It's the old saying in sports. Had any Washington fan been told before the season that the Huskies would be 4-1 and ranked No. 21 through five games -- already matching the win total from last year -- well, they would have taken it.

And yet, Kalen DeBoer's rebuild of the program has progressed so impressively and so quickly that it was a sting to see the Huskies take their first loss last Friday night, 40-32 at UCLA.

The Huskies head back on the road this week as well, traveling Tempe, Ariz., to take on reeling Arizona State (1-4, 0-2 Pac-12) in what should be a prime bounce-back game for UW.

Before breaking down the matchup that is to come, though, let's take our weekly look back at the five biggest takeaways from the loss to the Bruins.

Michael Penix Jr. had a difficult performance to swallow against the Bruins.

For most of the contest, he was dialed in, making the right reads and delivering the ball with accuracy. This was the Penix we’d seen through the first month, the nation’s leading passer and an ostensible Heisman candidate playing on par with the best quarterbacks in the country.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, their star signal-caller made a number of critical errors that helped blow this game open for UCLA. Three key miscues by Penix in the first half handed the Bruins 9 points and squandered potential scoring drives for a Washington offense that was otherwise moving the ball effectively. Each of the setbacks was self-inflicted and avoidable, a fact that must be hard to reconcile for Penix when rewatching the game film.

The first came at the doorstep of the Huskies’ own goal line, where a poorly-coordinated pitch play from Penix failed to make it safely into the hands of Wayne Taulapapa, instead falling into the endzone to be recovered for a UCLA safety. Later in the second quarter, Penix threw two extremely ill-advised interceptions one drive apart from one another, both of them thrown into a mess of defenders with the quarterback clearly failing to notice as he locked onto his receiver from the snap.

From then on, Penix seemed to get himself right, delivering the football on time and on the money for Washington as he worked his way to 345 yards and 4 touchdowns. Through the latter part of the game, he was every bit the quarterback he’s shown himself capable of being, making some truly incredible throws and delivering in high-pressure moments to nearly bring the Huskies into position to tie the game. Unfortunately for him, his slip-ups in the first half contributed to a UCLA lead that would prove to be insurmountable for his team.

The takeaway from this game should by no means be a dismissal or downgrading of Penix as a quarterback. Every quarterback has bad games, and this one was really a good game with a handful of egregiously inexcusable mistakes. Penix played a much cleaner game in the second half and clearly demonstrated the traits that make him one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. He’ll have to be much more careful to avoid silly mistakes of this manner again going forward, but the Huskies should continue to have all the confidence in the world in their man under center.