Washington survives Utah's latest bid to play CFP spoiler

SEATTLE — One trademark of Kyle Whittingham's teams in the latter stages of their Pac-12 tenure has been to not only make Utah a consistently difficult opponent but to actively contribute to the league's inability to place a team in the College Football Playoff due to the number of upsets they pull off of highly ranked teams.

For a half on Saturday, it looked like the Utes were in that same, familiar position — primed to give the CFP Selection Committee an opening to drop the Pac-12's undefeated favorites from Washington out of their rankings next week. At the same time, Utah could keep its own hopes of a third consecutive conference title alive by backing into another trip to Las Vegas.

Alas, this year's banged-up and battered group is not the same, and showed that. For as good as the team has been in the recent past, it is not capable of playing four quarters with one of the Pac-12's best. 

The flip side is that Washington, after a half of going through the motions on a chilly overcast day, reasserted that it is the team to beat in the Pacific Northwest by gutting through a tough 35-28 win at Husky Stadium that said plenty about their capability to keep winning despite not having their best effort for all 60 minutes.

It was a football game that was a tale of two halves, with the latter of the two spelling out how the home side's 16-game win streak was able to extend by one more at the same time that the reigning Pac-12 champions may have passed the baton to the group who were reiterating they were ready to take it.

A few other thoughts from Washington's victory over Utah:

Play of the game

The Pac-12 is no stranger to having players inexplicably drop the football short of the end zone when going in for an easy six points. In fact, the most bone-headed of all bone-headed plays was practically invented out West — at the very least it was taken to the big time given the number of famous alumni like Cal's DeSean Jackson who have made it more common than any football coach would like.

Yet what transpired near the end of the third quarter might well occupy a spot in the pantheon of such plays, destined to be replayed countless times from coast to coast as the peak example of what not to do when trying to cross the goal line.

First you have to start with Utes QB Bryson Barnes, who returned to the field for a first-and-20 in the red zone one play after getting the wind knocked out of him on a previous roughing the passer penalty. He dropped back, had pressure in his face, and forced a throw that was tipped into the hands of Alphonzo Tuputala, who weaved his way down the field to presumed pay dirt given the amount of open space between him and the closed end of Husky Stadium. 

Yet for reasons known only to Tuputala, he just … dropped the ball. And not just as he was crossing the goal line or inches beforehand — but a good 3-plus yards short of the white stripe every defensive player dreams of crossing. Utah's Michael Mokofisi smartly jumped on the ball to give the team possession back with a fresh set of downs. 

Thankfully for Tuputala, tailback Ja'Quinden Jackson took a safety on the very next play, getting met in the end zone by Tuli Letuligasenoa, but that was a wild journey that ended up costing the Huskies five points in the end.

Turning point

While neither team is any stranger to playing in the elements, it may well have been the arrival of a light misting of rain just as the second half got underway. Both teams punted almost immediately as the heaviest drizzle rolled through Montlake — a marked change after the eight consecutive scoring drives during a thrilling stretch in the first half — but it was like Washington woke up to the fact that it was a College Football Playoff contender at the same time that Utah's budding injury crisis on both sides of the ball reappeared. The Huskies wound up scoring three times in the 15-minute stretch, including a beautiful connection from Penix to Rome Odunze from 33 yards out to re-take the lead for good.

Key stat

Penix, the nation's leading passer coming in, completed just 57.1% of his passes on the day — far below his average of 69.4% coming into the game. He sailed a number of passes high, with the wind gusting upwards of 20 miles an hour at times. Still, he managed to end up with 332 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions as his Heisman chase continues.

What's next for Washington?

The Huskies can clinch an appearance in the Pac-12 Championship Game next week as they begin a closing stretch against a pair of Pacific Northwest rivals who also happen to be the league's two remaining teams sticking around for 2024. First up is a tricky test in Corvallis against an Oregon State side ranked in the top 15 and has former Husky offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith featuring one of the most balanced and all-around competitive teams on the West Coast. Get past that one and Washington will be able to eye the trip to Vegas which comes after what will be an emotional final Apple Cup against their in-state rival Washington State. 

What's next for Utah?

Whittingham's side will make a brief connection back in Salt Lake City before taking another road trip to Arizona next Saturday. The Wildcats, which just made the College Football Playoff Selection Committee's Top 25, will be a regular fixture on the future Big 12 schedule for the Utes, but present a tough challenge down in the desert as they try to reach nine wins for the first time in nearly a decade. It doesn't help that linebacker Sione Fotu will miss the first half of that game after being ejected for targeting in the third quarter against Washington — making a thin position even thinner for the Utes.  

Bryan Fischer is a college football writer for FOX Sports. He has been covering college athletics for nearly two decades at outlets such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and NFL.com among others. Follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.