sushihorn

Casual fans are enamored of spectacular and athletic plays. Thus they gravitate to big play offense and big hits on defense. Oregon has flashy athletes that do incredible things. Washington usually made the plays by getting numbers at the point of attack or by defenders being in the right place. One is a highlight reel but the other is more reliable and effective over time.

As with any system, the best way to beat it is to wreck key components. There are 2 obvious ways to do that with the UW defense: 1) Buy time for the QB to get a good post-snap read: Quinn has accelerated his reads so this will come quicker this season Buy time by moving the pocket, sprint out or bootlegging - especially since Ewers is an effective runner as well as accurate passer on the move. Keep in extra blockers with a delayed release once the LBs get deep into their drops. or 2) Exploit the holes created by attempts to disguise the pass rush: Run outside zone to wash down any DL slanting to an outside gap and block the man who is taking his initial gap assignment while he’s moving laterally. RPO the LBs when they show early pressure to interior line gaps. Let them have fun running back to their underneath responsibilities on inside breaking short routes. Bring crossers in case the use split coverage.

The defensive game plan from last year’s Alamo Bowl would likely work well sine we have the horses to execute it this year. Watching Texas defending 11 personnel with 6 in the box and 4 wide with 5 this year was impressive. To shut down the Doak Walker winner and control Tajh Brooks with those defensive alignments made my day.

While this topic hasn’t been ignored, the Huskies’ defense is much less discussed than their offense. Let’s start with a summary: UW has some standout athletes on defense but they are getting it done with teamwork and scheme more than with talent. The overall concept is to create doubt and confusion in the mind of opposing players. A lot of effort goes into disguising multiple aspects of the defense. The base scheme is a 4-2 nickel defense. The secondary disguises coverage with heavy (80-90%) reliance on zone. The exact number is hard to pin down because Morrell often employs pattern matching in his zone schemes. The base seems to be Cover 3 with enough Quarters and man to create doubt. Even in cover 3 the corners can play bail technique to alter the pre snap read. There will be holes in the coverage, UW is hoping to delay the read and recognition long enough for the pass rush to get home. The Dabs tend to be big and physical as there is less need for a boundary CB to cover the best WR all over the field. That has helped create INTs and makes them stronger in run support. The D-Line plays with 3 down and a stand up rush end most of the time. In pass defense, they almost always rush 4, only rarely bringing an extra man. They are disciplined in their rush lanes but play a lot of games to create free rushers. Lots of stunting and looping to confuse locking assignments. Ditto with fake pressures. Sometimes they insert a LB and zone drop a DL but they bring 5+ less than 10% of the time. The games mean early pass rush is not very effective and the long path to the QB means stunting free runners lead to delayed pressure. The disguised coverage on the back end is designed to help this delayed rush get to the QB. But they only have 19 sacks despite having an NFL quality DE. The LBs hold this system together. Inge asks a lot of them but the DL play is designed to keep them clean on most plays. Against the run, the line is supposed to absorb blocks and let the LBs pursue the ball. One of them will have force responsibility and RB coverage to the non-nickel side. They will be challenged to force on outside runs, cover inside short zones and fill against inside runs. A see a lot of swing passes and RPO in their future. Note: This is just a basic overview to start the conversation. I’m sure some of our more informed posters can help fill in the details.

Challenge accepted.

Washington is the 3rd most penalized team in FBS at 73.9 yards per game. Texas is average in penalties at 51.1 YPG. I’m surprised that a well coached team draws so many flags.

The top back for Alabama averaged over 16 YPC in 2022. He only got the ball 6 times. We had no idea what to expect last year’s bowl. The core of our offense was ripped out and the defense damaged by opt outs. No one had seen such a weak Texas squad play in any game of the 2022 season. This year no one is opting out nor does the offense need to be totally restructured. Barring major injuries in practice, we will likely see the full strength version of regular season Texas. That’s why I limit my speculation to demonstrated range of possibilities.

We are not responsible for the delusional fan bases of terrible teams. Texas has the best interior DL in FBS and it’s not close. The last 100 yard rusher against us was 12 games ago. Alabama couldn’t do it. The Doak Walker winner went 2.6 yards per carry. It’s the strongest and most reliable element on a top team. It’s kinda like asking what would happen if Penix completed less than half his passes, except much less likely since he already did that this season.

Their 2 outside guys have size, strength and hands as their primary advantages. I want to say they go 6’3” 215 and 6’2” 205 or something like that. They are going to muscle DBs, shield a defender off with their bodies and get most of the jump balls. They aren’t usually going to out quick as CB or juke a safety. They are more likely to head fake then run through an arm and shoulder for a few extra yards than they are to make a defender miss completely.

