Inside The Huskies

Offensive Line Falters As Washington Narrowly Escapes Arizona State

The Huskies had their worst game of the year up front but found a way to win.

Roman Tomashoff

In this story:

Whenever coach Kalen DeBoer's Washington football team doesn't put up over 30 points and 400 yards of offense, it's a bit of a shocker. Against the Arizona State Sun Devils, the Huskies had one of their worst offensive performances under DeBoer, mustering just 288 yards and no touchdowns.

One big reason was quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was under duress all night. The Heisman Trophy contender was missing two of his top receivers — Jalen McMillan and Germie Bernard — and took a lot of hits from Arizona State's defensive line in Washington's 15-7 victory.

Although he was in pads and appeared ready to play, right guard Julius Buelow missed his fourth straight game and left Washington with a shallow rotation along the offensive line. 

At multiple points in the game, right guard Geirean Hatchett was lifted for his younger brother Landen, who took over at center and slid redshirt freshman Parker Brailsford over to right guard.

With the Huskies a true freshman a center and redshirt freshman next to him, Arizona State defensive coordinator Brian Ward decided to overwhelm the young linemen, sending multiple blitzes straight up the middle. Even with a running back in as an extra blocker, the Sun Devils were still able to get a lot of unobstructed rushes at Penix.

"I thought they did a good job mixing up the pressures," DeBoer said after the game. "They at least had a hand in the way and were close to where they had a couple of tipped balls."

The Sun Devils weren't able to sack Penix, but did intercept him twice and made him feel the heat nearly every time he dropped back. That pressure forced a lot of rushed throws on slow developing route concepts that offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb continued to call despite the pass rush.

The play-calling shifted after Mishael Powell's 89-yard pick-six gave the Huskies a 12-7 lead and the line was finally able to hold strong as the quarterback got rid of the ball faster. Yet there's still a lot to work on up front.

Going forward, DeBoer seemed confident that the Huskies will figure out a way to counter all the new looks thrown at the line.

"We'll expect to see more of that certainly in the weeks ahead and it's nothing that we can't handle schematically or even personnel-wise," DeBoer said. "It's just a matter of regrouping, looking at it, getting back to the details and getting it right."

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Roman Tomashoff of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @rtomashoff34 or @UWFanNation

Subscribe to the Locked On Huskies Podcast on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question? Message me on Twitter!

Published
Roman Tomashoff
ROMAN TOMASHOFF

I've followed the Huskies for my entire life, and to be in a position where I get to cover them full-time is nothing short of an honor. After graduating from Lasell University in 2019, I moved to Seattle to pursue my dream of working in sports media. While writing for the Husky Haul, I also covered local sports for the Everett Daily Herald before the COVID-19 pandemic. After being hired by Realdawg.com in February of 2021, I also transitioned into doing a lot of entertainment writing, as I work on a variety of magazines as a contributing writer for Centennial Media, and have also contributed to Emmy Magazine, as well as Walt Disney Television Studios. 

Home/Football