Football is not only a game of inches, it’s a game of brute strength, and tonight that was what Washington couldn’t defend as time ticked away in Corvallis.

Pick a side of the ball, any side, and Washington’s physicality at the line of scrimmage has been sadly exposed in the past three to four years. It’s been a consistent issue. But this season it’s come to full fruition.

On defense they can’t stop the run, and on offense they can’t run.

Seattle Times reporter, Mike Vorel tweeted out “Why would you ever, for a second, consider throwing the ball against Washington?”

This is rhetorical, of course; the Huskies cannot stop the run. It’s nothing new, but this year it’s coupled with the fact that they can’t run the ball on offense either.

And that leads to one thing: Losing.

They lost to Montana, lost to Michigan, almost lost to Cal, and tonight they lost in the final seconds to Oregon State.

Washington State was able to stifle the mobile legs of Chase Garbers, but Washington couldn’t. Just run the ball and you can beat the Huskies. It’s as simple as that.

So what’s the real problem?

Play calling? That’s an easy assumption, and believe me, Washington fans have been complaining about offensive coordinators ever since message boards came into being.

Coaching? These are good coaches for the most part. Although I would have to give Jimmy Lake a nookie for going for it on fourth down when the game was on the line rather than trying to kick the Beavers into a hole and give you defense a better chance.

Talent? Oregon State and Cincinatti say Hi!

The real question is: Who spends more time with these players than the coaches, themselves?

Listen, I like Tim Socha. He’s a quality guy and a real good man. He’s been at Washington since Chris Petersen was initially hired, but what I see when I look at a highly-touted offensive line being pushed around by Montana, or a defense that seems gassed against the run, I see a strength and conditioning issue.

It’s glaring — and it’s all about what happens during the off-season.

Since 2016 the Huskies have been bullied by Stanford, and then Michigan came out and all they had to do was run the ball.

This is a Husky team that has a lot of talent, but they are not bullying anyone physically, and that’s what’s been exposed.

Is it time for Jimmy Lake to re-work the strength and conditioning program? This is even more vital than what the coordinators or assistant coaches do. Football is won and lost in the trenches, and if guys aren’t physically able to do something so fundamental to college football as stopping the run, then the head coach needs to seriously evaluate what’s happening in the weight room.

As I’ve argued many times before, when it works — it’s great. The plays being called, etc. But for the Huskies, most of the time it hasn’t worked this season. And every game will be a struggle for this 2021 team.

Indeed, this will be a long season and I don’t expect to see many more wins. Heck, even Washington State looked more physical in their game against Cal. UCLA is legit, Oregon is legit as long as Thibodaux behaves himself, the one win you could always count on against Oregon State is gone now, Arizona…maybe. Colorado…maybe.

But again, Vorel already gave each opponent the script on how to beat Washington:

Why would you ever, for a second, consider throwing the ball against Washington?

— Mike Vorel (@mikevorel) October 3, 2021