The University of Washington football team had to come out of its first Big Ten Conference game thinking, hey, this wasn’t so tough, this was manageable.
Without having to go through much of an initiation, the UW needed an offensive series to work out the kinks — namely break in a new starting left tackle in Max McCree — and then proceeded to gently manhandle Northwestern thereafter, taking a 24-5 victory over their Midwest visitors on a pleasant day at Husky Stadium.
Of course, this wasn’t Michigan or Ohio State team flexing and preening on the other side of the line of scrimmage, rather a low-energy Wildcats outfit all dressed in white that has never had any luck facing the UW, losing for the fourth time in as many tries.
What was different, again, was this one went straight into the conference standings, as in a W for the UW (3-1 overall, 1-0 in Big Ten), in a debut well spent.
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Northwestern (2-2) might have been a little confused about the travel itinerary after leaving the Chicago area for Seattle and maybe thinking it had taken a wrong turn somewhere — all these guys heard over the public-address system early on was Boston.
That wasn’t a destination, though, rather it was the Huskies’ Denzel Boston, a 6-foot-4, 209-pound sophomore wide receiver who caught a touchdown pass in each of the first two quarters to get things rolling.
Midway through the opening quarter, Boston ran a post pattern and quarterback Will Rogers delivered a looping 46-yard scoring strike to him. Boston beat a pair of defensive backs to the ball, leaping above Theran Johnson and Coco Azema, and leaving them seated in the end zone and looking a little dazed by what happened. With the clock showing 7:57, the UW led 7-0.
Early in the second quarter, the Huskies went up 10-0 when their long drive from their own 8 stalled out at the Northwestern 4 and they settled for Grady Gross’ 21-yard field, his sixth make in as many attempts. Just 59 seconds of the period had been played.
Huskies quarterback Will Roger, getting protection by new left tackle Max McCree (77), looks for a receiver against Northwestern. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
After a 3-and-out, Boston did double duty on the next possession.
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First, he returned the Wildcats punt 25 yards to the Northwestern 31, giving the Huskies a short field. Four plays later, Roger found Boston open again in the end zone, likewise covered by a pair of defensive backs in Evan Smith and Azema to no avail. He got his hands on a 13-yard TD pass. With 10:12 left in the second quarter, the UW led 17-0.
Boston finished with 7 receptions for 121 yards and his fourth and fifth Husky touchdowns, good for the team lead. Rogers completed 20 of 28 passes for 223 yards and those 2 TD throws.
Northwestern finally put something on the scoreboard when Rogers, under pressure while throwing out of his end zone, tossed the ball out of bounds, intentional grounding was called and safety was awarded to the visitors. The home team was up 17-2 at the break.
The UW were a little flat coming out of intermission, fumbling the ball away on its second series and on its own 34, a miscue that led to Jack Olsen’s 19-yard field goal to cut the lead to 17-5.
Running back Jonah Coleman seemed to pick everyone up on the final play of the third quarter when he leaped over Northwestern’s Smith, broke a 16-yard run and put the ball on the opposing 16. Into the next quarter and three plays later, Coleman scored on an 8-yard run up the middle — for the first rushing TD permitted by the Wildcats in four games. With 14:02 left in the game, the UW was ahead 24-5.
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Coleman finished with 67 yards rushing on 15 carries.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Huskies had a major special-teams breakdown as Joseph Himon II caught the ball on his 2 and returned to the UW 2, covering 96 yards in all, before Elijah Jackson made a saving tackle. Amazingly, the Wildcats couldn’t score on four downs, picking up just a yard. Linebacker Bryun Parham, making his first Husky start, knocked away a fourth-down pass at the goal line.
The Huskies went without starting edge rusher Zach Durfee, who wore a protective boot on his left foot, and brought two other banged-up first-teamers, linebacker Carson Bruener and left offensive tackle Soane Faasolo, off the bench.
Freshman linebacker Khmori House comes up to meet Northwestern running back Caleb Komolafe on Saturday in Husky Stadium. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
Bruener ended up playing a lot and seemed OK — he led the Huskies in tackles with 6 and intercepted a pass near the end of the opening half and returned it 24 yards.
