Afte Utah diced up the Washington defense for 238 passing yard in the first half alone from quarterback Bryson Barnes — a career high — with a pair of touchdown passes, it was evident the Huskies needed to make changes at halftime.

Sixth-year senior linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio rallied the players around him while the co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell made a few schematic adjustments to thwart the Utes offense in the second half.

It all worked as the UW held the visitors to 76 yards total offense, 29 passing, in the second half.

“I think the staff did a nice job,” UW coach Kalen DeBoer said after the game. “Just really trying to narrow it down and get the guys back to where they’re confident and getting out there very quickly, and you saw that happen in the third quarter.”

UW gave up 162 passing yards on just three plays in the first half, one of which, a simple screen pass that Sione Vaki took 53 yards for a touchdown, gave Utah the lead back at 21-17 with 5:59 remaining in the first half.

In the final 30 minutes at Husky Stadium the Utes had just one play that went over 20 yards, a 23-yard completion to junior wide receiver Devaughn Vele against sophomore UW safety Vince Nunley.

The UW came up with a pair of interceptions in the second half, one from safety Dom Hampton to help close out the game and a 76-yarder from linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala that should have done so in the third quarter.

The junior made a perfect read to intercept a pass from Barnes and returned it one yard short of the end zone where he literally dropped the ball, possibly thinking he had scored.

As Tuputala celebrated his first career interception on the UW sideline with teammates, reality set in that he made an egregious mistake.

Before the Federal Way native crossed the goal line to make his pick-six count he let the football go from his hands at the Utah 2-yard line and it stopped dead on the 1.