After another slow start, Washington races past Eastern Michigan, 30-9
A scoreless first quarter gave way to a comfortable victory.
SEATTLE — Washington’s senior quarterback faked a handoff to Jonah Coleman and began to roll to his right for a play-action boot —except instead of scanning and firing downfield, Will Rogers tripped and fell, losing seven yards as the final seconds ticked from the clock.
He pounded his right fist into the turf. It was that kind of quarter.
“Kind of just some self-inflicted stuff,” Rogers said afterward.
The Huskies eventually got busy inflicting outwardly, and upon Eastern Michigan, and Rogers had as much hand in that as anybody. He threw four touchdown passes in what became a relatively stress-free victory on Saturday at Husky Stadium, UW winning 30-9 despite its scoreless, disjointed first period. The Eagles managed their points via three field goals from the inevitable Jesus Gomez — including kicks from 57 and 50 yards — but Steve Belichick’s defense otherwise totaled seven sacks, recovered a fumble, stood on a fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line and will enter next weekend’s Apple Cup without having allowed a touchdown this season.
As with their ho-hum start in an eventual romp over Weber State, the Huskies successfully threw the switch from “what the hell is this” to “hey, these guys are fun to watch when they’re not committing holding penalties and getting punts blocked.”
Or, as coach Jedd Fisch said after enumerating the positives: “We need to be better. Too many penalties. Too many special-teams plays that weren’t very good.”