Demond Williams showcased his typical accuracy and talent to keep away from turnovers, end 18/23 passing. Nonetheless, he completed with simply 173 yards (zero touchdowns) and a 5.8 yard common depth of goal, not being aggressive together with his downfield throws, presumably to keep away from interceptions. He additionally showcased his propensity to carry onto the soccer too lengthy and take sacks, ending with six. Ohio State spied his scrambles and was at all times in a position shut the operating lane earlier than he might take off. PFF assigns simply a type of six sacks to the offensive line, who typically performed properly in go safety towards a troublesome opponent, regardless of a few false begins.
Denzel Boston acquired loads of consideration from Ohio State’s protection, with simply three catches for 26 yards. Then again, Dezmen Roebuck continues to emerge as a respectable downfield weapon, showcasing pure go catching capacity. He had grabs of 16, 18, and 20 yards.
Towards a stout Ohio State protection, Washington was not in a position to do a lot on the bottom. Jonah Coleman had simply 13 carries for 70 yards however was unable to seek out any operating room deep within the pink zone when it mattered most. Almost half of his yards got here on one explosive 34 yard play, and in any other case Ohio State stored him principally bottled up. An absence of run sport was a giant cause the Huskies averaged greater than 8 yards per third down, and in the end transformed simply 1-of-11.
Washington – down its greatest participant within the secondary in CB Tacario Davis – didn’t enable a go play longer than 19 yards and restricted Jeremiah Smith to 81 yards whole. The technique was to maintain every little thing in entrance of them and drive Ohio State to dink and dunk their means down the sphere, which they principally did. Nonetheless, that plan solely works if there’s an sufficient go rush or the quarterback makes errors. Neither proved to be true on Saturday. The go rush was missing and Julian Sayin simply stored making the suitable choices discovering open receivers downfield. Each time UW bought any stress, he knew the place to go together with the ball.
Washington did sufficient in limiting Ohio State run sport to win the sport. They didn’t gash the Huskies, who even bought a giant fourth down run stuff within the pink zone on Ohio State’s first drive. However, only one sort out for loss isn’t adequate towards a workmanlike effort from the Buckeyes, who took 34 rushes for 149 yards (4.4 yards per carry).
Particular groups was principally stable, however the poorly known as and executed pretend subject purpose will at all times be a black mark on this sport. There was a shanked punt early that gifted Ohio State nice subject place.
On the one hand, this was a 14-6 ballgame within the fourth quarter, and a sport that I believe showcased how improved this UW group is from final yr; final yr’s group would have been non-competitive on this match up. Then again, Ohio State by no means felt threatened or uncomfortable at any level. They simply caught to their plan and ultimately pulled away. Defensively, Washington in all probability did sufficient to probably win the sport, even if you happen to’d wish to see extra havoc performs – tipped passes, tackles for loss, sacks, and so on.
Offensively, Demond Williams wanted to both take off and scramble a lot earlier, or take some extra dangers throwing downfield in hopes of producing an explosive play or landing. He did neither, and the Huskies couldn’t rating a landing. That is one thing Jedd Fisch has to do a greater job of teaching in him.
