Huskies escape Utah State with underwhelming performance
Published 10:26 pm Saturday, September 12, 2026
SEATTLE — For the second straight week, the Washington Huskies underwhelmed and escaped.
Last week, it was an Apple Cup that was a three-point game in the fourth quarter. On Saturday, it was Utah State, a member of the resurrected Pac-12, throwing into the end zone to try to steal a win at Husky Stadium — Big Ten country.
The pass landed out of harm’s way, into the arms of UW defensive back Rahshawn Clark to seal a 16-14 win for the four-touchdown favorite Huskies. Washington’s offense, dysfunctional for three quarters against Washington State on Sept. 6 and for most of Saturday’s game, struggled in all phases against a Utah State team that lost to FCS opponent Idaho State last week.
“I would say just not very good,” said quarterback Demond Williams Jr., assessing the offense after completing 26 of 41 passes for 249 yards. “I don’t think we got all our short yardage plays that we needed to, and as an offense, we shot ourselves in the foot a lot. And when you do stuff like that, you just got to understand the game’s gonna be close. And, I want to shout out our defense for the way that they played, and they closed out the game for us.”
UW was once again a play away from breaking the game open. But the Huskies were also a play or two away from a stunning loss during a season they entered with College Football Playoff aspirations.
Utah State (0-2) struggled to do much against Washington (2-0), aside from a 78-yard second-quarter connection between quarterback Brady Brosterhous and Javon Robinson and a fourth-quarter drive that put the Aggies within striking distance late.
Safety Alex McLaughlin recorded the first two sacks of his UW career and wrestled the ball away from Utah State receiver Kaina Watson for one of three Washington interceptions. Dylan Robinson also picked one off, and Clark got Brosterhous at the end before returning the ball 57 yards with zeroes on the clock and all of whoever remained of an announced crowd of 62,152 imploring him to go down and put an end to the dog of a game.
McLaughlin, in the same situation at the Apple Cup with a late pick, could relate to Clark. This time, it was McLaughlin at the goal line batting down Brosterhous’ pass out to Clark at the 4 as time expired. Clark, the team’s punt and kickoff returner, couldn’t resist a chance to take it all the way back despite some risk.
“Situational football there, you want to go down,” said McLaughlin, who also batted down a pass and led the team with nine tackles. “But proud of him for catching the ball.”
It was clear from the beginning that not everyone with tickets showed up for what was supposed to be a blowout game against an inferior opponent. Those who showed up, though, began booing a lackluster offense as the game continued and the Huskies failed to pull away.
“We are glad that we have a victory, and we have a lot to learn,” Washington head coach Jedd Fisch said. “And that’s two weeks in a row that we’re sitting out here to learn a lot, and I think we will. But there’s also things that we just need to execute better. So we’re 2-0, which we’re happy about.
“We need to do some things better. We need to find points.”
Points were nowhere to be found in the first quarter, which ended tied 0-0. UW’s Tyler Robles, who made three of four field goal attempts, converted a 30-yarder 4:13 into the fourth quarter after Washington stalled with a first-and-10 at the Aggies 14.
The Aggies fired back with Robinson’s 78-yard TD before the Huskies responded with their lone TD drive of the afternoon. Washington running backs combined for 21 of their grand total of 49 yards during the drive, which was capped by freshman Ansu Sanoe’s 1-yard TD plunge. Freshman receiver Jordan Clay, getting his first extensive action of the season with Christian Moss out and Rashid Williams leaving early with an injury, outmuscled two defenders to haul in a 19-yard pass for a rare chunk play Saturday.
Aside from those 6 minutes, 41 seconds and the carries by Demond Williams Jr., running proved difficult for Washington. The backs combined for 49 yards on 21 carries Saturday, averaging 2.3 yards per attempt — and 16 for 28 outside of the TD drive.
UW began spring ball with Quaid Carr, Jordan Washington and Jayden Limar likely to be their top three backs. Washington suffered a neck injury in spring ball and remains out. Carr and Limar got hurt in the Apple Cup and are likely to miss multiple weeks. Saturday, it was sixth-year senior Trey Cooley, Sanoe and fellow freshman Brian Bonner Jr. getting the work.
The offensive line failed to get much push for the second straight week against an assumed vastly inferior opponent, which limited room to run for Washington’s running backs once again.
“We have to find a way to make it better,” said Fisch, whose team will host Eastern Washington Sept. 19 before opening Big Ten play against Minnesota at Husky Stadium on Sept. 26. “But we also are going to recognize that there are going to be challenges, so it’s our responsibility, as coaches, to find ways to put our backs in a better position. We need to find our offensive line. We need them to carry the load and put the running backs in a good position as well.”
This story originally appeared at emeraldcityspectrum.com.
