Washington suffered a heartbreaking 30-27 overtime loss at Oregon in overtime earlier today. Here are my takeaways from the game…..
1. It’s hard to take
Before getting more into the game, every Washington fan, player, and coach must feel sick after a loss to their bitter rivals. It was a game that the Huskies had and they let it get away. It felt very similar to the Auburn game. A game in which the Huskies quite frankly shot themselves in the foot too many times. And the same thing happened today for UW. It’s hard to take but that’s college football.
2. Two plays that Washington coaches will lose sleep over
I think the first one is quite obvious, the field goal. With the game tied Washington could have gotten a shorter field goal or even gone for a TD instead of putting all your chips in on a freshman kicker. Personally, I thought UW would run a few more plays to get closer or even try to score a TD based on past kicking issues. With that said, if you have a 37-yard field goal to win the game, you would expect your kicker to make that. But he didn’t.
With the game tied 24-24 early in the fourth quarter the Huskies decided to go for a 4-and-1 at Oregon’s 26. The Ducks read UW’s QB sneak perfectly and the Huskies were stopped short of the line to gain. On paper it was the right decision to go for it but remember the Ducks were coming off a bye and studied UW for two weeks. Washington in the last two weeks have been almost perfect on quarterback sneaks and Oregon saw that on film. This will certainly be a play UW coaches will go over and over in the coming days.
3. Bye week played a role in the loss
This by no means is an excuse for UW’s loss but Oregon getting a bye week before playing Washington at home was a big advantage. The Ducks were rested and defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt had his defense ready to play. It seemed like the Ducks’ defense were one step ahead of UW’s offense at some points of the game.
Again, it’s not an excuse but the bye week definitively gave Oregon an advantage. UW will have that advantage later in the year. Unfortunately, Oregon’s bye came at a bad time for Washington.
4. This isn’t 2016
It’s pretty clear through seven games that this Washington team just isn’t as good as the 2016 team that won the Pac-12 and made the College Football Playoff. Washington is still a very good football team but the 2016 team was loaded with weapons everywhere. This UW team is still developing their wide receivers, while the 2016 team had Dante Pettis and John Ross. The 2016 team had a healthy Trey Adams, this team does not. And maybe most importantly, the 2016 team had a pass rush that was really good for half of the season and this team does not.
Again, this is a very good football team. A top-10 team in my opinion but they just aren’t a top-5 or playoff caliber team.
5. No playoff, what’s next?
Washington is certainly eliminated from the College Football Playoff unless some madness happens. So what can Husky fans look forward to? The good news is that the Huskies can still make the Rose Bowl if they finish strong. Washington will almost certainly need to win out and have Oregon lose once. If that happens UW will be in the Pac-12 Championship. If the Huskies were to finish with an 11-2 record with a Pac-12 title, they would likely be in the Rose Bowl.
So every Husky fan needs to take a deep breath and get ready for Colorado next Saturday. And yes Husky fans, you will be rooting for Washington State to beat the Ducks next weekend.
