9/30/22

UCLA 40, Washington 32

Pasadena, CA – After never trailing in their first 4 contests in blowout wins, the Washington Huskies faced their adversity for the first time in Kalen DeBoer era, and lost for the first time in 2022 in a 40-32 loss at UCLA.

The Huskies took the early lead on a Michael Penix Jr. touchdown pass to Rome Odunze, but the Bruins began to take over the game and capitalize on Huskies miscues, including a safety that helped UCLA build a 26-10 halftime lead.

Penix Jr. threw a pair of interceptions in the loss that hurt UW,  but he also showed his leadership as well to help the Huskies get back into the game late.

UW trailed 33-10 early in the second half and then 40-16 to start the 4th, before mounting an incredible comeback to get within a possession late in the 4th. Penix Jr. threw for 345 yards and 4 touchdowns, with Odunze having a huge game with a pair of touchdown on 8 catches for 116 yards.

The biggest problem for UW was UCLA star veteran QB “Dorian-Thompson-Robinson, who torched UW for 315 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Injuries to the Huskies secondary have hurt, and UCLA took advantage. My big takeway from the game though is while it is clear that UW is an improved team that showed grit on Friday night, the loss to UCLA showed that this team is far from from perfect. They faced very little hardships in their first 4 games and I think many Huskies fans might have thought UCLA would be a comfortable victory, even though UCLA was also undefeated at 4-0. There is a long way to go in the season and you cannot define a teams season after just 1 loss, but after tasting defeat for the first time, it will be interesting to see how Washington comes back next week, against a sputtering Arizona State team that recently fired their head coach in Herm Edwards.  I expect UW to come out focused and hungry and the extra day of rest should help as well. I also look for UW to establish their running game more next week, and Penix Jr. will look to avoid the turnovers that hurt UW against UCLA.