When the Huskies square off against the Hawkeyes on Saturday at 9 AM Pacific, fans will learn an awful lot about the 2024 squad.
The Michigan game represented what could be the turning point of the season. Penalties were not an issue, the defense maintained its solid play, and the offense (mostly) capitalized on their opportunities.
The kind of self-inflicted issues that saw the Huskies lose to both Rutgers and Washington State were not present, and it felt a bit like we all got to see how good the Huskies can be when they got out of their own way.
Washington is at a crossroads. Either they build off of their performance in the Michigan game, or it becomes apparent that inconsistency and frustration are the identity of the team.
Especially with the way the schedule shakes out, the time is now for the Huskies to stack wins. If they win at Iowa, the team will go into their bye with everything still on the table as far as the postseason is concerned.
If the Huskies lose, it becomes more about scraping bowl eligibility. In that scenario, the Huskies would have to beat one of USC, Penn State, Oregon, or a ranked Indiana team on top of taking care of business at home against UCLA to become bowl-eligible.
Compare this team to Coach Fisch’s 2023 Arizona team. After suffering a few tough early-season losses – one to Washington and two in overtime away from home – the Wildcats found their identity and their rhythm, ending the season on a 7-game winning streak and a smackdown of Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, 38-24.
It is easy to visualize a similar trajectory for the Huskies, especially given the nature of their early season issues. With only two starters from last years’ team remaining, the (clearly talented) reconstructed Huskies roster has had issues typical of a young team, or of a team still working on its chemistry. Penalties, unforced errors, and red zone issues are all typical of a team that has not quite found itself yet. As Coach Fisch said at a prior press conference, “I challenge our guys to always understand like, the goal is not to just get better in the offseason. You got to get better in the season.”
With a team that ranks extremely competitively in terms of total offense and defense (22nd in total offense and 8th in total defense), improvement even towards nationwide average in penalties and red zone efficiency would put the Huskies in position to win any game that they play in for the rest of the year, rather than looking like a team that can find a way to lose any game.
The point is, the Huskies’ issues are all relatively simple fixes. It is not as if the team is simply not talented, a problem that could not truly be improved upon from week to week.
If before the season, you told a fan that the Huskies would be 4-2 at this point in the season, they would probably be slightly disappointed. The fact of the matter is, the Huskies have hinted at being a good team the entire time. They are one game away from being on the cusp of something memorable.
