Game Review: Washington beats Eastern Washington 30-27

The highly favored Huskies defense struggled against Eastern Washington’s passing attack. Mitchell passed for 473 yards, three touchdowns and completed 39 passes on 69 attempts.

In their post-game comments, both sides acknowledged the intensity of the matchup and mistakes that contributed to Washington’s close win.

Cornerback Desmond Trufant’s game saving interception in the end zone with 29 second left on the game stopped the Eagles last gasp attempt to defeat the Huskies at home. The Eagles lost the game on four turnovers that included two lost fumbles and two interceptions.

The Huskies kept their mistakes to a minimum with no turnovers. Washington quarterback Keith Price had three passing touchdowns, 102 yards in the air and completed 17 out of 25 passes. Chris Polk led all rushers with 125 yards.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian’s squad appeared confused and unprepared for Mitchell and the high-tempo Eagles offense. Hawaii comes to Husky Stadium next Saturday. The Huskies open their Pac12 season at home when they face California on September 24th.

“We knew that coming in and they were extremely scary. There is a reason why they were national champs last year and why they are the pre-season No. 1 in the country this year, and they are a good team. They have a good quarterback, a nice offensive scheme, play hard on defense and at the end of the day we are happy to be 1-0.”–Steve Sarkisian, Huskies head coach

“Believe me, I’m not into morale victories; I wanted to come in here and get a win. At the same time I’m proud of the way our guys kept fighting in a tough situation against a good football team that’s well coached.”–Beau Baldwin, Eagles head coach

Offensive star: Bo Levi Mitchell

The Katy, Texas native had all day to find holes in the Huskies defensive back four with minimal pressure from the front four. The Eagles accumulated 504 yards against Washington, with only 31 of those on the ground. Give Mitchell credit for an outstanding passing performance that came up just short of one of the more shocking upsets at Husky Stadium.

“I knew we would put up numbers but I didn’t know we would put up career numbers like that. But the most important thing is that we didn’t put up the number 31 to win. They came out and played great defense and even though they gave up a lot of yards they played the red zone great.”–Bo Levi Mitchell, Eagles quarterback

Defensive star: Desmond Trufant

Trufant positioned himself perfectly in end zone to intercept Mitchell’s attempted game winning pass with 29 seconds left in the game. Trufant forced one fumble and was credited with 11 tackles. His game saving catch in front Eagles junior receiver Brandon Kaufman salvaged what could have been a disastrous start to the Huskies’ 2011 season.

“I wanted to get it little bit short where Kauf (Brandon Kaufman) could up and get it. Kauf saw something a little different in the corner and I thought he should have slowed down. I take it on me. It’s my fault. I think I could have put the ball in a different spot.”–Bo Levi Mitchelk

Improvement areas

Defense: The Huskies were ripped apart by the Eagles quarterback Mitchell. During fall practice, coach Sarkisian was confident that his defense would be strengths. His defense failed to mount any serious pass rush giving the Eastern Washington QB all the time he needed to find his open receivers.

“Defensively, they passed on us, a crazy number. It was difficult to generate a pass rush. He (Bo

Levi Mitchell) was getting rid of the ball so quickly, even when we had free rushers the ball was coming out or (they were) getting completions. Fortunately, we were able to come up with a big play by Desmond Trufant at the end to seal the victory.”–Steve Sarkisian

Injuries

Jermaine Kearse suffered a knee injury in the first quarter and did not return the rest of the game.

“It wasn’t great losing Jermaine Kearse early in the ballgame; that re-shuffles your wide receiving core.” –Steve Sarkisian


Next Huskies game:
Hawaii at home on Sept. 10.


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