No. 1 Ohio State dominates red zone to end UW’s record home win streak

SEATTLE – Jedd Fisch made the call because he thought he saw an opportunity.

Washington was leading by three points with 4:42 remaining in the second quarter when the UW offense stalled out on No. 1 Ohio State’s 27-yard line. Fisch, the UW coach, summoned his field goal unit to attempt a 45-yard kick, but when sophomore holder Luke Dunne received the snap, he flipped the ball to senior kicker Grady Gross instead of placing the ball down for a field-goal attempt.

It was a play the Huskies had practiced all week, Fisch said, based on the film they had of how the Buckeyes rushed when their opponents kicked from the right hash.

But the play fell apart immediately. Gross was swarmed by Ohio State defensive backs Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Matthews Jr. The kicker’s attempted pass floated harmlessly downfield past Washington’s sophomore tight end Decker DeGraaf, who never disengaged from his block to look for the ball.

“It didn’t get executed well,” Fisch said.

The Huskies entered Saturday with a massive opportunity on its hands, playing the country’s top-ranked team in front of a national audience on a major network. Instead, Washington was left to rue its missed opportunities, like its fake field goal, losing to Ohio State 24-6 in front of 72,485 fans at Husky Stadium.

It’s Washington’s first defeat on Montlake since Nov. 26, 2021, when it lost the 113th Apple Cup 40-13 against Washington State, and ended UW’s 22-game home winning streak, the longest during modern program history.

“It was our worst game,” senior running back Jonah Coleman said. “It’s week four, and that was our worst game. It’s a 24-hour rule. Flush it. You either win or you learn.”

The Huskies (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) certainly had their chances, particularly in the first half. The defense – missing starting linebacker Taariq “Buddah” Al-Uqdah and starting cornerback Tacario Davis before losing fifth-year edge rusher and captain Zach Durfee in the first half because of injury – made a massive fourth-down stop on Ohio State’s first drive.

Washington’s punt unit forced the game’s lone turnover when seventh-year tight end Quentin Moore punched the ball out of Ohio State returner Brandon Inniss’ hands before DeGraaf recovered it.

But the Husky offense wasn’t able to capitalize. Washington entered the game as the best third-down offense in the country after converting 75% of its attempts during its first three games.

Against Ohio State, Washington faced 11 third downs. They converted one, a 4-yard pass by sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to junior wide receiver Denzel Boston on third-and-3 during the fourth quarter. Another was eventually given after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Ohio State.

Fisch said a variety of breakdowns led to the team’s poor third-down performance. The Huskies averaged 8.1 yards to go on third down and gained an average of 1.3 yards per attempt.

“We just put ourselves in a position that we either had a protection breakdown, we had coverage we weren’t expecting, we didn’t win on a route, we wound up scrambling around,” Fisch said. “It was everything.”

In comparison to Washington’s struggles, Ohio State took its lead while facing a third-and-11 from UW’s 18-yard line. The Huskies blitzed, hoping to force the Buckeyes into a field goal with around one minute remaining in the half, but sophomore quarterback Julian Sayin, who finished 22-for-28 passing for 208 yards, found sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith over the middle.

The 2024 consensus first-team All-Big Ten receiver sliced through the UW secondary, picking up blocks before gliding into the end zone untouched. Ohio State didn’t trail for the remainder of the game.

Washington’s struggles on third down combined with a poor performance in the red zone. The Huskies were one of 19 teams that had scored on every red zone trip entering Saturday’s game. Only Old Dominion had kicked fewer red zone field goals than Washington, and only No. 6 Oregon and No. 7 Oklahoma had made more red zone attempts.

The Huskies made three trips to the Buckeyes red zone. They came away with six points on a pair of 28-yard field goals by Gross. UW faced a first-and-goal on OSU’s 2-yard line after the punt unit forced its turnover in the first quarter. Then, senior Jonah Coleman, who tallied 70 yards rushing on 13 carries, lost three yards on two carries, sixth-year right guard Geirean Hatchett false started and Williams was brought down for no gain to force UW into settling for a field goal.

Washington’s second trip to Ohio State’s red zone was brief, lasting just one play before a sack took them back outside OSU’s 20-yard line, and ended with the fake field goal attempt. UW’s final red-zone foray reached the 3-yard line, but Williams, who was 18-for-22 passing for 173 yards, was sacked on third down and the Huskies settled for another field goal. The Buckeyes sacked Williams was sacked six times.

“Some situational football we’ve been good at, we struggled with in this one,” Fisch said. “When you play the No. 1 team in the country, a team that knows how to win.”

Coleman said Washington’s red zone woes were largely self-inflicted wounds, noting the penalties were particularly devastating. UW committed six penalties for 49 yards, including five offensive penalties, against OSU. The Huskies ranked 22nd nationally before Saturday, with just 16 penalties for 149 yards during their first three games combined.

The lone defensive penalty, however, was the costliest. Senior defensive lineman Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei was flagged for a highly questionable roughing the passer penalty with Ohio State facing second-and-20 on UW’s 33-yard line. The drive eventually resulted in a touchdown. Fisch had very limited comments about the call, only noting that there was nothing else he’d be able to teach Uiagalelei in future situations.

So now, Washington has to regroup. It returns to the field in a week for a difficult, East Coast road trip against a resurgent Maryland team. This opportunity, against the nation’s top-ranked team, is gone. The only option left is to march forward.

“The mistakes that were made can’t happen,” Fisch said. “We’re going to learn from that. We’re going to coach better. We’re going to play better. And we have an opportunity to go do that next week.”