The University of Washington football team treats the penalties like parking tickets and hasn’t been able to go anywhere this season without getting one.
Before Saturday’s game against Northwestern (2-1), the Huskies committed 30 violations in three games, 16 of them in the Apple Cup alone, seven of them in the fourth quarter against Washington State.
The UW (2-1) did not lose its right to drive, but only the Apple Cup, which was prominently displayed in the team room for two seasons.
“We’re working really hard to make it clear that if we don’t give gifts, we certainly can’t be for a team and then for a program,” Huskies coach Jedd Fisch said.
For UW to win its first ever Big Ten Conference game, it absolutely must reduce its undisciplined play. And this problem area is considered one of the five keys to Fisch’s boys emerging victorious from this historic game. We analyze it.
1. LOWER THE FLAG. There are many solutions to this problem. The Huskies, guilty of far too many offsides and false starts, cranked up the music at practice this week to help everyone focus. The defensive backs donned boxing gloves to limit their holding and pass interference calls. Fisch could have passed around the rule book and made it required reading for his charges. UW had two touchdowns given back by penalty and gave its opponents eight extra first downs. This game is hard enough without all those unforced errors and freebies.
2. Rush hour. The Wildcats have not allowed a single rushing touchdown in three games this season. While UW running back Jonah Coleman is fully capable of charging into the end zone and ending this series, we expect freshman Adam Mohammed, who is particularly quick and powerful with a football in his hands and has impressed in all three Husky games so far, to do the honors by breaking through a ball and scoring from about 30 yards out. Northwestern will be so focused on stopping Coleman that they won’t notice Mohammed coming into the game and electrifying everyone by running all the way down the right side.
3. FREE ZACH DURFEE. To beat WSU and elusive Cougars quarterback John Mateer, the Huskies felt it necessary to limit Durfee, their junior edge rusher and most effective defensive playmaker, to 25 snaps, not let him play from the start and try their luck with an extra linebacker and a down lineman. Of course, with WSU pulling out a 24-19 win, this didn’t work out as well as expected. While the Huskies undoubtedly spent the week putting Durfee back in the middle of the defensive game plan, Mateer was busy filming a TV spot in which he sits in the stands at Martin Stadium in Pullman, looking wistfully at the Apple Cup trophy placed next to him and loudly eating an apple with a smile on his face.
4. BIG GAME HUNTERS. For the second time in three games, the Huskies were unable to get wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter involved in the offense in a big way. He failed to catch a single pass in the season opener against the Weber State Wildcats and had just two pass catches for 23 yards against the Cougars. He’s a guy who caught 62 balls for California in 2023. Expect UW to get 6-7 throws for Hunter against these Big Ten Wildcats.
5. BROWNS WITHOUT BLOOD. Fisch seemed to indicate that there’s a chance linebacker Carson Bruener, who injured his shoulder or suffered a stitch against WSU, might not play against Northwestern. The coach said his senior captain isn’t 100 percent and the best he can say for him is probably. Knowing Bruener, he’s as tough as an old-school Big Ten linebacker that he’ll definitely be pulling a full shift at the Husky football factory on Saturday.
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