TOP 25 TAKEAWAYS: Big 12 in big trouble, Washington prevails

WASHINGTON: The Huskies are likely to remain No. 4 unless No. 3 Clemson loses to No. 12 Florida State on Saturday night.

“I was kind of scared, because I knew if I lost five yards and got tackled right there, Coach Pete would have been pretty mad”, Pettis said. “I somehow slipped out of that”. “Disappointing. I thought we’d have a little more poise than that”. There appeared to be some missed blocks in the back during the decisive return, but regardless, Utah could not get the job done. That’s when Pettis was able to return the punt and take it to the house in incredible fashion. Since Troy Williams was facing his former team, head coach Kyle Whittingham hoped he wouldn’t let it distract him.

After trailing 17-7 midway through the third quarter, Louisville (7-1, 5-1 in the ACC) reeled off 17 straight points to take a 24-17 lead in the fourth quarter. “It’s easy to focus on the one”. “We fought for four (quarters)”. Part of the game I guess. “He’s a weapon and we could get nothing”.

Browning also tossed his third interception, a poor throw in the second quarter that Utah’s Chase Hansen returned 31 yards to the UW 19.

Ultimately, Pettis came up with the special teams play to win what was a physical game in which the Huskies’ Myles Gaskin ran for 151 yards and Utah’s Joe Williams – in his third game back from retirement – ran for 172 yards and the teams were fairly even: Washington had 385 total yards; Utah had 376. Williams posted a school-record 332 yards rushing last week and Utah had a combined 635 rushing yards the last two games.

The teams went back and forth until the Trojans scored their second set point at 31-30 on a tool-shot kill by Lanier. It wan’t a flawless game by the defense, but they only allowed 24 points to a very good Washington offense and held UW to their worst offensive performance of the season. Andy Phillips made a last second field goal to make the score 14-10. It was an unusually quiet afternoon for a guy who was coming off back-to-back 100-yard games, but when the Huskies needed a big play to break a closely contested game, Pettis answered the bell.

Saturday was the first time in more than a month that the outcome of a Washington game was seriously in doubt in the fourth quarter. The best I’ve seen. They’ll absolutely have to play their best game of the season to have a chance against a high-powered Washington squad.

Kirk Herbstreit started things off with by going against the home crowd and picking the Huskies.

Williams quit the squad after the second game of the season but Utah kept losing running backs and offensive coordinator Dennis Erickson placed the call that led to Williams’ return and he has gained 511 yards in the two ensuing games.

“This is how it goes”, Petersen said. “At the dnd of the day, it’s not personal. We had really controlled the field position with (Wishnowsky) and the punting game up until that last punt”. “I think that’s going to give us some confidence down the road when we have to do another hard situation”. Still, the Pac-12 has not produced an undefeated conference champion since 2010 and no title-winner other than the Ducks or the Cardinal since 2009. If the Utes beat Arizona State, Oregon and Colorado in their final three games, they will win the division and could face Washington again in the Pac-12 championship game.