This is another under covered aspect of the Texas-Washington match up. Kickoffs: Both teams are right around 50% touchbacks. Will Stone gets 1.1 yards extra distance vs Washington’s Grady Gross. Texas has kicked 1 out of bounds and Washington 2. Texas covers KOs decently at 19.8 per return. Washington does it very well at 15.8 per. Texas has the more dangerous return team at 21.0 yards per attempt with a TD. Washington is close at 20.8 yards per return but has not scored. Punting: Washington’s punter, Jack McCallister averages 41.4 yards per punt, 39.5 net vs 45.5 and and 40.7 net for Ryan Sanborn. Both punters excel at pinning the opposing offens with 13 inside the 20 yard line vs 2 touchbacks for Sanborn and 11 i20 to 1 TB for McCallister. Both punter have been blocked once in 2023. Washington is excellent in punt coverage, while Texas may have the most dangerous return man in college football. The Horns have solid coverage at 6.2 yards per return. The Huskies have posted a truly impressive 1.8 yard average. UW sports 10.8 yards per punt return by committee with 1 TD. Texas replies with Xavier Worthy: a TD and 17.9 yard average. Washington punting to Worthy will be strength on strength. Field Goal Kicking: looks like a big advantage for Texas. Washington has a decent kicker; Gross also handles KOs. He is 13 of 17, 76.5% accurate as a FG kicker. His longest was 47 yards and he has not attempted anything longer than that. 8 of 11 inside 40 yards is okay but would make me nervous as a coach. He has also been blocked once. Texas’ Bert Auburn is 28 of 34 or 82.4% accurate, despite 4 attempts from longer than 50 yards. He is nearly automatic inside of 40 at 17 of 18. Auburn has excellent range with a long of 54 yards and no blocked kicks. Overall: Texas has the advantage here - mainly on Auburn’s leg. The Longhorn advantage in the return game is cancelled out by Washington’s superior coverage teams. There is a moderate Texas edge at punter. Sanborn can uncork a big one to change field position. He has 13 punts of 50+ yards vs 4 for McCallister. Washington is a team that reached the CFP mainly due to coaching and they stand out in the team aspects of Special Teams play, just as I would expect.

My main concern with the Washington O-Line is their mobility in the screen game. That matches their strength to get in the right position and covers a weakness by not putting them directly against opposing DL. And Grubb runs a lot of screens. They will be most dangerous in tunnel screen. RB screens have a lower success rate against Texas this year as they are often sniffed out by our veteran DL or blown up with quick pressure. OL of course don’t have that much impact on WR bubble screens. But the tunnel screen brings the play inside and the designated OL can get upfield to their assignments quickly. Tunnel screen also schemes against a penetrating, aggressive DL by attacking the space they would occupy at the LOS if they stayed home. That fits the Texas DL to a T. The D-Line literally have trouble seeing this one coming as the screen WR is not in their primary field of vision. Combine the quality of the Washington WRs with the mobility of their OL and Tunnel screen has potential for a big play against this defense.

We are both irritated by brainless morons from Seattle.

So basically the same thing that the ladies just did in Volleyball.

Your fixation with Oregon is duly noted. The relevance to TEXAS is unclear.

Of course they’re too stupid to realize that Sweat is a 3-technique DT or what that means.

This is bad info. No one on the roster named Ossai. 2 Polynesians you forgot to mention. Average weight is more like 306. When you screw up this badly, everything you say deserves to be ignored.

I haven’t seen a reply like that since Miss Oregon was named PoY.

The only thing missing was “Die Ridgemont!” In spray paint.

I traded the other one for wisdom.

That is true but those games were a while ago and the issues seem to have been addressed. Washington has played poorly on very recent games, but that has been obscured by a good performance in the Pac12 championship. Those of us who watch a lot of football with an analytical eye haven’t overlooked the way UW ended their regular season.

The UW team that showed up for 2 of your last 3 games would get destroyed by Texas. The ones that played Utah, Arizona and Stanford would definitely lose though not as badly. Washington played well against Oregon and the very weakest teams on their schedule. Washington’s best two games this year would make them competitive in the Sugar Bowl. Anything less than their very best and they will need a lot of help to win.

It’s just weird how UW fans want to divert the topic to conferences when it’s clear that Texas had the tougher schedule than Washington. This keeps happening; I assume they don’t like the direct comparison and derail the process to generalities.

Not even close. Odunze had normal improvement. He was all PAC-12 and led the conference in receiving yards in 2022. He got some All-America mention last year and a lot this year. That’s no close to the leap Sweat made. He wasn’t even 3rd team all conference in 2022 and he’s the best DL in FBS now, not just a finalist. Sweat started MUCH lower than Idunze and rose to higher highs.

So your thesis is that a guy who was honorable mention all Big 12 in 2022 merely “got better” to become a consensus all American, Outland Trophy winner and Big 12 defensive PoY. Tell me which UW player improved enough to make that “work for both teams?” i’ll wait but I won’t hold my breath. Your thesis is provably crap. Several Texas players have taken quantum leaps this year. Ewers completed under 60% in 2022. He jumped to 70% year.

Texas 37, UW 26 Dillon Johnson 13 attempts for 41 yards as they are unable to sustain drives running the ball.