The Washington Huskies are looking for their first road win in the Kalen DeBoer era after being upset by both UCLA and ASU on the road. Realdawg’s Kaila Olin gives her three keys to how the Huskies can go into their bye week with a win down in Berkley, CA against the Golden Bears.

Convert on 4^th Downs

While Washington is 41^st in the FBS in 4^th down conversion percentage with a 57.9%, or converting 11 of 19 fourth downs, the ones that mattered or the ones that kept the opponents in the game were ones the Huskies didn’t convert. Most recent example was against Arizona when the UW went 0-2 on fourth downs with both fourth downs being snapped inside the red zone. That took away potential points for Washington and allowed Arizona to feel like they were able to stay in it due to the point spread being less and giving their defense momentum. Another example where the offense absolutely struggled on fourth down conversions was against ASU on the road where the Huskies went 1-4. One lead to a turnover on downs on Washington’s side of the field and the other was at midfield, giving the Sun Devils great field position which resulted in an ASU touchdown and an interception on another. If this game against Cal comes down to one score again, converting on fourth downs will be the difference in the game.

Run Defense Needs to be Elite

The Huskies come into this matchup as the No. 32 team in terms of run defense in the FBS allowing only an average of just under 3.5 yards per carry and 117.4 yards game. This compares to the Golden Bears rushing offense being ranked No. 97 in the FBS with 128.7 yards averaged per game, good for 4.24 per carry. I mention the run defense needing to be elite because the games where Cal has struggled the most, their opponents kept their run game in check. Specifically, Cal beat Arizona despite giving up 400 passing yards by rushing for 354 yards, with their leading back Jaydn Ott accounting for 274 of those. When they fell to WSU and only put up nine points, they were held to 32 yards rushing and in their upset loss to Colorado, they only had 35 yards despite creating three takeaways. Same goes for Washington in terms of coming away with a win when the opponent rushers are kept contained. Specifically, holding Michigan State to 42 yards and coming away with a huge upset, compared to being upset by UCLA giving up 184 yards on the ground and against ASU allowing 156. If the run defense can help pick up the slack from the passing defense, Washington can get a win on the road.

Be Knowledgeable on Offense

What takes an offense from good or great to elite is being knowledgeable and aware the situation on the field and the clock status. We have seen a few examples of missing those keys parts to this offense being elite at times and some were even called out by the broadcaster(s). There was an instance during the UCLA game where Washington was down and in the red zone late in the game and the Husky offense was running out the play clock and taking their time reading the play call and getting to the line to snap the ball. Playing with urgency when down while preserving what’s left the clock to ensure you have plenty of time to come back is extremely important. Another example of being knowledgeable is knowing the down and distance. We saw Michael Penix Jr. scramble on a third down play and ended up keeping the ball and running before sliding, coming up a yard short, which then turned the ball over on downs. We have seen players not reach the ball out towards the sideline on situations and ended up coming up short of a first down due to not being down and distance aware. Lastly, make every second on that clock count. Against Arizona we saw the Huskies line up on offense and with about six seconds left, just let the clock run out. Utilize that quarter change as an extra time out after getting another play off because you never know if you were going to need it or not. If the offense can make those minor changes, they could be unstoppable.