It was a fairly comfortable win for the Huskies in Martin Stadium as they took home the Apple Cup by a score of 59-24. That being said, we learned plenty of things about this team in this win, so let’s get to exactly what we learned!
3 Is A Magic Number
I think we officially have a “Big 3” on Montlake.
Like Schoolhouse Rock and De La Soul say, 3 is a magic number. And the trio of Demond Williams, Jonah Coleman and Denzel Boston showed why they are the engine of the offense on Saturday. Demond went 16-19, for 298 yards and 4 touchdowns through the air and 88 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Jonah, while only amassing 59 yards on the ground, had 2 touchdowns, while also contributing 104 yards and a touchdown on 6 catches. The defense was keying on Jonah in the run game, and still he found ways to gash the Cougar defense behind an offensive line that looked to punish the smaller Cougar defenders (best exemplified by John Mills blocking for Jonah on his jet sweep touchdown). And Denzel Boston used his height and acceleration to absolutely confound any defender attempting to guard him on his way to a 6 catch, 107 yard, 2 touchdown performance.
This sensational showing by the chief playmakers of the Husky offense solidifies the trio of Williams, Coleman and Boston as perhaps the best in college football, at least throughout the first 3 weeks. The scheme for this week also reinforced this, as Denzel was the preeminent red zone threat in the pass game, Demond’s improv skills and ability in the pocket confounded the Coug defensive front and his arm gave their secondary fits, and Jonah’s excellent power and vision with the ball in his hands meant that the offense could just ride the wave created by the three amigos! In other words, you might try to subtract them, but they just won’t go away!
Secondary Struggles
On the flip side, what also won’t go away is the struggles of the defense, particularly the secondary. With Tacario Davis out, Leroy Bryant got burned frequently, being targeted 7 times for 7 catches for 123 yards and a touchdown. I get trying to be aggressive, but it felt like there were times where they wouldn’t play the ball and look up! When you give that up time after time, that’s a symptom of something wrong with the defense! It also felt that Zevi Eckhaus was also gashing the Husky defense with the short passes as well, and the tackling issues from last year meant that the defense gave up big chunk plays quite frequently. This, of course allowed the Cougs to stick around, and without the aid of 3 turnovers (2 picks by Alex McLaughlin and a fumble recovery), the score would’ve been a lot closer.
Are we bad on defense? I don’t know. But there are times where I think we are, and I’m frustrated because we should be better than this! The defensive line held up their end of the bargain, but with the loss of Buddah Al-Uqdah, potentially for several weeks, and the long stretch of conference play, Walters might look to adjust his scheme for his absence. I would be more comfortable if we could consistently force turnovers, but I am unsure yet whether we can do this consistently. And I am confident that Tacario Davis will give us a marked improvement in the secondary when he returns, but until that happens, I don’t know about this defensive unit.
Calling the Game
As longtime readers of this column know, I excoriated Jedd for his playcalling last year in this very game. He made sure that I couldn’t point to anything bad that he did in this year’s game. The Huskies relied on misdirection and outside runs to punish the Cougs defensive front 7 and called a ton of deep shots in the passing game to take advantage of Denzel Boston’s height and superb route running abilities. Demond showed great patience and took off when nothing was open, though I’d have liked for him to slide more. And in my favorite wrinkle of the game, when the Cougs were keying in on the run and shutting down Jonah, the staff said, alright, we’ll just throw it to him! But the aforementioned jet sweep touchdown was my favorite call of the game because Jonah was lined up out wide and walked into the end zone upon getting the handoff.
I love when weird personnel groupings happen, and that’s a wrinkle that I want to see more of in the weeks to come!
Extra Things
- Shoutout to Omari Evans, whose first catch in a Husky uniform was a touchdown!
- Grady Gross absolutely nailed a 51 yard field goal at the end of the first half, setting a new career long!
- The Huskies have dominated the last 2 Apple Cups in Martin Stadium, scoring 110 points to the Cougs’ 57!
We have #1 Ohio State at home this Saturday! Go Dawgs!