Utes in the Pac-12 South driver’s seat as win at Washington pays a lot of dividends for Utah

Utah Utes defensive end Bradlee Anae (6) defends Washington Huskies wide receiver Andre Baccellia (5) in Seattle on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019. Utah won 33-28. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Utes climb to No. 8 in latest AP Top 25 poll and No. 9 in the coaches poll

SEATTLE — Utah moved up one notch in the national rankings this week. After Saturday’s 33-28 win at Washington, the Utes moved to No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 9 in the coaches poll.

However, more importantly, they’re now sitting all alone atop the Pac-12 South. The victory, coupled with Oregon’s 56-24 trouncing of USC, has Utah (8-1, 5-1) in prime position to earn a second consecutive berth in the conference championship game. The Utes have a bye this week before closing out the regular season with games against UCLA, Arizona and Colorado.

There were plenty of smiles in Seattle. Utah ended a four-game skid to Washington and avenged last year’s 10-3 setback for the conference crown.

“Everybody knows (Washington) is a heck of a team. It just came down to just sticking to the game plan and keep fighting.” — Utah cornerback Jaylon Johnson

“It’s up there. It was very, very satisfying,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. “Especially in the circumstances, coming up to their place and they’re coming off a bye.”

The Utes were 1-12 all-time against Washington entering the game.

Junior cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown on Saturday, noted that the Utes still have other goals to accomplish — such as a Pac-12 title and an appearance in the Rose Bowl. A College Football Playoff berth is also a possibility.

As such, Johnson referred to the win at Washington as just another step in the road. Well, sort of.

“Everybody knows (Washington) is a heck of a team,” Johnson said. “It just came down to just sticking to the game plan and keep fighting.”

It didn’t come easy, though. Utah got off to a sluggish start on both sides of the ball and trailed 14-3 at one point. The Utes didn’t take their first lead until the fourth quarter when Tyler Huntley scored on a 1-yard run. Zack Moss added what proved to be a necessary insurance touchdown on a 2-yard run with 4:52 remaining.

“No panic,” Huntley said. “We all talked among each other like we need to get on our stuff and that’s what we did.”

Utah converted on third downs — finishing 9 of 16 in such situations by game’s end — and finished with 399 yards of total offense. Huntley completed 19 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown. Moss ran for 100 yards and led the Utes with five receptions.

The contributions outweighed the loss of two fumbles by the offense. So, too, did three takeaways by the defense. Besides Johnson, Julian Blackmon also had a pick and Mika Tafua had a fumble recovery. Terrell Burgess made a team-high eight tackles, while Bradlee Anae and John Penisini recorded sacks.

Washington’s offense was only on the field for 25:26.

“The last two times we have played those guys, we got six turnovers to their two. We controlled the game with the clock. We knew that going in,” said Washington coach Chris Petersen. “They flipped the script on us. They controlled the clock. That is their game, and they did it better than us. Those turnovers really hurt us bad.”

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