Huskies, Price overwhelmed by LSU 41-3
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Keith Price had barely completed his drop-back on a third-and-long play when he was planted face first into the Tiger Stadium turf by blitzing safety Micah Eugene.
Normally a good scrambler, and one of the most prolific passers to play for the Huskies, Price had a hard time mounting much against a defense with as much speed and power as that of third-ranked LSU.
He completed 17 of 36 for 157 yards, was sacked four times and intercepted once in a 41-3 loss to the Tigers on Saturday night.
"They are definitely the best defensive line I have ever seen," said Washington tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, one of few productive players for the Huskies with team-high six catches for 51 yards.
Washington, looking somewhat jittery under LSU's constant pressure, committed 11 penalties, dropped passes and blew assignments.
That allowed LSU to quickly build a double-digit lead, and Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian figured his team would be in for a long night.
"That's when they can lean on you in the running game and wear you down, and then start rushing the passer, which they do so well," he said of LSU. "We have to try to find our identity offensively, what we're going to be on the offensive side of the ball so that we can find some continuity as a unit. Obviously it was tough for us to get that tonight."
Never was that more apparent than on a fourth-down play when Price scrambled to his right and forced a short pass into tight coverage, resulting in LSU freshman cornerback Jalen Mills' first-career interception.
"I felt the pressure and tried to get out a couple times, and you see I threw a pick trying to do too much," Price said. "We didn't throw the ball well and we didn't run the ball well. We've just got to fix it next week and move forward."
The problems Washington's offense had moving the ball were compounded by LSU's ability to run practically at will.
Alfred Blue rushed for 101 yards, including a 21-yard score, and LSU (2-0) racked up 242 yards on the ground.
"All this week in practice the coaching staff was talking about how we need to be physical, especially up front," Blue said. "I had the mindset from that first play to come out and be a dominant runner tonight. Fortunately enough, thanks to a great offensive line up front, I was able to do that."
Kenny Hilliard added a pair of short touchdowns and fullback J.C. Copeland pounded through the pile for another score for LSU, which basically ran at will while averaging nearly 5 yards per carry.
"Their running backs are big, hard runners, hard to tackle," Washington defensive tackle Danny Shelton said.
LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger was 12 of 18 for 195 yards, including a 32-yard scoring pass to Kadron Boone. James Wright caught five passes for 75 yards.
LSU has won 39 straight against non-conference opponents in the regular season, tying a Football Bowl Subdivision record first set by Kansas State. Next weekend, the Tigers play Idaho, another non-conference opponent, and the game is at home, where LSU has won 19 straight.
Washington managed only 183 total yards, including only 26 on the ground. LSU had 437 yards and dominated time of possession, 33:39 to 26:21.
Only four of the Huskies' 12 drives ended in LSU territory, and the only scoring drive started on the LSU 20-yard line, where Odell Beckham Jr. fumbled the opening kickoff.
The Huskies were close to converting the turnover into a touchdown, but Jaydon Mickens bobbled a catch as he went out of bounds on the left side of the end zone, forcing Washington to settle for Travis Coons' 34-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
"We had a couple opportunities I thought early in the game that maybe could have changed the complexion of it," Sarkisian said. "We just weren't able to execute against a team like this."
LSU went ahead 14-3 on Copeland's 1-yard burst through the line, capping a seven-play, 47-yard drive consisting only of running plays.
The Tigers led 20-3 at halftime after a pair of Drew Alleman field goals, and were even more dominant in the second half as they pulled away.
The pounding took a toll on the Huskies. Sarkisian said offensive lineman Erik Kholer aggravated a kneecap injury from training camp, safety Travis Feeney hurt his shoulder, Mickens sprained his toe, defensive end Talia Crichton had a concussion and receiver Kevin Smith left the game with knee soreness.
Normally a good scrambler, and one of the most prolific passers to play for the Huskies, Price had a hard time mounting much against a defense with as much speed and power as that of third-ranked LSU.
He completed 17 of 36 for 157 yards, was sacked four times and intercepted once in a 41-3 loss to the Tigers on Saturday night.
"They are definitely the best defensive line I have ever seen," said Washington tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, one of few productive players for the Huskies with team-high six catches for 51 yards.
Washington, looking somewhat jittery under LSU's constant pressure, committed 11 penalties, dropped passes and blew assignments.
That allowed LSU to quickly build a double-digit lead, and Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian figured his team would be in for a long night.
"That's when they can lean on you in the running game and wear you down, and then start rushing the passer, which they do so well," he said of LSU. "We have to try to find our identity offensively, what we're going to be on the offensive side of the ball so that we can find some continuity as a unit. Obviously it was tough for us to get that tonight."
