Kalen DeBoer says unbeaten Washington is 'making our own breaks'
Kalen DeBoer earned win No. 100 on Saturday with a 35-28 victory over Utah. It moved the fifth-ranked Washington Huskies to 10-0 on the season — just the second 10-0 start in program history.
The other team to match an unbeaten start through 10 games won a national championship. Washington has a realistic shot of getting to the College Football Playoff and playing for another title if it keeps winning.
Some might balk at that notion — UW struggled with Arizona State and Stanford, gave up 42 to USC, and then managed a seven-point win over Utah — but DeBoer has been preaching all season that this team just finds a way.
“You make your own breaks,” DeBoer said after the game. “The breaks don’t always go your way. It doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to be able to come through. But when you prepare hard and you continue to play and fight … that’s what happens.
“We just know that you’ve got to play four quarters, especially in the league right now. Every game’s gonna be a fistfight. It’s going to go down to the end. I’m just proud of the guys. That’s where we’re at right now, 10-0, just making our own breaks.”
Washington trailed 28-24 going into the second half. It gave up 21 points in a second quarter that saw the lead change hands five times.
Then in the second half, Washington shut the Utes down. The ground game fell out of rhythm, the offense sat on the sideline for long stretches, and UW dominated the ball.
Linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio gave an impassioned speech at halftime. DeBoer said coaches tried to instill some confidence in the group again. When UW came out of the locker room, DeBoer felt his team heard the message.
“That’s belief and trust in what we’re doing, both ways, coaches to players, players to coaches,” DeBoer said. “You feel it in the locker room. Once they regrouped, it was time to go back out there and have that 1-0 mindset we talk about. They executed, they did a better job at tackling, and made the plays. When we had a chance to get off the field on third down, we did that and it really showed up the entire second half.”