Members of the University of Washington defense insist they are getting better. They say they are not only better than they were last season, but are improving every week.
But statistically-speaking, their argument doesn’t hold up.
It is true that Washington’s run defense is better than it was last year. The Huskies are allowing 151.7 yards a game on the ground, almost 32 yards fewer than they did last season. But is that because Washington is better, or because the Huskies’ pass defense has been so poor, teams aren’t running as much (five times fewer, on average, than last season)?
Conversely, the passing, yardage and scoring numbers Washington is giving up are greater than last season. But is that because this is a worse defense, or a product of who the Huskies are playing? The Huskies have played five ranked teams in their first seven games, one of the nation’s toughest schedules.
Ultimately, the most telling statistic to gauge improvement may be wins. In that sense, it’s a toss-up.
“We know we’re better,” linebacker Joe Lobendahn said. “We’re making more plays, we’re getting to the ball. We’re not winning, but we know that we’re getting better and we’re going to keep getting better.”
The Huskies are allowing three points and 65 yards more a game than they did last season. As expected, the scariest numbers come when looking at the pass defense. Last season, Washington allowed a 60-percent completion rate. This year, that number has gone up to 68.6 percent, and the team is allowing almost 100 yards more through the air than it did last year.
Coaches say that part of the reason for the high percentage is that the Huskies are focusing on avoiding giving up long plays and are allowing short passes.
“Based on how we’re trying to be with our personnel and our bend-but-don’t-break, (don’t) give-up-the-big-play, that is one of the sacrifices you have to make,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “But it should also be noted that that’s a figure that a lot of teams around the country are giving up a decent percentage in completions. It’s a change in the game.”
“I don’t care about how many passes they complete or completion percentage,” UW defensive coordinator Kent Baer added. “Scoring points, that’s the most important thing to me. …I don’t tend to look at it as percentages. What was Isaiah the other day? As long as there aren’t a lot of vertical stretches, 60-to-70-yard bombs, I can live with it.”
Coming into the season, the defense was viewed as two very different animals. The stronger part was up front, with plenty of returners and talent on the line and at linebacker, led by Lobendahn and Manase Hopoi. The weaker part was in the secondary, particularly at cornerback where the team had to replace two starters.
And indeed, the secondary has struggled. Chris Handy, a Nevada transfer who was expected to compete for a starting job, failed to qualify, as did junior college transfer Qwenton Freeman. That left the position thin and inexperienced, and it’s shown. In order to try to protect the corners, Washington has played a lot of zone, which has helped lead to the high completion percentage by leaving gaps open.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who are playing for the first time,” safety C.J. Wallace said. “It takes awhile to learn what you have to do, where you have to be. And we’ve played some good teams.”
Just as alarming as the struggles of the secondary has been the inconsistency of the front seven. The Huskies have not tackled nearly as well as they should, and have not displayed much of a pass rush. Washington is getting almost one fewer sack and two fewer tackles-for-loss a game this year. That’s allowed quarterbacks to sit back and pick apart the secondary.
“We haven’t done as good as we know we can do,” Hopoi said. “It’s on all of us. If one of us isn’t doing our job, it makes it harder on everyone else. We’ve done some good things, but we haven’t been consistent enough.”
Consistency is exactly Willingham’s complaint. Indeed, the defense at times has been solid, but not often enough. Just when the defense seems to be in position to get off the field, it allows a big play, often because of a missed tackle, a missed assignment or a penalty. Baer agrees, but points to last week’s game against USC as evidence that the defense is improving. The Trojans did score 51 points, but the longest passing play was 31 yards and the longest run was 14 yards. The the 14 second-half points by the Trojans were their fewest of the season.
“We’re getting better,” Baer said. “We played one of the best offenses I’ve seen, one of the best running games I’ve seen (against USC) and the longest gain was 14 yards. I was pretty impressed. But when you play a football team like that, you can’t make mistakes. You just can’t.”
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