Never was that more apparent than on a fourth-down play when Price scrambled to his right and forced a short pass into tight coverage, resulting in LSU freshman cornerback Jalen Mills' first-career interception.
"I felt the pressure and tried to get out a couple times, and you see I threw a pick trying to do too much," Price said. "We didn't throw the ball well and we didn't run the ball well. We've just got to fix it next week and move forward."
The problems Washington's offense had moving the ball were compounded by LSU's ability to run practically at will.
Alfred Blue rushed for 101 yards, including a 21-yard score, and LSU (2-0) racked up 242 yards on the ground.
"All this week in practice the coaching staff was talking about how we need to be physical, especially up front," Blue said. "I had the mindset from that first play to come out and be a dominant runner tonight. Fortunately enough, thanks to a great offensive line up front, I was able to do that."
Kenny Hilliard added a pair of short touchdowns and fullback J.C. Copeland pounded through the pile for another score for LSU, which basically ran at will while averaging nearly 5 yards per carry.
"Their running backs are big, hard runners, hard to tackle," Washington defensive tackle Danny Shelton said.
LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger was 12 of 18 for 195 yards, including a 32-yard scoring pass to Kadron Boone. James Wright caught five passes for 75 yards.
LSU has won 39 straight against non-conference opponents in the regular season, tying a Football Bowl Subdivision record first set by Kansas State. Next weekend, the Tigers play Idaho, another non-conference opponent, and the game is at home, where LSU has won 19 straight.
Washington managed only 183 total yards, including only 26 on the ground. LSU had 437 yards and dominated time of possession, 33:39 to 26:21.
Only four of the Huskies' 12 drives ended in LSU territory, and the only scoring drive started on the LSU 20-yard line, where Odell Beckham Jr. fumbled the opening kickoff.
The Huskies were close to converting the turnover into a touchdown, but Jaydon Mickens bobbled a catch as he went out of bounds on the left side of the end zone, forcing Washington to settle for Travis Coons' 34-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
"We had a couple opportunities I thought early in the game that maybe could have changed the complexion of it," Sarkisian said. "We just weren't able to execute against a team like this."
LSU went ahead 14-3 on Copeland's 1-yard burst through the line, capping a seven-play, 47-yard drive consisting only of running plays.
The Tigers led 20-3 at halftime after a pair of Drew Alleman field goals, and were even more dominant in the second half as they pulled away.
The pounding took a toll on the Huskies. Sarkisian said offensive lineman Erik Kholer aggravated a kneecap injury from training camp, safety Travis Feeney hurt his shoulder, Mickens sprained his toe, defensive end Talia Crichton had a concussion and receiver Kevin Smith left the game with knee soreness.
Maybe poor WA can beat up on some nobody this week.
Well, LSU WAS in the BCS Championship game just this year, and looked like it. Â Figured we'd have our head handed to us. Â I think with so much TV money being spread around there are many more schools competing for talent than, say, in the James era. Now OSU, Oregon, Stanford, one of the Arizona's, and of course USC can be counted on to put up a heck of a fight each year. Â Used to be if we could get by USC, we were good for at least a 7-win season. And with so-so recruits (24th this year?), playing really top schools like LSU will provide a long afternoon. Â Or night.
LSU annihilated UW. I'm not sure if it was that LSU was so good compared to the dawgs or if the dawgs stink that bad. Hard to tell. It may be a long season for UW. UW athletes paled in comparison to LSU's. No contest! It was over in the first quarter.Â
 @HallandOates They stink.
Even though it's LSU, you have to be concerned when they can't put up more than a measly field goal. Keith Price for Heisman, yeah right.
Ouch. Crushed is more like it.
Overwhelmed... that hardly describes it. Â I'd say it was more like TRASHED.
The injuries to the O-line and Callier really hurt us tonight, but to be honest, I thought LSU was just a dominant team, carrying over their success from last year into this season. Very tough D!
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This will be another (sigh) learning experience - I just hope at some point the Dawgs can show us what they've learned by winning some games against quality opponents.
YAY! (GO COUGS!)
 @EMDF9A Dude we barely beat a crappy FCS team so calm down a little.Â
@CougsBravesPackersSounders @EMDF9A hmmmm, do you mean the same "crappy FCS" team that lost by just three points to the, bowl-bound, Hussies last year? Do you realize the the Cougs have TWENTY freshmen and soph.s that are either starting or 2nd at their positions right now. so wake up a little !
@CougsBravesPackersSounders @EMDF9A Eastern's not acrappy FCS team. They are arguably the best FCS team.
Disheartening. I figured they would lose, but I thought the Dawgs would have put up more of a challenge than they did in this game. Looks like a lot of work to still do to return to the top of the PAC-12 and compete with Oregon and USC. Oh well, better luck next game.
 @UWGrad_96 More like better luck in 2014Â