Rahshawn Clark’s interception of a Hail Mary as time expired inside Husky Stadium was the only thing standing between the Washington Huskies and disaster, securing a white-knuckle 16-14 win over Utah State. That’s a win, sure, but man, did we make it hard on ourselves. The victory was secured, but the game exposed some serious cracks in our offensive game, highlighted by critical dropped passes, a struggling offensive line, and a consistent lack of rhythm. Coach Jedd Fisch wasn’t sugar-coating it after the buzzer, saying, “We need to do some things better. We need to find points. We need to not pass up opportunities for touchdowns when they’re there. We need to put the team in a better position, starting with me.”
The Run Game Is In Crisis, And So Is The O-Line
We all went into this game expecting our offensive line to finally get some push and rhythm against the Aggies, especially after they struggled against Idaho State last week. Did that happen? Nope. Not even close. If you pull Demond Williams’ 11 rushes for 56 yards out of the equation, our other running backs averaged a brutal 2.3 yards per run. Think about that for a second. The entire backfield only notched one single double-digit yardage rush: a measly 10-yard gain from Trey Cooley in the second quarter. We ran the ball 30 times, and 12 of those, a whopping 40 percent, were stopped for gains of two yards or less. Coach Fisch called it “very frustrating,” admitting, “We were probably two yards a carry with the backs, so not good enough. So we have to find a way to make it better.” He knows we can’t be “talking about a 35, 40-yard run game by our backs and be really pleased where we are as a running team right now.” And frankly, neither can we.
Offensive Line Has To Step Up
The struggles in the run game aren’t just on the backs; the offensive line needs to own it too. The Aggies racked up five tackles for loss and two sacks, but that only tells part of the story. Utah State’s defensive line consistently stole run lanes and stopped any chance we had of establishing a ground game ahead of the sticks. Our offensive line posted just 2.67 line yards in the win. To put that in perspective, Idaho State’s offensive line managed 2.7 line yards per rush against the exact same Aggie front just a week prior. That’s not good enough, folks. Fisch acknowledged the difficulty, saying, “It’s hard to totally assess the difference. The difference of the physicality versus handling some movements, and handling odd fronts and, handling some pressures and handling some twist games.” We need those answers fast.
McLaughlin’s Heroics Can’t Mask The Problems
Amidst all the offensive angst, safety Alex McLaughlin had himself a monster game. He absolutely flew around the field, leading the team with nine tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups, and an interception. That’s his second pick in as many weeks! What a playmaking machine. Yeah, he got hit with a critical unsportsmanlike penalty late that gave Utah State half the distance to the goal, and you absolutely can’t do that. But still, the guy was a defensive force all game long. So, we’ve got the win, and we’ll take it. But as Coach Fisch said, he’s got to put the team in a better position, starting with himself. The defense is showing flashes, but the offense has to get its act together. We need to see some serious improvement next week if we’re going to show everyone what these Huskies are really made of. Let’s go, Dawgs!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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