Huskies Clinch a Bowl Bid After Beating UCLA 31-19

Freshman quarterback Demond Williams Jr. played a key role in getting a sixth win.

Huskies edge rusher Russell Davis II sacks UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers, formerly of the UW, during the first half of Friday night's game. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

In its one-off black uniforms with gold trimming, the University of Washington football team looked more like Purdue or Vanderbilt than the Huskies. Yet these guys also came away best resembling a bowl team as they took down UCLA 31-19 on Friday night at Husky Stadium to claim their sixth victory and become postseason eligible.

Shreveport or El Paso anyone?

In a mistake-filled match-up ripe with injuries, the Huskies (6-5 overall, 4-4 Big Ten) never trailed but got pushed most of the way in what was also billed as the Ethan Garbers reunion game, with the former UW quarterback turned Bruin keeping his team (4-6, 3-5) close until the fourth quarter.

And, finally, it might have been the true Demond Williams Jr. coming-out party as the freshman quarterback came off the bench for struggling senior Will Rogers and led the Huskies on three scoring drives over the last quarter and a half to wrap this one up and extend the UW's home winning streak to 20 games, second best in the nation to Georgia, now at 28 in a row.

Following a national championship game run and the ensuing rebuild, the UW just swept the Los Angeles schools and got payback from Michigan under Jedd Fisch's new coaching staff and the postseason seems like ample reward.

"In our first year with a team that none of us were familiar with, with a lot of players where none of them had played together and not a lot of us knew them, and they came from all over, to beat USC, Michigan and UCLA, those are big wins for our program," Fisch said. "Really proud of our guys to get those wins. That's a big deal."

With one regular-season game remaining at Oregon in two weeks following a bye, plenty of lobbying will be done to make Williams the starting quarterback. He completed 7 of 8 passes for 67 yards and a TD throw to fellow freshman Decker DeGrasf and ran 6 times for 31 yards to keep the Bruins backpedaling.

Veteran Jonah Coleman pulled his usual load by topping all rushers with 95 yards and 2 scores on 21 carries and surpassing the 1,000-yard barrier, now with 1,008. He seemed to work well with the first-year QB.

"He's a young guy, but obviously moves around with his legs and things like that," Coleman said of Williams. "One thing he walks out there with is confidence like no other."

To get to the finish line, the Huskies had starting linebacker Carson Bruener relegated to a limited role with his shoulder injury, lost edge rusher Zach Durfee to what appeared to be another upper-body issue, lost safety Makell Esteen to an unspecified injury and had starting center D'Angalo Titialii leave the field temporarily with a hand injury. There was no word on anyone's current health going forward.

Defensively, Arizona transfer Russell Davis II had a monster game at edge rusher in just his third Husky outing after coming back from an injury by piling up 3 sacks and a forced fumble. Senior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala led his team in tackles with 10 and picked up a sack in his final home appearance. Even Bruener, while relegated to playing only every third series while suffering physically from the previous game at Penn State, finished with 8 tackles.

"I'm excited to take a nap tomorrow," Fisch wisecracked after getting his team ready to play in a short week after getting humbled at Penn State.

Early on, the game was a punt fest for the first five drives, an uneventful if not boring exchange of possession for each side, until UCLA's Brady Richter livened things up considerably by shanking his third one. The punter kicked the ball almost sideways into the UW bench, with it traveling just 17 yards.

Set up on the UCLA 36, the home team turned this special-teams gaffe into instant points. The Huskies got into the end zone fairly quickly by letting their top two running backs do what they do best.

After Coleman's 2-yard run, Cam Davis, who drew the start in his final home game, took a screen pass on the left side and rambled through an open lane for 19 yards to the UCLA 15. On the next play, Coleman accepted a pitch going right and charged to the goal line, where he followed right tackle Drew Azzopardi and carried a Bruins tackler into the end zone. With 3:51 left in the opening quarter, the Huskies were up 7-0.

