Washington vs Stanford: What Huskies can learn from Seahawks about winning in prime time
Sep 29, 2016, 11:15 AM | Updated: 3:47 pm
(AP)
The eyes of the football nation will be cast toward Seattle Friday night as No. 10 Washington hosts seventh-ranked Stanford, a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN. It will be the first meeting in 19 years between two top-10 teams at Husky Stadium.
UW had success against the Cardinal under previous regimes, but the strongest blueprint for excelling in these types of prime-time matchups might be found across the city. The Seahawks have been spectacular in prime time under coach Pete Carroll, going 15-3 in such games since he took over in 2010. That includes a 9-1 record at home.
In Tuesday’s edition of “Blue 42,” Brock Huard explained how trust is one key to why the Seahawks have been so good in prime time.
“They trust one another in those prime-time moments, and it’s not about, ‘look at me’ and ‘let me make my play’ and ‘let me jump out of scheme’ and ‘let me do my thing to get on prime time to just show myself,'” Huard said. “That is really when they lock in at that brotherhood mentality, and especially defensively.”
In that vein, Huard pointed to all the yards on the ground and big plays that UW’s defense allowed during the team’s overtime win Saturday against Arizona. UW’s defense giving up so much was somewhat unexpected, but Huard said it can happen when a unit isn’t as cohesive as it needs to be.
“You get in those moments and guys want to do too much. Not try too hard, but they want to do too much,” Huard said. “They don’t trust the guy next to him. … If you are going to play elite defense, and you’re going to shut Christian McCaffery down, I’ll actually point to the Cougars last year in prime time. In that game, in Pullman, other than Kevin Hogan scrambling, they shut them down and they did it playing tremendous team defense, and that’s what is going to be required of (UW on) Friday night.”