SEATTLE — The No. 12 Utes powered past Washington 34-23 and the rain Saturday night, beating the Huskies for the first time in nine tries.
With the win, Utah (8-1, 5-1) now has defeated every Pac-12 team at least once since joining the conference. The Utes will remain on the road next week for the final time this season, taking on Arizona.
Scoring recap: Washington got on the board first when kicker Cameron Van Winkle drilled a 42-yard field goal halfway through the first quarter. But much like the rain, the scoring began to cascade in the second quarter.
Travis Wilson gave Utah a 7-3 lead with a 4-yard touchdown scamper one minute into the quarter. The Utes never trailed from that point. Following a Gionni Paul interception, Devontae Booker padded Utah's lead to 14-3 with another 4-yard touchdown run just 90 seconds after Wilson's score.
Washington responded, after the teams traded fumbles, when Van Winkle knocked in a 39-yard field goal with 7:47 left in the half. The Utes added to their lead not too long after when Jared Norris forced a fumble and Paul picked up the ball and returned it 54 yards for a score, making it a 21-6 game.
On the ensuing drive, Huskies quarterback Jake Browning completed three of four passes for 66 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown pass to Drew Sample, cutting Utah's lead to 21-13 with 4:14 left in the half.
Utah answered with an eight-play, 50-yard drive that resulted in a 43-yard Andy Phillips field goal to give the Utes a 24-13 halftime lead.
The game settled down in the third quarter. Myles Gaskin ran in a 10-yard touchdown 5½ minutes into the second half to cut Utah's lead to 24-20. Neither team scored until the fourth quarter, when Van Winkle hit a 49-yard field goal with 13:11 left to play to close Washington's gap to 24-23.
Each team had shots at scoring, but neither team did until Wilson scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:27 left to play, extending Utah's lead to 31-23. After Kylie Fitts stripped Browning, Phillips tacked on a field goal to put the game away, as the Utes defeated Washington 34-23.
Utah's three stars
Gionni Paul/Jared Norris
Paul did everything in the first half, picking off a pass (which led to a score), picking up a fumble (that Norris forced) and taking it 54 yards for a touchdown, as well as sacking Browning twice. Yes, all in one half.
However, it was hard to pick one because both carried the Utes' defense throughout the majority of the game. The linebacking duo combined for 19 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one touchdown.
Devontae Booker
Booker ran for one score and put together 150 yards rushing on 34 carries — moving past the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second-straight season. On the drive where Utah extended its lead to eight, the senior set up the score with an 18-yard carry to the goal line. He finished with 36 yards rushing on that drive. Adding in 21 yards of receiving, Booker accounted for 49.4 percent of Utah's offensive yardage on Saturday.
Chase Hansen
Hansen made his first career start at safety after switching there and led the Utes with 11 tackles and one major pass breakup. His breakup on a key third down in the fourth quarter, while questionable, forced Washington into a field goal instead of the possibility of something more. Hansen also forced a fumble in the first half, and seemed to be around the ball all game long — especially during the second half. Unfortunately, he was injured on the last play of the game, when a teammate inadvertently rolled up on his leg. While his status isn't certain, the freshman left the field on a cart with an air cast on his leg.
Analyzing the stats
— Washington outgained Utah 381-346 on Saturday, but Utah controlled the ground 191-124. Entering Saturday, Washington held opponents to an average of 136.6 yards per game and 3.2 yards per carry. The Utes as a team averaged 4.2 yards per carry with Devontae Booker (4.4 yards per carry) and Travis Wilson (4.2) beating the opponent's average by a full yard.
— Booker put together his sixth 100-yard performance this season in the win, but his 150 rushing yards Saturday were the most Washington has allowed an individual rusher this season. Washington fell to 1-3 in games where an individual rusher totaled 100 or more yards.
— Paul's interception at the 13:11-mark of the second quarter snapped Utah's stretch of nine quarters without forcing a turnover. Utah's last forced turnover came in the waning moments of Utah's 34-18 win over Arizona State, when Cory Butler-Byrd picked off Mike Bercovici (and a Tevin Carter fumble recovery earlier in that quarter before that).
— Despite winning the turnover battle by one (4-3), Utah outscored Washington 17-3 in points off turnovers Saturday. Washington's opponents entered the game with 23 total points off turnovers in eight games this season, but Utah scored 17 of its 34 points off of Washington's four turnovers. The two-touchdown advantage played a major factor in what turned out to be an 11-point win. Washington also allowed 34 points, which is double the team's average this season and the most points allowed this season. Utah scored 24 points in the second quarter alone to surpass the top-ranked scoring defense in the Pac-12's season average.
— Wilson completed 48 percent of his passes on Saturday, which is the lowest completion percentage he's compiled in a game this year and the first time all season he has failed to complete 60 percent or more of his passes. However, the senior finished with an adjusted QBR of 62.5 percent. Utah is 7-0 when Wilson has an adjusted QBR of 50 percent or higher and 1-1 when lower. Though his streak of five-straight games with a passing touchdown ended, Wilson has either thrown or run for a touchdown in all eight games he has played thus far into the season.
A brief look at what's next: Utah has one last road game, at Arizona, next week before ending the final two weeks of the regular season at home. The Wildcats (5-5, 2-5) have lost three straight, following a 38-30 loss to USC on Saturday. Sophomore quarterback Anu Solomon has completed 62.7 percent of his passes this season for 2,061 yards and 16 touchdowns and three interceptions. Jerrard Randall has four more touchdown passes.
Randall, Jared Baker and Nick Wilson each have amassed 600 yards rushing this season, though Wilson missed Arizona's loss to USC with a knee injury. Arizona has thrived off its offense, which entered its matchup with USC tied with the Trojans with the second-highest scoring offense in the Pac-12, but was second-to-last in scoring defense. The same is the case in yardage offense and yardage defense.
Though Arizona has struggled in Pac-12 play this season, it has posed as a matchup problem for the Utes in years past. The Wildcats have won their last three games with Utah, outscoring the Utes 111-58 in those games. The key for the Utes to snap that streak is to tame the Wildcats' ground attack. Arizona has averaged 306 net rushing yards as a team over that three-game span and has produced a 200-yard individual rusher in all three games.