The Big Ten Media Poll projected Ohio State to come in on top of the conference when all was said and done with Oregon a close 2nd, Michigan 4th and USC 6th. As it stands right now No. 16 Indiana leads the conference with No. 1 Oregon in second, No. 3 Penn State in third, and No. 4 Ohio State in fourth. Michigan and USC? Well, for now the Wolverines, 3-2 in conference, are in 7th place with Oregon, Indiana, and Ohio State left to play. Washington at 2-3 is in the twelfth spot with the 2-4 Trojans sitting at 13, Taylor Swift’s favorite number, and No. 8 Notre Dame the only ranked team left for them to play. At 4-4 overall both the Trojans and the Huskies will need to win two out of their last four games to become bowl eligible with one of those games against each other this coming Saturday. Looking at the schedule it’s more likely USC will be able to fight on after the regular season with not only the Trojans, but No. 3 Penn State, UCLA, and No. 1 Oregon on Washington’s schedule left to play.
Despite a Senior QB in Will Rogers who will throw for right at 3,000 yards and 20 TD’s this season along with a 1,000+ yard rusher in Junior Jonah Coleman and a couple of 800+ yard receivers in Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson the Huskies are averaging barely over 23 points a game—102nd out of 134 teams nationally. The next four teams they play average 31.8, 33.3, 17.4, and 35.0 points per game. With UCLA’s Ethan Garbers literally exploding offensively this past weekend I imagine that 17.4 average for UCLA probably won’t represent reality three weeks from now when the two teams actually play. So what’s up?
Well one thing that was pretty glaring in this one and pointed out by Andy Yamashita in his article for the Seattle Times is their inability to convert on third down. Andy writes; “Washington had 11 third downs against Indiana. UW converted three times — just 27.3%. The Huskies have struggled offensively on third down all season. UW is 98th in third-down conversion percentage this season, converting just 37% of its attempts.” Checking the stats, it’s actually a bit worse than that once you factor out their early FCS opponents. Starting with their game against Washington State in which they only converted just 4-of-13 and looking at their Big Ten opponents the Huskies are converting less than 34% of their 3rd downs. It’s hard to score when you can’t get down the field or fail to convert in the red zone and end up either turning the ball back over or settling for field goals and fewer points. Washington is scoring 77% of the time once they get into the red zone but only about half are TD’s while USC is turning just about the same number of red zone attempts into TD’s 75% of the time and No. 4 Ohio State, although in the red zone less, makes a TD 90% of the time.
Their first half in this one for the Huskies consisted of two three-and-outs, two turn-overs on failed 4th down conversion attempts, two interceptions, and a Giles Jackson 6 yard TD run which kept them within a TD at 14-7 before Indiana picked up another three points on a field goal to make it 17-7 at the break. The game started on back-to-back three-and-outs with Washington getting the ball first. On their second possession, and down within 11 yards of the Indiana red zone, a double pass play was called but Rogers’ arm was hit as he threw the first pass which became a 67 yard pick-six for Indiana DB D’Angelo Ponds. Even though Indiana suffered an equally ugly interception to start the second half which led to a Husky TD to close within three at 17-14, the Hoosiers would come right back 14 plays, 75 yards, and almost eight minutes later to extend that lead on a Justice Ellison five yard TD run to make it 24-14 with five minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. Washington, unable to make any headway their next two possessions, would fall further behind after a 65 yard punt return by Indiana to the Husky 14 yard line and TD four plays later making it 31-14 with almost nine minutes left in the game. After another failed third down conversion on Washington’s next possession and sitting 4th and goal at the Indiana 5 yard line—with still over six minutes left in the game—the Husky’s kicked a, “we give up,” field goal to make it 31-17 leaving the Hoosiers to just run the clock out. Sorry, I don’t get it.
As Mike Vorel commented in his article about the game for The Seattle Times: “ . . . beyond wins and losses . . . is UW getting better? . . . Because while talent can be improved via recruiting, an inability to develop and maximize it would be damning indeed. If you don’t have nothing to play for, play for the seniors. Play for the “W” on your chest. Play for yourself . . . It’s only a lost season if losses don’t become lessons. This team was never going to win a national title. It’s a bigger problem if, instead of making strides, UW keeps standing still.”