Huskies coach Chris Petersen: Alabama ‘beat us at our own game’
Dec 31, 2016, 6:11 PM | Updated: 6:12 pm
Jake Browning was sacked five times by Alabama in Washington's 24-7 Peach Bowl loss. (AP)
(AP)
The Washington Huskies built a reputation in 2016 for playing suffocating defense and winning the turnover battle.
In the national semifinal Peach Bowl on Saturday in Atlanta, No. 1 Alabama turned the tables on the fourth-ranked Dawgs.
It was the Crimson Tide’s defense, and the two key offensive turnovers by Washington that it capitalized on in the first half, that were the story of the Huskies’ 24-7 loss.
Huskies fall to Tide in Peach Bowl | 710’s reaction | Photos
“They beat us with our own game,” Washington head coach Chris Petersen said. “They got the two turnovers … 10 points right there that we gave them. When you’re playing this type of game, when the margin for error is that small, those things are going to show up.”
They certainly did.
The two turnovers in the first half, a pick-six by Ryan Anderson off a poor decision by UW quarterback Jake Browning and a John Ross fumble – or more accurately a heads-up strip of the ball by Alabama cornerback Anthony Averett – that led to a Tide field goal, put Washington in a 10-point hole that seemed insurmountable because of Alabama’s ability on defense.
Washington’s offense had just one drive that could considered successful, its second of the game. At that point, things were looking quite rosy for the Pac-12 champions. The Huskies jumped out to an initial 7-0 lead on the Tide thanks to a good field position, a 20-yard screen pass to tailback Myles Gaskin, and Jake Browning’s perfectly-placed 16-yard touchdown to a streaking Dante Pettis in the corner of the end zone.
That was the last time the Huskies would even sniff the red zone, though.
Alabama’s defense limited Washington to just 44 yards rushing and a paltry 1.5 yards per carry. Taking to the air wasn’t all that much more productive, either, with Browning totaling only 150 yards while being picked off twice, although the second came late in the fourth quarter with the outcome pretty much settled. Not helping matters were five sacks of Browning by the Tide’s pass rush.
Alabama came into the Peach Bowl regarded as having not just the best defense in college football this year, but perhaps of this era. Limiting Washington, which entered the game fourth in the nation in scoring offense at 44.5 points per game, to just seven points only bolstered Bama’s case.
“They kind of are what we thought they were,” Petersen said of the Tide. “Really, really elite championship defense and, you know, good players across the board.”
Even though the season is over for the 12-2 Huskies, Petersen made it clear that his team was ready to use its first foray in the College Football Playoff as a learning experience.
“It was disappointing we didn’t move the ball better. We’ve studied every snap that they’ve had this year and the tape doesn’t lie when you watch that much tape,” Petersen said when asked if Washington’s offensive performance was disconcerting. “I mean, that’s as good a defense as there is out there in college football, and they played like it. Would we have liked to have moved of the ball better, and do we think we could have? We’ll put the tape on.
“There’s always stuff that you think you can do better.”