Faasolo, who same as Bruener coming in was listed as questionable, was inserted near the end of the first half and played a couple of series. He came back in the fourth quarter when McCree was shaken up and had to leave.
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With one game in the books, the Huskies’ Big Ten competition only gets tougher, with the UW traveling to Rutgers for a Friday night game in Piscataway, New Jersey.
For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington
This week’s Anatomy of a Goal is a historical one! We’re breaking down Boston Legacy FC’s first-ever goal.
Before we get into that, though, let’s do a quick Legacy heat check. I won’t dice words here: this team is struggling. It’s taken them three games to score a single goal, and they’ve conceded six. Boston has also been averaging the second-lowest expected goals per game thus far (0.60 xG, American Soccer Analysis), though it’s worth mentioning that we’re only three games into the season.
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BOSTON –– Viktor Arvidsson’s oldest daughter, Navy, turned five on Tuesday.
The dad, and Boston Bruins forward, celebrated the occasion by posting his fifth career hat trick that night at TD Garden in a 6-3 win over the Dallas Stars.
“That was pretty cool, I got a hat trick on her birthday,” Arvidsson said. “She’ll be happy, for sure.”
Arvidsson’s three goals earned the Bruins their fourth consecutive win against top-ranked opponents and extended his point streak to four games; he has nine points (five goals, four assists) through that stretch.
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“I think we have fun together, and we put a lot of emphasis on being hard on each other, really pushing each other,” Arvidsson said. “I think in that regard, we’re really happy where we are.”
The Bruins got out to a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period. Marat Khusnutdinov opened the scoring with his 15th goal of the season. David Pastrnak got the puck down low and chipped it up to Henri Jokiharju, who blasted a shot from the point. Khusnutdinov was there to knock in the rebound at 9:58.
Arvidsson doubled the advantage just as the B’s power play expired. Pavel Zacha threw the puck on net, Pastrnak collected the redirection and pushed it towards the crease where Arvidsson battled for positioning and tapped it in at 18:51 to make it 2-0. Zacha’s helper on the play extended his point streak to five games; he has five goals and four assists in that time.
“It always seems like we play better when we’re playing against better teams. For us, the playoffs already started a long time ago,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “I think that’s a good thing about our team right now – we want to get challenged right now.”
Dallas got on the board in the middle frame with a wrist shot from Jamie Benn at 4:49. Matt Duchene found the 2-2 equalizer at 16:53.
BOSTON –– The push continues for the Boston Bruins.
The B’s will host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday at TD Garden for a 7 p.m. puck drop in the teams’ second and final meeting this regular season.
“We’re playing against a really good hockey team. I feel like it feels a little bit the same when we played Minnesota the other night – on paper, a very good team. Obviously, on points and standings, too. Just very high-end talent throughout the lineup,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “It will be a handful, and we have to make sure we’re ready to go. Hopefully, we learned from big, emotional games in the past.”
Boston is coming off a 4-3 shootout win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday; the group collected all four points available on its back–to–back weekend. Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic’s fights in Columbus sparked the comeback for the Bruins.
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“We’re playing really good teams every single night,” Jeannot said. “It’s a really good build-up to the intensity of what’s to come, and we’re just going to continue to learn and grow from it, just like we’ve been doing all year. To have a come-from-behind win like that, it’s only going to help us.”
The Stars, who sit second in the NHL and the Central Division with 100 points, have clinched a playoff berth. The Bruins are in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 92 points.
“I think every game right now – it’s felt like playoffs for the last month or so. You can just definitely feel the urgency with every game. It’s no different tonight,” Kastelic said. “I think it’s great for everybody to get a taste of that, myself included. It’s really fun hockey to be part of this time of the year. With eight games to go, to be in the position we are, it’s some of the most fun I’ve had playing hockey in a long time. Hopefully there’s more to come, and tonight’s just another step.”
Henri Jokiharju will remain in the lineup for the Bruins in place of Mason Lohrei, who is working through a day-to-day upper-body injury, Sturm said. Jokiharju will skate on the second pair with Hampus Lindholm. The defenseman has 11 assists through 38 games this season while averaging 17:51 of ice time per night.
