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Red Wolves belted by hungry Huskies

Arkansas State wide receiver Te’Vailance Hunt (left) can’t come up with the catch on a pass thrown by quarterback James Blackman as Washington defensive back Trent McDuffie defends in the first half Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium in Seattle. More photos are available at arkansasonline.com/919asuwu/
(AP/Elaine Thompson)
Arkansas State wide receiver Te’Vailance Hunt (left) can’t come up with the catch on a pass thrown by quarterback James Blackman as Washington defensive back Trent McDuffie defends in the first half Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium in Seattle. More photos are available at arkansasonline.com/919asuwu/ (AP/Elaine Thompson)

SEATTLE -- Hurt. One could see it in Coach Butch Jones' face as he stood outside Arkansas State's locker room late Saturday evening.

It wasn't so much the result itself, a 52-3 road beating from a Washington team that had scored just 17 points in its first two games.

Rather, it was the myriad mistakes and lack of effort that led to such a lopsided outcome which left the Red Wolves downtrodden as they trudged out into the rain and onto their buses for a long trip back to Jonesboro.

"I know [Coach] may feel embarrassed because that's how I feel right now," safety Elery Alexander said. "Because that's not the team we are."

The Huskies dominated ASU on both sides at Husky Stadium, piling up 598 total yards while keeping the Red Wolves' offense in check. ASU failed to score a touchdown after averaging 45 points through its first two games and quarterback James Blackman never found a rhythm, completing 16 of 38 pass attempts for 176 yards.

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"When you play a team like that, every dropped pass is magnified, every missed block is magnified," Jones said. "Our players have to understand the expectations in the standard of performance each and every time -- not just on game day but in practice and every day. That starts with me."

After the teams traded punts to start, Washington (1-2) marched down the field, with redshirt sophomore Dylan Morris picking his way through the Red Wolf secondary. Yet when ASU (1-2) stuffed the Huskies on a third and 2 in the red zone, it looked like Washington was going to come away with less than a touchdown.

Coach Jimmy Lake decided to keep his offense on the field, though, and the hosts seized on a coverage breakdown as tight end Cade Otton leaked into the back corner of the end zone uncovered for a 13-yard touchdown reception.

The Huskies then scored on their next three drives, going at least 70 yards in less than four minutes each time as they turned 7-0 into 28-0, and in just 20 minutes, Washington was well on its way to a stress-free win.

"Our discipline went out the window," Alexander said of the Red Wolves' defense. "We had critical errors when we needed to make big plays. ... When you continue to make mistakes, mistakes, mistakes, they end up with nothing but six points."

ASU's errors weren't solely on the defensive side.

The Red Wolves drove into the Husky red zone on their first series after Washington's opening score only for Blake Grupe to push his 34-yard field goal attempt wide left. ASU never was able to establish a run game, managing a mere 48 yards on 23 carries.

And when the Red Wolves got chances to push the ball downfield, the quarterback-receiver connection that was impressive through ASU's first two games -- regardless of who was throwing the football -- seemed off. Blackman was often either long or wide of his targets, and when he did hit his receivers in the hands, it turned into a drop far too often for the Red Wolves' liking.

Jones went so far as to say that he considered dropped passes to be turnovers.

"I feel like we're a really good football team and we came into this game today expecting to win," running back Lincoln Pare said. "We've got to give more effort. We say our conditioning's better and our effort's better, but we've got to stop talking and really show it."

Trailing 28-0 at halftime and having surrendered 388 yards -- more than the Huskies totaled in either of their two losses -- ASU punted on its first two drives of the third quarter before finally scoring after a Washington fumble inside their own 30.

Still, it was only a short field goal by Grupe that gave the Red Wolves their lone score.

In addition to their fourth-down conversion, the Huskies finished the game 8 of 14 on third down and scored on all five of their red-zone trips. Conversely, ASU went 5 of 18 on third down and turned the ball over three times.

The latter two were committed by Layne Hatcher, who relieved Blackman in the final 10 minutes. He completed 6 of his 11 passes for 44 yards while also fumbling to give Washington its final score, a 72-yard scoop-and-score by linebacker Bralen Trice to cap an ugly showing from the Red Wolves.

"When you look at it all, it's not just one component right now. It's a combination of small things that are correctable and we have to continue to grind" Jones said. "There probably are not a lot of positive things to build on, but sometimes you can learn more through failure than success.

"All of us, it's a character check right now, and [we'll] see what type of pride in details and pride in performance that we have."

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