Washington falls to 3-1 after their 31-26 loss to Stanford. Here are my takeaways.
Defenseless
Washington’s defense was absolutely man-handled by Stanford’s offense. It felt like last year’s 23-13 loss at Stanford – but worse. The Cardinal looked like the Kansas City Chiefs in the first 45 minutes of the game. Stanford scored on their first five possessions until the Huskies finally forced a punt with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. Washington’s inability to stop the run is glaring. Is it time to start stacking the box?
Washington has gotten comfortable
The Huskies have enjoyed staying home for all four games at Husky Stadium. They haven’t been on the road once this season. And there could be a sense of complacency setting in. In UW’s last two games it’s as if they’ve felt they can just show up and they will win no matter what. This team might not be one of the great UW teams but they shouldn’t be down to any team in this conference by 21 points – let alone in the first 30 minutes of back-to-back football games. Time to bring the energy from the start!
No run Stuffer
Much like the game last week against Utah, the Huskies have been losing up front on both sides of the ball. They were able to overcome a 21-0 deficit against Utah but not this week. The Huskies have yet to identify a run stuffier on defense. In past years they’ve had players such as Vita Vea or Greg Gaines. But this year they don’t have a player that caliber and it’s showing. When a defense can’t stop the run it’s hard to consider them a good defense. Washington is young up front and those guys will develop. But only time will tell.
Dylan Morris looked solid
There was a bright spot in the loss for the Huskies. Red-shirt freshman quarterback Dylan Morris looked very comfortable out there today. Morris didn’t light up the stat sheet but he completed 15-of-23 passes for 254 yards. The 6-foot, 200-pound QB also had 36 yards rushing and a touchdown. Morris’ deep passes were also more accurate today as he completed four passes of 25 yards or more. With Washington’s lack of run game the past two games, Morris might be asked to do more starting next week at Oregon.
