Three takeaways from the Huskies’ 24-7 loss to Alabama
Published 5:59 pm Saturday, December 31, 2016
Here’s three takeaways from the University of Washington football team’s 24-7 loss to Alabama in the Peach Bowl on Saturday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta:
1) Alabama is on another level.
The hope of Huskies fans going into Saturday’s game, which served as one of the two national semifinals, was that the Pac-12 was being underrated. Top-ranked Alabama was installed as a 14-point favorite over No. 4 Washington, and there was plenty of justification for the spread. The Crimson Tide established themselves as the clear No. 1 by being the only power-five conference team to go undefeated through the regular season, and Alabama has plenty of evidence that it belongs, having won four of the previous seven national titles. One could even apply the transitive property, as Alabama throttled USC 52-6, a team that came into Husky Stadium and handed Washington it’s only loss.
Washington, which hasn’t been a factor on the national level in two decades, was not expected to provide much resistance. But the Huskies were enough of an unknown to plant a seed of doubt. Did Washington have the qualities to pull off a surprise?
It turns out it didn’t matter. Alabama is a machine. The Crimson Tide defense took a Washington offense averaging 44.5 points per game and rendered it impotent as the Huskies only sniffed the end zone once. Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough looked like the second coming of Marshawn Lynch, rushing for 180 yards on 19 carries, scoring two touchdowns, and breaking tackle after tackle. Washington’s defense put up an admirable fight, but this game illustrated the Crimson Tide’s greatness more than it said anything about the Huskies.
2) Jake Browning has another step to take.
While the game may have said more about Alabama than Washington, it did reveal some things about Browning.
Washington’s sophomore quarterback had an unbelievable season. Coming into the game he had a 42-7 touchdown-to-interception ration, completed 63.2 percent of his passes and averaged 9.29 yards per attempt. His 176.5 passing efficiency ranked fourth in FBS. He spent much of the season as a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. After watching Browning as a freshman I never imagined he would do what he did as a sophomore.
But Browning was overmatched against Alabama, finishing the game 20-for-38 for 150 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, which is an 83.9 passing efficiency. Admittedly, Browning found himself with little time to throw, as he was sacked five times by an unrelenting Alabama pass rush. But he also missed some makeable throws and held onto the ball too long at times. It was reminiscent of his performance against USC, when he also struggled against a fast and talented defense.
This will be something to learn from for Browning. But if Browning’s leap from his freshman to sophomore season is an indication, he’s capable of taking that next step.
3) It was a great season for the Huskies.
Yes, the loss stings, particularly because Washington was beaten convincingly. But don’t lose sight of how great a season it was for the Huskies. Bear in mind this was a Washington team that was largely anonymous the previous two decades. Washington’s last conference championship came back in 2000. Only five times since Don James retired as coach following the 1992 season had the Huskies finished the season ranked in the Associated Press top 25.
Everything is trending up for Washington since Chris Petersen became coach three years ago. This season gave Huskies fans the crushing victory over Stanford, the end of the Oregon curse, a win over cross-state rival Washington State in the most important Apple Cup in 35 years, and a first appearance in the Pac-12 championship game since it was instituted in 2011 (won convincingly over Colorado).
With Browning and star running back Myles Gaskin set to return next season, the Huskies should retain their spot in the national picture. And with Petersen running things, Washington could remain there for a long time.
