Ouch, that hurt: 3 thoughts as No. 20 BYU is thumped 35-7 by No. 11 Washington

SEATTLE — After two weeks of dreaming in the Associated Press Top 25, the 20th-ranked BYU football team came crashing back down to Earth with a 35-7 loss at No. 11 Washington Saturday night.

Tanner Mangum threw for 160 yards on a fairly efficient night passing the ball, but the Huskies held the Cougars (3-2) to just 194 yards of total offense in the team’s biggest win over the year by national ranking.

Here are three thoughts from the Cougars’ near-shutout loss to the 11th-ranked Huskies.

Washington is a great team

Head coach Kalani Sitake addressed it multiple times Saturday night, so let’s start with the obvious: Washington is a really good team.

The Huskies averaged 27.2 points per game while holding opponents to just 12.6 in the first month of the season, and those numbers will go down after Saturday.

This is a team that already has the program’s all-time leading passer in Jake Browning, who has accounted for 100 touchdowns in his four-year Husky career, and will likely also have the school’s all-time leading rusher in Myles Gaskin playing on the same team. Favorites to win the Pac-12 North and the conference, the Huskies will be a tough out for the remainder of the season — but weird things can happen with a conference slate that includes games against Stanford, at Oregon and on the road against rival Washington State in the final week of the regular season.

Still, the Huskies are likely to be betting favorites for the remainder of their schedule — and for good reason.

“As a team, we made way too many mistakes to even have a chance in this game,” Sitake said. “Washington is a great team, and you can’t give great teams that many opportunities, or what happened tonight will happen. Otherwise, they got rolling and we were on our heels the entire game. That’s what great teams do when you make mistakes.”

After Saturday night’s win, the Huskies completed a 2-for-2 sweep of schools from the Beehive State, following up on a 21-7 win at Utah back on Sept. 15.

Was BYU ready for the Top 25? That will be long debated. But the Cougars’ resume stacked up well with most any team on the fringes of the Associated Press’ rankings, including a pair of Power Five wins as one of just four teams nationally to play three-straight P5 opponents to open the season.

Penalties, penalties, penalties

Before we begin, let’s be clear: there is no shame in losing to Washington, a team ranked No. 11 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 that is more likely a top-10 team nationally — and BYU didn’t measure up to that lofty standard.

But the Cougars also didn’t help themselves.

BYU fumbled the ball three times (losing one), committed seven penalties for a loss of 50 yards and botched its only red-zone attempt that led to a missed 45-yard field goal — and that was just the first half en route to trailing 21-0.

Losing is never easy. But losing by a large result of self-inflicted wounds is even more difficult to swallow.

“It was just a bunch of mistakes that happened at the worst timing,” Sitake said. “We’ll go back, try to fix it and get better. I felt really comfortable with our preparation and what we did all week. I think they just beat us, and we didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

Of particular interest to the Cougars were penalties on the offensive line. A group that pushed around Wisconsin in Camp Randall Stadium and helped the Cougars rush for 156.5 yards per game in the first four games of the season (on par with Washington’s 160.0) was held to just 34 net yards on the ground.

“It just comes down to us concentrating; focus and discipline,” Mangum said. “We didn’t have it. It’s frustrating, because that’s not who we are. We pride ourselves on being smart, taking care of the football, and not killing ourselves with penalties. We didn’t do that.”

Tanner Mangum is not the problem

BYU’s much-maligned passing game played safe and cautious against the Huskies, which is to be expected against a secondary that could feature as many as four top-flight NFL draft picks next April.

That’s not a comfort to a lot of fans, many of whom have been calling for quarterback Tanner Mangum to be replaced by one of his backups, including true freshman Zach Wilson.

But Mangum was not the problem Saturday evening in the Pacific Northwest.

Mangum was a perfect 7-of-7 passing in the first quarter for 86 yards, including a well-executed pitch-and-run to tight end Matt Bushman. With the small sample size, he held a QB rating of 203.2 in the opening period.

In fact, both quarterbacks had good days early — Browning completed his first seven passes for 113 yards, then deferred to a pair of running backs to finish for two first-half scores.

Mangum finished with 160 yards on an efficient 18-of-21 passing.

He even led two long drives in the first half before being removed from scoring range — by penalties and miscues.

“It showed what we are capable of, gave us confidence, and showed that we can move the ball on these guys,” Mangum said. “But we weren’t able to string multiple drives like that together. We had some flashes, but weren’t consistent throughout the night.”

Extra: Lopini time

No offense intended for senior Squally Canada, who has been a stalwart running back at BYU since the day he transferred from Washington State, but former American Fork star Lopini Katoa is emerging as the Cougars’ featured back.

After the offense sputtered and the BYU defense spotted Washington a 28-0 lead, Katoa heard his number called often — and he answered the call with aplomb.

Katoa finished with a team-high 27 yards to lead BYU’s ground game, as well as 66 yards on seven catches to lead all receivers. Canada finished with 15 yards on seven carries.

“I think Lopini adds a different dynamic, as a pass catcher and a slot receiver,” Sitake said. “Squally’s more of a power running back.

“Lopini is probably more of an all-around back.”

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