Washington jumped out to an early 14-0 lead on the road and kept Arizona (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) at arm’s length the rest of the way for a 31-24 victory to stay unbeaten on the season.

The Wildcats had a gameplan to try and keep the Husky offense in check — something no one else had been able to do yet. They stuck to it, and made things more uncomfortable for UW than anyone else had. This was a Washington team that hadn’t yet played a competitive game into the fourth quarter this season. Arizona tightened the screws a bit in the fourth quarter and made UW work for it.

Still, the Washington offense was too much and helped the seventh-ranked Huskies (5-0) to their second Pac-12 win of the season.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Penix dominates with a different kind of game

Wind and Arizona’s “dollar” package forced Washington to play a different kind of ball. The explosive, bomb-it-deep passing attack had to change, but it did and Michael Penix Jr. still managed an outstanding game.

Arizona played with seven defensive backs on the field, daring Washington to either run the football into a light box or take the underneath options in the passing game. Dillon Johnson ran it 16 times. The ground game had 24 carries. Instead, UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb called for a smattering of throws to the flats.

Penix finished with 363 yards on 30-of-40 passing. He was held without a passing touchdown for the first time this season, and the downfield game wasn’t there. UW had only one pass play of more than 24 yards. The Huskies had 26 such plays through the first four games.

And yet Penix still managed to lead the Huskies to nearly 500 yards of offense.

Germie Bernard had eight catches for 98 yards. Rome Odunze had five catches for 64 yards. Nine different receivers caught a pass.

Penix once again played the role of point guard in an offense just stuffed with skill talent, but this time rather than lobbing alley-oops all night, he just kicked to open spot-up shooters.

Arizona was the first team all season to hold Washington under 40 points. So, I guess the gameplan worked? The Wildcats still lost.

This Husky offense just makes it tough on teams. Few have the defensive back talent to match up one-on-one across the board. If you sit back, Penix picks you apart. If you come after him, you won’t get to him and you’ll be left exposed.

Noah Fifita makes his case

Arizona was without starting quarterback Jayden de Laura on Saturday. Knocked out in the second half a week ago, de Laura was deemed a gametime decision coming into the game. He ended up unavailable, and Arizona started Fifita for the first time.

Undersized, but obviously talented, Fifita had his moments. He finished with 232 yards and three touchdowns on 27-for-39 passing. he connected with wideout Tetairoa McMillan six times for 45 yards and two scores.

Fifita threw an interception early in the fourth quarter that ended up being harmless — UW fumbled it right back to the Wildcats — and he almost threw a second one late in the fourth quarter.

He also led an 11-play, 90-yard scoring drive to bring the UA within seven points as the clock ticked under two minutes to play.

Facing a top-10 team in your first career start sort of skews the evaluation. Fifita’s interception trying to shovel the ball to Tanner McLachlan was a classic young guy move. Washington jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter and that surely put the pressure on Arizona.

The schedule also doesn’t get any easier from here on out for Arizona. The Wildcats could be looking at four consecutive weeks against top-20 opponents.

But Fifita didn’t play Arizona out of the football game. Given the quality of the defense and the ability of the playmakers around him on offense, that might be good enough.

Coach Jedd Fisch has a decision to make at the quarterback spot. It didn’t get any easier on Saturday.

Pac-12 title preview?

Washington survived a natural lookahead spot. The Huskies head home with a perfect 5-0 record.

That sets up a top-10 showdown in Seattle in two weeks.

Unbeaten Oregon.

Unblemished Washington.

The game will absolutely carry implications for the Pac-12 championship game. It’s entirely possible the Ducks and Huskies meet for a rematch in the Pac-12 title game. Given the starts, the College Football Playoff selection committee will be paying close attention to the game as well.

Both teams will be coming off a bye week. It could be one of the best games of the season in all of college football.