The Washington Huskies beat the Texas Longhorns in the 2020 Alamo Bowl. Here three things that RealDawg.com said Washington needed to do to beat the Longhorns. The Huskies beat Texas, 27-20.
RealDawg.com said–Key Number 1: Improved Linebacker Play.
“Junior inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio missed the first 8 games of the season. When he returned against he returned he helped Washington take down it’s 3 biggest rivals: Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State. Against the Ducks, in Eugene, Oregon no less, he had the biggest defensive play of the season without even touching the ball carrier.
On 4th and short he caused running back Noah Whittington to slip in the backfield. If the defensive QB can return to pre-injury form it will go a long way in helping out the Husky defensive efforts.”
Nailed it: For the most part, the tackling improved across the board. Sure, there were a few exceptions, but overall it was better than most of the season. On the season the scheme was fine but missed tackles were costly. Not one player stood out with a ton of tackles as with Ben Burr-Kirven his senior season and pre-injuries Edefuan Ulofoshio. The Huskies swarmed and wrapped up well for the most part. The Longhorns were held to 15.7 points below their season average.
RealDawg.com said–Key Number 2: Go off script offensively. “Pop in the tape of Washington’s lowest scoring output this season and it’s former defensive coordinator and now Cal head coach Justin Wilcox. The Golden Bear D held the Huskies to 28 points by continually dropping 7 or 8 players into coverage.
Washington will need to have a good ground game, one that at least makes Texas respect the run, to bring more defenders close to the line of scrimmage.”
Somewhat Nailed it: Washington’s rushing attack was able to keep Texas off balance. Washington RB Wayne Taulapapa carried the ball 16 times for 108 yards, and a 42-yard touchdown. The Huskies did a good job of managing down and distance and came up with several big 3rd down conversions. In all, Texas had 3 players with double digit tackles–because Washington ran 83 plays. Texas ran 18 fewer plays. That’s how the Huskies beat Cal and the recipe worked in the Alamo Bowl.
Penix did throw the ball 54 times, but was inconsistent early in the game, missing on 6 straight passes including an interception.
RealDawg.com said–Key Number 3: Get into the head of Texas QB Quinn Ewers.
“The Texas passing game is a work in progress. Washington’s edge rush game needs to make Texas QB Quinn Ewers uncomfortable in the pocket. Getting hits on him early in the game will be just as important as getting him to the ground.
Between edge rushers Bralen Trice, Jeremiah Martin, Zion Tupuola-Fetui, and Sav’ell Smalls the Huskies can have fresh bodies getting after Ewers all game long.”
Half-and-Half: On Texas’ second offensive play of the game Bralen Trice sacked Ewers for a 6 yard loss. Between that Texas did a fair job of keeping Ewers’ jersey free of shredded rubber tires. Along the way, though receiver Xavier Worthy had a few drops or the game might have gone into overtime. 60 plays later, on the game’s 3rd to last play of the game Trice dropped Ewers again. The Huskies did force him into several early throws and knocked him around.
However, the freshman went 31-47 for 369 yards and a TD. What the Huskies defense did exceedingly well was limiting the Longhorns to 2.8 yards per carry (18 for 51 yards).
