Time, Place and [Radio Waves in] Space • Utah makes a trip to Lake Washington and Husky Stadium in its final Pac-12 road game of 2017 at 8:30 p.m. MT Saturday. You can watch on ESPN or listen on 700 AM.
Line • Washington is a 17.5-point favorite over the Utes as of Friday.
Records • Utah 5-5, (2-5 Pac-12); No. 16 Washington 8-2, (5-2 Pac-12)
Opposing coach • Chris Petersen is in his fourth year as coach of the Huskies. Hired in 2013 after a stellar eight-year stint at Boise State, it took Petersen three seasons to get Washington back on the map. The Huskies went 12-2 in 2016, winning the Pac-12 and earning their first shot at the College Football Playoff and an eventual loss to Alabama in the semifinal matchup. Washington finished the year No. 4 in the polls. Washington is 35-16 (22-13 in Pac-12) under Petersen. The coach went 92-12 at Boise State from 2006 to 2013, going 57-6 in conference play, helping put the Broncos on the national map with two undefeated seasons (2006 and 2009). Petersen began his coaching career at his alma mater, UC Davis, in 1987. He made stops at Pittsburgh, Portland State and Oregon before landing at Boise State in 2001.
Utah ties • Washington’s defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski spent a year at Snow College in Utah in 1997 as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. Huskies defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe spent 2014-2015 at Utah State as the defensive line coach. Freshman wide receiver Ty Jones grew up in Utah and was an all-state talent at Provo High School. Jones, a former Utah commit, has played in seven games for the Huskies this season.
Game day threads • The Utes will be in an all-white combo against the purple and gold of the Huskies. The jersey numbers are red, outlined in black with red and black stripes down the side of the pants. The white helmet with the traditional red block U has a series of black, white and red stripes down the middle of it. This is the second time in 2017 that Utah will be in an all-white combo, the last time coming in the 41-20 loss at Oregon on Oct. 28.
Pregame quotable • Petersen, when asked how his team plans to re-center after the loss at Stanford: “It’s not always going to be a bed of roses. These are hard-fought games. The good teams, good players, gritty teams, they’re going to come back to work. There’s no chance for feeling sorry for ourselves. Everybody in the conference and everybody else around’s throwing a party [because] we lost.”
Media guide nugget • The 2017 Huskies are, as the media guide states, a “demonstrably young team.” Washington has 40 freshmen and 26 sophomores compared to 27 juniors and only 16 seniors. More than 60 percent of Washington’s players have three or more years of eligibility left.
Telling stat • The 100-yard factor. According to Washington’s media guide, the Huskies are 211-66-3 (.759) since 1947 when a player rushes for 100 yards in a game. Washington is 4-1 in 2017 in such cases and went 8-0 a year ago. Running back Myles Gaskin this year joined Napoleon Kaufman and Chris Polk as the only players in program history to rush for 1,000 yards or more in three seasons. Gaskin tied the UW record for rushing touchdowns with 37, matching former RB Bishop Sankey.
Huskies offensive outlook • The Jake Browning Hype Train has slowed in 2017. A year after the junior quarterback threw for 3,340 yards and 43 touchdowns, the offense has come back to earth in 2017. Browning has thrown for 2,097 yards and 16 touchdowns in 10 games. His quarterback rating remains high at 153.9, but the explosive offense the Huskies featured a year ago didn’t carry over into 2017. Gaskin has had a standout junior campaign, rushing for 1,038 yards and amassing 15 total touchdowns. Senior tailback Lavon Coleman has six touchdowns this year. While the passing numbers aren’t astronomical, Washington ranks No. 2 in the Pac-12 in scoring offense with 36.9 points per game but just No. 9 in total offense at 404 yards per outing.
Huskies defensive outlook • If not for Bryce Love’s Heisman-worthy second-half performance last Friday night, the Huskies would enter this game against Utah as the No. 1 defense in the country. But Love’s 166 yards on 30 carries dropped the vaunted Washington defense down a couple of pegs nationally. Regardless, the Huskies are one of the best defenses around. Paced by defensive linemen Vita Vea and Greg Gaines, Washington is No. 4 in the nation in rushing defense, allowing just 101.5 yards per game. The Huskies are the No. 2 scoring defense in college football, allowing 13 points per game. Sophomore safety Taylor Rapp, last year’s Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and a Freshman All-American, is one of the premier defensive backs in the conference. Petersen announced Wednesday that star linebacker Azeem Victor has been suspended indefinitely after being arrested last weekend on suspicion of DUI.
Injury report • Wide receiver Chico McClatcher suffered a season-ending ankle injury in September. Senior tight end David Ajamu suffered a broken ankle in fall camp. Starting left tackle Trey Adams suffered a season-ending knee injury in the loss at Arizona State in mid-October. Cornerback Jordan Miller broke his ankle at ASU as well and is out for the rest of 2017. Cornerback Byron Murphy has missed much of the year due to a broken foot. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said the Utes have at least six players who are game-time decisions at Washington, but he did not identify any particular player. Utah was without leading wide receiver Darren Carrington II, starting safeties Chase Hansen and Marquise Blair (season-ending knee injury vs. UCLA), guard Jordan Agasiva and linebacker Sunia Tauteoli last week. Utah saw starting defensive end Kylie Fitts and starting cornerback Casey Hughes leave with an injury and not return against Washington State.
Three Big Questions
1. Who is available? The scuffling Utes are dealing with the toll of another long season, and injuries are mounting each week. Defensively, Utah held its own against one of the more prolific offenses in the country while down as many as seven starters at one point last week. A repeat performance on the road at Husky Stadium is a tall ask if the Utes are without so many key playmakers on defense. Whittingham said he hopes Agasiva, who has been out since suffering a lower leg injury against ASU on Oct. 21, can return this week. Utah certainly could use Carrington against one of the top defenses around, but he is questionable, too.
2. How miffed are the Huskies? The Utes are about to find out. Whittingham has said as much since his postgame presser after the loss to Wazzu last week. He expects Washington, coming off a loss at Stanford that essentially buried any hope of a return to the CFP, to be an “angry, angry football team.” Which could spell trouble for the Utes, who enter the game undermanned due to injury and on the heels of a seven-turnover performance against the Cougars last weekend.
3. Which offense shows up? Utah seemed to put the month of October behind itself in the rout of UCLA two weeks ago, seeing the return-to-form of quarterback Tyler Huntley and a career-high night from running back Zack Moss. But that was against one of the worst defenses in college football. The Utes were overwhelmed by their own mistakes against Wazzu, putting the Cougars on short fields throughout the evening. The topic of the offense has, yet again, been the storyline of the season for Utah. It’s a new offense, with a new offensive coordinator, yet the same, similar problems are plaguing the Utes. Red-zone troubles have been an issue, the third-down conversion rates are troublesome and the lack of a consistent rushing attack allows defenses to focus on stopping Huntley.
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