Husky Offensive Line Gets a Game-Long Shuffle in Indiana Loss

Jedd Fisch and his staff tried a lot of different combinations during the 31-17 setback.

Indiana's Mario Landino (97) celebrates a sack of Washington's Will Rogers (7) while right tackle Drew Azzopardi (74) looks on. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana -- When the season began, the dirty little secret regarding this University of Washington football team was it might struggle in a big way on the offensive line with all new guys filling roles up front while dealing with a physical and unforgiving Big Ten Conference.

On Saturday, if anybody didn't know that, they do now.

The Huskies got shoved around, beginning with the first play of their 31-17 loss to unbeaten and 13th-ranked Indiana, with the Hoosiers sending a bull rush up the middle and sacking quarterback Will Rogers for an eight-yard loss. The home team effectively delivered a message with that bit of aggressiveness inside.

Things became more unraveled as the game went on. Jedd Fisch and his staff opened the game with redshirt freshman Soane Faasolo and junior Gaard Memmelaar at left tackle and left guard, respectively.

For the second series, the UW swapped out Faasolo for redshirt freshman Kahlee Tafai and sat down Memmelaar for sophomore Landen Hatchett. And so it went the rest of the game, with the Huskies trying different combinations throughout as they tried to open more holes for leading rusher Jonah Coleman, who ran 19 times for 104 yards, and pass protect for the beleagured Rogers.

"We were looking for something that was going to work," Fisch said candidly.

Early in the fourth quarter, the 6-foot-2, 310-pound Hatchett found himself playing right guard in what was still a close game at 24-14 when he took the spot that normally belongs to senior Enokk Vimahi, the Ohio State transfer who previously hadn't shared his position with anyone.

With the Huskies dropping to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten play, the younger players such as Hatchett, Tafai and Faasolo, all in their second years of college football, might be used more and more with an eye to the future as the schedule plays out.

"Those guys need opportunity, those guys need reps," Fisch said. "Those guys need to see how good they can get."

As the game wound down, sophomore right tackle Drew Azzopardi and Memmelaar sat on the bench, staring off into space, with true freshman offensive guard Paki Finau occupying a stool next to them.

Faasolo and redshirt freshman offensive guard Zach Henning stood side by side, similarly looking disappointed.

Once the game ended, D'Angalo Titialii, the Huskies' starting senior center and Portland State, was the first guy off the field, heading straight to the locker room while forsaking any postgame handshakes with the other side.

"We were struggling early on with some of the line games, so we tried to mix and match," Fisch said. "I thought we were better in the second half there in protection."

The patchwork effort across the offensive line continues heading into game nine this coming week against USC.

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