ATLANTA — There was so much stacked against the Washington Huskies here in their first College Football Playoff game, and here in the heart of SEC country.
Nothing down here is bigger or greater than Alabama football, and no one down here ever considered for a moment that the Huskies had any realistic chance at upsetting the nation’s No. 1 team in their national semifinal game.
So when Jake Browning threw a beautifully lofted pass to the far right corner of the end zone, and when Dante Pettis hauled it in for a touchdown early in the first quarter, there emerged hope of something as big and as great as anything in Washington football history.
The moment didn’t last. Eventually, Alabama (14-0) did what Alabama does, its body blows suffocating the Huskies in the second half of Saturday’s Peach Bowl.
Final score: No. 1 Alabama 24, No. 4 Washington 7.
The Huskies (12-2) gave it a good fight. UW’s defense did its part in a rugged effort, effectively shutting down Alabama’s true freshman quarterback, Jalen Hurts.
UW’s offense hung in there for most of the first half, even as Alabama’s defensive front — as massive and as intimidating as anything you’ll find in college football — stuffed UW’s rushing attack and stomped all over Browning.
The Huskies’ 7-0 lead, taken on Browning’s 16-yard pass to Pettis seven minutes in, didn’t last. Alabama’s bruising running back, Bo Scarbrough, powered in for an 18-yard TD to tie the score.
Twice in the first half, UW did what it absolutely could not do — turn the ball over. The Huskies had been better than anyone else in the FBS at turnover margin this season, at plus-21 coming into Saturday.
But John Ross III, the Huskies’ electric wide receiver, lost a fumble late in the first quarter, which set up an Alabama field goal to give the Crimson Tide a 10-7 lead.
Then, in the game’s most pivotal play, Alabama linebacker Ryan Anderson intercepted a poor pass from Browning and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown. With a chance to go into halftime trailing by just three points, the Huskies instead were down 17-7.
It was a back-breaking play.
The Huskies came out of the locker room and had no answers for their stalled offense in the second half.
UW’s defense whiffed on two prime chances at turnovers. Budda Baker dropped a potential interception on Hurts’ first throw of the game, and Psalm Wooching let a Hurts fumble slip through his hands in the third quarter.
From the start of the second quarter to the start of the fourth quarter, the Huskies ran 33 plays in eight drives and managed to gain just 47 yards — 1.4 yards per play over that stretch.
Browning completed 11 of his first 13 passes, finding running back Myles Gaskin on screen passes or check downs, but completed just 9 of 25 after that start.
Alabama fans made up three-quarters of the 75,996 in attendance — a Georgia Dome record — and they were at their loudest when Scarbrough broke a handful of tackles on his way to a 68-yard touchdown run, extending the Tide’s lead to 24-7 with 11:56 left in the fourth quarter.
That just about iced it for Alabama, which has won 26 games in a row and will play for its second straight national championship next week in Tampa, Fla.
