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SEATTLE — After trailing the Washington Huskies 21-8 early in the third quarter, the Utes began to finally gain some momentum Saturday night. John White's 20-yard touchdown run, his second of the night, capped a nine-play, 61-yard drive to cut it to a one-score game, 21-15, with 6:06 left in the third.
The Utah defense came out and got a big stop, forcing a Washington punt. The Utes were looking at the prospect of good field position with a chance to potentially retake the lead — until Charles Henderson couldn't handle a punt.
The ball went right through Henderson's hands, bouncing off his abdomen and onto the ground, where Washington's Jamaal Kearse pounced on it.
After Utah worked so hard to change the momentum of the game in a hostile environment, it all tumbled to the ground with Henderson's botched attempt to field the punt.
The Huskies were set at the Utah 46-yard line, and with a renewed energy, scored five plays later.
The Utes were never quite the same after that self-inflicted dagger, letting Washington smack them around on offense and ram the ball right down their throats on defense. The Huskies took full advantage, cruising to a 34-15 victory to celebrate Senior Day.
“The play of the game, the biggest turning point in the entire game: We’re down 21-15 and we get a stop and we mishandle the punt on special teams and turned the ball over and never recovered," said Ute coach Kyle Whittingham. "So instead of having all the momentum and the ball somewhere in the third quarter down 21-15, we turn the ball over and they capitalized on it and — like I said — couldn’t recover from it.”
Utah's passing game struggled all game, compiling only 55 yards behind true freshman Travis Wilson. White had a solid night on the ground, running for 142 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough to make up for a poor game in the air.
"Our throw game was abysmal," said Whittingham.
The Utes find their backs against the wall even more so than they were before, needing wins in each of their final two games in order to clinch bowl eligibility. They will host Arizona next Saturday before playing at Colorado to close out the regular season.
Tyson Maddy has covered University of Utah athletics as a contributing writer for KSL.com Sports since 2011.
