“They were certainly exceptionally physical, and they were able to win at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, both running the football and stopping the run,” head coach Jedd Fisch said. “There was nowhere for us to run the ball, and there was no stopping them when they were running it.”

The Hawkeyes settled for field goals on their first two drives, but the Huskies’ offense couldn’t capitalize. From there, Iowa rolled. A three-and-out was followed by three straight touchdown drives and Iowa put the game away at halftime, leading 27-3.

Iowa’s dominant offense

The previous two weeks against Big Ten opponents Iowa scored 19 and 14 points. Against Washington, it scored more in the first half. Backup quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski dominated in his first start of the season, throwing for 202 yards and three touchdowns.

Hecklinski played a fantastic game no doubt, but most of his success came from the ability to play-action off Iowa’s elite rushing attack. All three of Hecklinski’s touchdown throws found wide open receivers. The two were to tight end DJ Vonnahme and the third to Reece Vander Zee.

Running back Kamari Moulton had a career day. Moulton totaled a career-high 208 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns, one of which was a 56-yard scamper that put Iowa up 13-0.

“We have to tackle better, we have to have better eyes,” Fisch said. “We can’t have guys running free in the endzone.”

For the game, Iowa produced 263 yards on the ground and averaged 6.9 yards per-carry. Hecklinski also never got sacked and the offensive line only allowed three tackles for-loss for just six yards.

Washington was not big and strong enough up-front to match Iowa’s physicality in the run game. The same could also be said about Washington’s offensive line against Iowa’s defense.

We were not strong enough and stout enough to be able to hold up at this point in time, and we need to be bigger and stronger to do that,” Fisch said. “The point of emphasis that I’ve made for three years, if you want to beat the Big Ten teams in the Big Ten, then you have to be physical, big , and strong.”

Washington’s offense at season worst

The first five drives of the game for Washington all resulted in punts. On those drives Washington gained just 14 total yards. All of the red flags the offense had delt with all season reared their heads in the first half on Friday. UW rushed for just three yards in the first half and quarterback Demond Williams Jr. was sacked four times.

From the jump Williams Jr. looked off. Missing throws, bailing on protection, and swirling around aimlessly in the pocket. After the fifth-straight punt, the crowd let the QB hear it with an eruption of boos.

The offensive line continued to struggle. Center Landen Hatchett returned to action and immediately returned to the starting lineup. Other changes included John Mills starting at left tackle instead of guard and Kolt Dieterich bumping over from center to left guard. The mix-and-match on the line didn’t yield the results anyone wanted on Friday.

Iowa racked up six sacks for 50 yards and nine tackles for loss for 54 yards. This marks the third straight game where Washington has given up five or more sacks.

“We have to run the football, or we will be in big time challenges throughout the rest of the way,” Fisch said. “I don’t know if we will get any running backs back for the rest of the season.”

Elijah Brown puts Fisch in a tough spot

At the end of the second quarter, Williams Jr. left for the locker room with an injury, and in came Stanford transfer, Elijah Brown. Immediately, Brown made the most of the opportunity. At the end of the first half, Brown completed his first five passes, but a sack took UW out of field goal range.

In the second half, the offense came to life. Brown took advantage of the soft Iowa state coverage and dinked-and-dunked down the field for three touchdown drives. The first came on a 10-yard reception to receiver Chris Lawson. Receiver Dezmen Roebuck scored the next on a two-yard reception, and the final score went to freshman receiver Mason James from six yards out.

Although the defense never gave UW a real shot at making the game close, Brown tried his best to make the game somewhat competitive. Brown finished 28-39 passing for 251 yards and three scores. Quite easily the best QB performance against a DI team for UW this season.

“Just staying calm, that’s the big thing. Every rep that Demond takes, that’s a mental rep for me. so just staying locked in throughout the game, and staying ready,” Brown said.

This gives Fisch a tough choice to make. Start Brown who proved he could make plays against Big Ten competition, or stick with Williams who has struggled, but whose past accomplishments speak for themselves.

“I think that Demond is the starting quarterback, and he’s been our starting quarterback, and we expect him to be our starting quarterback, we expect him to continue to improve and get healthy and play well and play better and keep getting better,” Fisch said. “But at this point in time, I have to see where he’s at health wise, and I have to make sure that he’s good to go before we declare a starter.”

Up Next

Washington heads to Purdue (2-3, 1-1 Big Ten) to take on a much improved Boilermaker team on Friday, October 16 at 5:00 pm. The game will air on Fox.

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