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Utah quarterback Troy Williams dodged the Washington Huskies all day, but then they surrounded him at midfield and he stopped trying to run away.

More than a dozen former teammates took turns hugging, congratulating and encouraging Williams, and Washington coach Chris Petersen made a point of greeting him as he stood on the block "U" of the Rice-Eccles Stadium field. The Huskies were the ones who escaped Saturday afternoon, earning a 31-24 victory via a punt-return touchdown and a fourth-down stop after Williams had given the Utes a shot at winning with two touchdown passes in the second half.

His last pass sailed long on a fourth-and-15 play, so there would be no storybook ending for Williams' reunion with UW. Maybe he's saving it for the Pac-12 championship game in December.

"We'll see 'em again," Williams said three or four times in his postgame interview.

That could happen. The Utes (7-2) remain positioned to win the Pac-12 South title and do some other historic things this season, but taking down the unbeaten Huskies in October won't make the list.

Say this for Williams: After all of his talk about his Seattle experience and how he wanted to make a statement Saturday, he made this game memorable in multiple ways. Whether he was struggling in the first half or throwing a tying TD pass into a tiny window in the fourth quarter and then barking and gesturing toward the Husky sideline, he made this game fun to watch.

And then he stood on the field afterward and said the whole exercise was "nothing personal at all" — when that's exactly what it was.

The distinction is that Williams wanted to make Petersen and his staff regret not treating him better two seasons ago, by his version of those events. But he holds nothing in the way of grudges against his old teammates.

"Those are my brothers for life, just like these guys are my brothers for life," he said, sitting among three other Utes in the interview room.

So label this a battle of brothers, which evoked all kinds of emotions and brought out some of the best and worst stuff from Williams and his old friends, including former roommate Azeem Victor. The UW linebacker drew a key penalty for taunting Williams in the second quarter, then sacked him during the final drive. Later, Psalm Wooching was called for roughing the passer, extending the Utes' tying drive.

Petersen expected his team to "have a little more poise than that," he said.

The simplified account of Saturday's adventures is that Williams was unfocused and too high-strung to play effectively in the first half and then settled down and performed well in the second half, even if he said, "Nothing really changed."

Williams was "amped up," said Ute coach Kyle Whittingham, "but I don't think it was to the point of it affecting his play — at least, I didn't sense that, but I could be wrong."

Something happened between halves, anyway. Williams completed 2 of his first 11 passes — with a couple of drops and a few wild throws — and was 5 of 15 for 25 yards as of halftime. But then he went 9 of 16 for 138 yards and two scores in the second half as he resembled the quarterback who rallied the Utes to a win over USC in September.

The first half almost ended badly for Williams, as he was tackled with the clock running and the Utes out of timeouts. The field-goal team saved him by hustling onto the field and producing Andy Phillips' 29-yard kick, cutting Washington's lead to 14-10.

In the second half, Williams was a different player — poised, confident and productive. He found Siaosi Wilson for a go-ahead 6-yard TD in the third quarter and then threaded a 24-yard pass to Evan Moeai early in the fourth period. The Utes got only two more chances. Williams couldn't connect with Demari Simpkins to extend one possession. The last drive, kept alive by Williams' 20-yard pass to Tim Patrick on third and 11, stalled at the Washington 35.

The outcome left Williams and the Utes wishing for another chance, and they may get it Dec. 2 in Santa Clara, Calif. By then, some of the emotion presumably will have subsided, and the ending just might be different.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt