Washington Offense Finds Rhythm In Win Over Eastern Washington

Quickly establishing a rhythm in the pass game was identified earlier in the week as a key indicator of success in Washington's game against Eastern Washington. The Husky offense did just that in its 48-16 win over the Eagles on Saturday night. Demond Williams began the game 12 of 13 before finishing with 373 passing yards with an 82% completion percentage, four touchdowns, and a pick.

In the first two games of the year, Williams began four of his first eight in the contests against Washington State and Utah State. The offense combined for just three first-quarter points in those games. But on Saturday, Williams opened five for five on the first drive with a passing touchdown to Chris Lawson . He went five for six on the next drive with a passing touchdown to Rashid Williams .

"We were just clicking, coming off the win last week," Rashid Williams said after the game. "We thought that we could be a little bit better, and throughout the whole week, we were just taking it one play at a time."

Those two scoring drives each spanned 70-plus yards and put 14 points on the board in the first quarter alone. Washington had just two 70-plus yard drives against Washington State and Utah State combined.

"This week, you know, we just tried to take our shots," tight end Baron Naone said after the game. "Let the receivers, let the running backs make plays… Make guys miss, [that] was a big thing that we emphasized on this week."

Rashid Williams had the best game of his career against Eastern Washington. He finished with six catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns, and his second score of the day was the most impressive. At the 18-yard line near the end of the second quarter, Demond Williams delivered a back-shoulder pass to Williams, who was well-defended. The 6'-1" receiver extended his left hand as he jumped away from the defender to secure the football with one hand as he fell to the turf.

"I was just seeing that he was pressed," Williams said after the game, describing the catch. "So I just converted the route, gave him a little release, and just looked back a little bit, and D put it in a great spot for me to make a nice catch."

In total, Washington completed passes to nine different receivers in its win over Eastern Washington. Dezmen Roebuck led that group with nine catches for 121 yards, which were both career highs. Of that total, two of Roebuck's receptions were explosive plays for 15-plus yards. He had a long of 43 on the day.

Lawson caught the first touchdown of the game, which was the first receiving score of his career. It was a 15-yard reception to cap off a 74-yard scoring drive. True freshman Jordan Clay had his first career touchdown in the game on a three-yard pass from Williams. Fellow true freshman Mason James had his first statistics, finishing with three catches for 23 yards and three rushing yards.

At tight end, Naone went over 100 receiving yards on just two catches. He had a 28-yard reception and a 75-yard reception for a total of 103 yards in the game. The second of which was on a corner route that he took up the near sideline all the way to the one-yard line.

"Honestly, I was just trying to get into the end zone as fast as I could," Naone said after the game. "I knew he was behind me. Obviously, I didn't think he was that close. I feel like I definitely could have made it in there," he continued. "But, you know, it's all good. We got amazing running backs, amazing scheme, and we punched it in the next play." Ansu Sanoe scored the one-yard touchdown on the very next play to stretch the lead. Sanoe now has two touchdowns on seven carries this season.

While Washington's offense looked efficient against Eastern Washington, there are still some very apparent areas where this team has continued to struggle. The Huskies went to the locker room with 380 yards of offense at the half. Fifty-five of those yards were picked up on a single run by freshman Brian Bonner, who used his track speed to get to the outside for the team's longest run of the year thus far. But if you remove that big play, the Husky running backs averaged just 2.5 yards per carry at the half, and finished the game averaging 3.4 yards per attempt.

Eastern Washington also found success with its quarterback run game against the Husky defense. For the third straight week, Washington's defense allowed at least 60 yards rushing to the opposing quarterback. Nate Bell was able to use misdirection and a slow-mesh read option to break the defensive contain and find big plays to the outside.

On the Eagles' first drive, Bell had runs of 11 and seven yards on back-to-back plays in which the Husky EDGE defenders overran their protection and lost outside contain on the quarterback. Bell later had a 14-yard rushing touchdown and a 32-yard run to the outside, where he again used misdirection to pull the EDGE toward the formation and beat the defense to the outside.

"Hats off to that quarterback," Jedd Fisch said after Bell's performance. "That kid is special. He is elusive, he is hard to bring down, he is fast. And he is accurate, and he's smart." Bell finished with 50 rushing yards, a rushing score, and 150 passing yards.

The offense found its form in the pass game in the Huskies' win over Eastern Washington,, but some things still need to be sorted out. Washington begins Big Ten play next week with Minnesota in town for an 8:00 pm kickoff inside Husky Stadium. After the win over Eastern, Fisch made sure to note that he wants a sellout crowd for the blackout against the Golden Gophers. "We need all of the energy possible to be able to get to 4-0 next week."