Loss to Arizona St. last season a turning point for No. 7 Huskies
Published 5:15 pm Friday, November 18, 2016
Herald news services
SEATTLE — Looking back, Washington’s collapse in the desert last November is where it all changed.
The Huskies melted down in the second half against Arizona State, watching a 14-point lead disappear into a 27-17 loss that put them on the verge of missing the postseason.
It proved to be the game that led to the rise of No. 7 Washington this year. The Huskies have won 12 of 13 games since that loss and will close out their home slate on Saturday hosting Arizona State with far more at stake than that game in Tempe, Arizona, a year ago.
The Huskies’ 12-game win streak was snapped last week by USC, putting into peril Washington’s hopes of a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Huskies (9-1, 6-1 Pac-12, No. 6 CFP) know they must win out to have a chance of being in the top four.
That’s not as simple as it sounds. Arizona State has won 10 straight meetings with the Huskies and Saturday’s game will be followed by the Apple Cup in Pullman and a possible Pac-12 title game.
“If you’re just so disappointed because of this loss with all this football left to be played then you’re in the wrong locker room and you haven’t been hearing a word that we’ve been talking about,” Washington coach Chris Petersen said. “There’s a lot of football left and awesome things to play for and all that stuff.”
Last week’s loss exposed issues that have otherwise been masked for most of the season. Washington’s pass rush was non-existent against USC, giving Sam Darnold plenty of time to find gaps in the secondary. The Huskies offensive line struggled to establish the running game. The Huskies were held to 17 yards rushing as a team, their fewest since having just 13 yards in a 2006 loss at Oregon.
Jake Browning threw two interceptions and the Huskies were held to their lowest point total since the 2015 season opener.
“I don’t think our protection was as good as it has been overall,” Petersen said. “Toward the end you kind of get into that trying to make some stuff happen and that kind of never really goes great.”
Arizona State (5-5, 2-5) may be just the opponent to allow Washington to get back on track. The Sun Devils are last in the Pac-12 in pass defense, giving up nearly 400 yards per game through the air, and have allowed at least 37 points in four straight games. Washington wide receiver John Ross has at least 100 yards receiving in three of the past four games.
“(John) Ross is probably the most dynamic player in our league,” Arizona State coach Todd Graham said.
Here are five things to watch from the 4:30 p.m. kickoff.
1. Can the Huskies end The Streak?
What, you thought it was over when Washington beat Oregon back in October?
Sure, that 70-21 victory ended a 12-game losing streak to the Ducks, and it was the first time UW had beaten Oregon since 2003. But it’s been even longer since the Huskies have beaten Arizona State.
Washington’s last win against the Sun Devils came in 2001, a 33-31 victory in Tempe keyed by John Anderson’s 30-yard field goal as time expired. The Sun Devils have won all 10 meetings between the teams since. And the Huskies haven’t beaten ASU at Husky Stadium since 1997. Seriously. It’s been 19 years, though these teams have only met in Seattle five times in that span.
The Huskies ended a 10-year streak of not winning in the desert by defeating Arizona earlier this season, then snapped their 12-year losing streak to the Ducks. They came close to ending their losing streak against ASU last season, taking a 17-0 lead in the first half before collapsing in a 27-17 defeat. As 27-point favorites, they will be expected to finally make it happen on Saturday.
2. ASU’s defense is really bad
This statement is accompanied by one caveat: ASU does rank 24th nationally in sacks per game at 2.8, and will blitz more frequently than any team the Huskies have played this season. That’s just what the Sun Devils do.
But if they don’t get to the quarterback, they give up yards. A lot of yards. In fact, ASU ranks 126th nationally (out of 128 teams) in yards per play allowed at 6.82, and the Sun Devils rank 124th in pass defense efficiency — and 127th in yards per pass attempt allowed (a stunningly bad average of 8.9 yards).
This all bodes well for Browning and the rest of a UW offense that was mostly pushed around last week in a 26-13 loss to USC. Browning has been at his best this season when teams load the box in an effort to stop UW’s run game, and UW has the weapons on the outside – Ross and Dante Pettis – to make defenses pay when their blitzes don’t hit.
ASU is much better against the run, ranking 40th nationally in yards per rush allowed, a number aided by the Sun Devils’ sacks total.
“They create some havoc back there,” UW offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith said. “Obviously in the run game, tackles for loss, their numbers are way up. Sacking the quarterback goes into rushing stats. We have to be good there. They create a lot of one-on-one matchups, and we have to win those.”
3. UW could get its pass rush back on track
Few teams in the country protect the quarterback worse than Arizona State, which ranks 57th nationally in total pass attempts yet ranks 121st in sacks per game allowed (3.3) and yielded 11 sacks — yes, 11 — in a loss last week to Utah. The Utes finished that game with 22 total tackles for loss.
That’s good news for a UW pass rush that has totaled just four sacks in its last four games after racking up 24 in the first six games of the season. It is not a coincidence that sacks leader Joe Mathis, out with a foot injury, has not played in the last four games.
Petersen said he thought the Huskies’ pass rush was OK last week against USC, and they did pressure quarterback Sam Darnold into a couple of bad decisions despite only sacking him once. But they will surely hope for more production this week against ASU.
“You’d like to be able to sack ‘em, but you’ve got to get pressure,” Petersen said. “You’ve got to make sure the ball is coming out of their hand. We’re always paying attention to it. That’s the name of the game. When the offense has the ball and the quarterback has it, how do we get to him, and if it’s the running back, we’ve got to stop him. So that’s always an area we’re trying to figure out.”
4. Keep an eye on the middle linebacker position
With Azeem Victor out for the rest of this season while recovering from a leg fracture, the Huskies will have to rely on some relatively inexperienced players to replace him.
First up will be redshirt freshman DJ Beavers, who has appeared in eight of UW’s games this season, has 21 tackles and had a career-best six tackles in relief of Victor last week.
“I think he’s a good football player. He’s one of those guys that understands the game, he feels the game. We can only coach so much in terms of getting them in the right places and then guys gotta go out and make plays. And I think he’s one of those guys.”
True freshman Brandon Wellington is listed on the depth chart behind Beavers, and sophomore Ben Burr-Kirven, the most experienced of those three players, could see some time there, too, though he is more comfortable at weak-side linebacker.
5. Kalen Ballage and Demario Richard
While ASU’s offense hasn’t been nearly as productive as the Sun Devils would like — they rank 95th nationally in yards per play — they do have a pair of running backs who can be difficult to tackle.
Ballage, in particular, is a handful. At 6-foot-2 and 227 pounds, the junior has 13 rushing touchdowns this season, and will occasionally line up in the wildcat formation and run the ball off a direct snap.
Richard, the team’s leading rusher with 534 yards, goes 5-10, 219 pounds. He has been limited recently, but Graham told reporters he should be able to play this week.
“In a traditional sense, when you’re defending offenses you don’t usually account for the quarterback,” UW defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said. “Now the quarterback is a 6-2, 230-pound running back. We have to spend time on that, make sure we fit it up, and get the guy on the ground.”
The News Tribune’s Christian Caple contributed to this story.