With punting no longer in vogue after the early flurry, the Bruins responded with an 11-play, 65-yard drive for Mateen Bhaghani's 28-yard field goal. UCLA had to settle for the 3-pointer when Husky freshman linebacker Khmori House knocked down a third-and-6 pass at the 10. At the 13:38 mark of the second quarter, the Bruins pulled within 7-3. House would have maybe his best night as a Husky, creating a key turnover later on and finishing with 4 tackles.

Eschewing the punt made things a little dicey for the UW. Facing a fourth-and-1 on their 45, the Huskies went for the first down and an Adam Mohammed run was stuffed by UCLA linebacker Oluwafemi Oledejo for a 1-yard loss.

However, the Bruins could not capitalize on this heady defensive stand. They had the ball for six plays before handing it right back.

At the UW 17, Garbers dropped back to pass on a second-and-9 play, brought the ball back and edge rusher Russell Davis II stripped it cleanly from him, dribbled it up the field for a few yards while trying to scoop it and finally fell on it on the 31.

Huskies running back Cameron Davis (22) takes a screen pass to the UCLA 15, setting up the UW's first touchdown. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

In a first half of continuous mistakes, the Huskies next zipped up the field until Rogers carelessly threw one to the end zone and it was intercepted by cornerback Bryan Addison. Yet the UW got a serious reprieve here. Rogers was hit in the back by Oledejo in a blatant manner after letting go of the ball, roughing the passer was called and he made the Bruins pay.

Rogers safely put the ball in the hands of tight end Keleki Latu, who ran 8 yards to the end zone, diving in over the top of offensive guard Landen Hatchett for the final yard. With 3:46 left in the half, the Huskies had a 14-3 lead and Latu, whose older brother Laiatu was a UW and UCLA edge rusher, had his first Montlake touchdown.

"When I caught the ball, I just saw that green grass," Latu said, referring to open space on the artificial surface. "I'm jumping in no matter what."

Huskies tight end Keleki Latu scores on an 8-yard touchdown pass against the UCLA Bruins during the second quarter at Husky Stadium. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The Bruins still had a response before the break. They moved 65 yards, helped by a pass-interference call on Ephesians Prysock, for a 1-yard TD pass from Garbers to freshman Kwazi Gilmer with 49 seconds remaining. The teams headed for the locker rooms wiith the Huskies on top 14-10.

The break did nothing to clean up a sloppy game. In fact, the mistakes came in a flurry to open the second half.

Rogers carelessly threw interceptions on the first two UW drives, setting up the Bruins on the Husky 25 and 39, respectively. Yet UCLA wasn't opportunistic at all. The visitors settled for Bhaghani's 40-yard field goal to pull within 14-13 and gave the ball back after the second turnover.

From the UW 28, Bruins tight end Jack Pederson caught an 8-yard pass in the flat but had his legs taken out by House and the ball come squirting out before he hit the ground and was recovered by senior safety Kam Fabiculanan. It was another welcome bailout.

To no surprise, Williams Jr. replaced the off-target Rogers and he settled everything down, moving the Huskies down the field for Grady Gross' 41-yard field and a 17-10 margin with 3:16 left in the third quarter. Rogers has now played just four and half quarters in the past two UW games. He finished with13 completions in 21 attempts for 115 yards and his one TD throw and those pair of unnerving interceptions. He's either going to share the job or watch going forward.

Williams later led a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives in which he hit DeGraaf with a 3-yard TD pass with 5:44 remaining and drove the Huskies for Coleman's 2-yard run to the end zone with 1:54 left to play, and he now has 9 touchdowns on the season,

Down 31-13, Garbers led the Bruins to a late meaningless touchdown. He finished 27-for-44 passing for 267 yards and a pair of TDs in facing his old team.

"We were chatting a little bit," Tuputala said of onfield interactions with his former teammate. "He got me on a little spin move. It kind of made me sick. I went to the next play and, thank God, I got the sack."

The Huskies now have two weeks to celebrate their postseason good fortune and to try their hardest to figure out a way to beat No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Oregon (10-0, 7-0) in Autzen Stadium in Eugene, or at least keep it close. An upset there would be so much bigger than any bowl game.

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