Jimmy Lake still dominates the air raid offense.
The Husky defense continues to have a ton of success playing against air raid offenses. USC came in with their third string QB coming off a big game vs a good defense. But the Husky defense came out and did what they do against the air raid, keep the offense in front of you and make the offense tackle. Besides one deep completion to Michael Pittman for a 44 yard touchdown, USC really had no success in throwing the ball. The Huskies started the game with 3 d lineman, 2 linebackers, and 6 defensive backs in order to take away the pass. They played with 5,6, or even 7 defensive backs for almost the whole game. Having a defensive back room like Coach Lake has is something to lean on in games like this.
Huskies are beyond deep in the defensive backfield.
Similar to the games vs Hawaii and BYU the Huskies started the game with 6 DBs on the field. Myles Bryant and Cam Williams at safety, Kyler Gordon and Elijah Molden in the slot, and Keith Taylor and Trent McDuffie on the outside. Jimmy Lake has all the tools he needs to shut down any passing offenses he faces and it was in full display today. They switch between having 5,6, or 7 DBs on the field at a time, something not a lot of teams will do. True Freshman Trent McDuffie was introduced as a started for the first time this season. McDuffie finished the game with 9 tackles to lead the team. Another true freshman Cam Williams had 2 interceptions in the game giving him 3 on the year. After the 6 starters true freshman Asa Turner was the next guy to get playing time, he rotated in for Kyler in the second quarter and got to play a couple possessions in the slot coming up with two tackles and a TFL. Elijah Molden continues to be a real playmaker in the nickel. He had an interception down on the goal line that Coach Petersen said was a real game changer after Salvon had an 89 yard touchdown 2 plays later. Molden also jumped a route later in the game and barely dropped what would have been his second interception.
Uw is “tight end U”.
Hunter Bryant and Cade Otton are a dominant duo at tight end. Hunter is a mismatch nightmare who lines up all over the field and terrorizes defenses. With another good game today including a few explosive plays he now leads the nation in receiving for tight ends. Hunter finished the game with 4 catches for 49 yards including a 20 yard catch. While Cade Otton is more of a prototypical on the line TE he is still a legit receiving threat. On the first play of the third quarter after a hard play action fake Eason hit Otton for a 36 yard gain down to the USC 26. Culp and Westover both got playing time in today’s game as well, and Kizer was suited up for his first game this season. After the game Coach Petersen mentioned how lucky they are to have two great all around Tight ends and spoke on how Hunter improved his blocking and Cade improved his receiving coming into the year.
Huskies most successful with balanced offense.
The Husky offense finished the game with 193 yards rushing and 180 yards passing. Through out the game the Huskies had an up and down game on offense. There were times when the pass was working and times when the run was working but there were also periods where USC just had their number. But overall the balanced nature of their offense worked in their favor. When USC was keying on the run the Huskies were able to run a hard play action fake and throw to one of their tight ends. Eason has every tool to be a gunslinger in the NFL. Today he showed the ability to manage the game. He was 16 of 26 for 180 yard no touchdowns but also no interceptions. In a game like today where the Huskies were clearly the better team but just weren’t able to really pull away from the Trojans it is crucial to not make mistakes that can allow the other team back into the game and that’s exactly what Eason did. He was under pressure throughout the game but never forced any unnecessary passes and threw the ball away when needed.
Salvon returns to provide the home run threat and follows through with the game changing touchdown.
Salvon has looked like a different back this year, showing the patience he learned from playing behind Myles Gaskin. He started the game with only 5 carries in the first half a week after missing the game with an injury. On those first 5 runs he showed that patience and showed he was willing to put his nose in their and get the hard 5 yard carries. On the second play after Elijah Molden got an interception down near the goal line Salvon got the handoff down at the 11 yard line and after a slight studded step at the line of scrimmage he took off like a bullet and was gone for an 89 yard touchdown. It was the longest touchdown run by a husky running back since Napoleon Kaufman had a 91 yard run in 1994. When asked where he was when he knew he was going to score on the play Salvon smiled and said “at the 11”. Salvon finished the game with 17 carries for 156 yards, a new career high.
