The giant American flag hanging in the east end zone twisted and turned in every direction for most of four quarters. Small swells formed on Lake Washington. Players watching from the sideline pulled on heavy hooded coats to deal with the elements.

Welcome to the wind tunnel that was also known as Husky Stadium.

On Saturday afternoon, the place produced a game filled with plenty of turbulence followed by smooth sailing —that is, depending on which side you were on and when — and the University of Washington football team finally buckled in, rode out the bumps and touched down with a 35-28 victory over Utah.

The outcome permitted the fifth-ranked Huskies (10-0 overall, 7-0 Pac-12) to keep all postseason possibilities alive, such as the Pac-12 championship game and a College Football Playoff berth, with two games left in the regular season.

Again the Huskies, in winning their 17th consecutive game, were all about offense and not much in the way of defense at times, and they even made things much tougher on themselves by coming with a huge second-half turnover that inexplicably ended up in disaster.

In the third quarter with his team up 33-28, junior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala alertly stepped in front of a Bryson Barnes pass and rumbled 76 yards with a clear path to the end zone and a two-score lead — only to squander a sure touchdown when he absentmindedly thought he had scored and let go of the ball on the 1 for a fumble.

“It’s a little hard,” fellow UW linebacker Carson Bruener said. “He’s definitely going to feel it for a little bit. I talked to him earlier and he said, ‘I dreamed of this scenario to get a pick-6,’ and he had it in the bag. It’s a football game. Things happen.”

As was the tenor of this outing, Bruener broke through to drop Utah running back Ja’Quinden Jackson for a safety on the very next play and provide the final margin. So the Huskies at least got two of the potential six points back.

The Huskies finally overcame their own foibles and a very determined team from Salt Lake City (7-3, 4-3), outlasting the Utes like they did their previous six opponents, all by 10 points or fewer.