No. 22 Washington Blows Out Turnover Prone BYU

PROVO, Utah – On a day where BYU was paying tribute to Cougar football teams of the past with a “throwback day,” Saturday’s game against No. 22 Washington was a throwback to last year’s matchup.

Like last season in Seattle, the Huskies on Saturday cruised to a dominating 45-19 win over an injured BYU team in front of an announced crowd of 62,117 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Washington set the tone early moving down the field on their first drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Eason to a wide-open Richard Newton for a 17-yard reception. Every week in 2019, BYU’s defense has given up an opening drive score to their opposition.

That's how you get it started 👊

Dawgs lead 7-0.#PurpleReign pic.twitter.com/HTA94fnVUV

— Washington Football (@UW_Football) September 21, 2019

BYU tacked on a field goal after the Cougar offense moved into Washington territory on their opening offensive series. Then the floodgates started to open for the Huskies.

Eason found Aaron Fuller on another 17-yard touchdown reception to build the lead up to 14-3.

BYU’s next offensive series saw the Cougars commit a devastating turnover. Zach Wilson fumbled the football and Husky linebacker Brandon Wellington scooped up the fumble and took it to the house for a 69-yard touchdown.

Three of BYU’s four turnovers this year have resulted in pick 6’s or scoop and score’s. Can #BYU’s defense force a takeaway today?#UWvsBYU #KSLsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) September 21, 2019

The Cougars cut the deficit to 12 heading into the halftime locker room, but the morale in the stadium almost felt that BYU was down by 40 rather than just 12.

BYU lost running back Ty’Son Williams due to an undisclosed injury in the first half and the Cougars ground attack was not as explosive without Williams in the second half.

Just heard on @kslnewsradio: #BYU RB Ty’Son Williams is OUT for the remainder of the game with an undisclosed injury.

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 21, 2019

Early in the second half, Washington jumped on BYU to crush any hopes of a comeback by scoring 21 unanswered to have a 33-point lead.

In BYU’s previous two games, the Cougars didn’t cough up the football once. On Saturday, BYU gave up the ball three times.

The Cougars scored a touchdown late in the third quarter on a pass from Zach Wilson to Matt Bushman that was set up by a Max Tooley interception.

But in the end, the coaching and schemes from Chris Petersen and the Huskies were too much for an injured and turnover-prone BYU team that concludes their gauntlet of a four-game stretch against Power Five teams 2-2.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.