BROCK AND SALK

Huard: How UW Huskies DC Steve Belichick is excelling

Oct 10, 2024, 11:21 AM | Updated: 2:02 pm

UW Huskies defense Kamren Fabiculanan Michigan Wolverines 2024...

UW Huskies safety Kamren Fabiculanan (left) celebrates after a play against Michigan on Saturday. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Through the first half of the season, the UW Huskies’ defense has been a major bright spot.

UW midseason review: The good, the bad and what’s next

Despite returning just two starters from last year’s national runner-up team, the Huskies rank at or near the top of the FBS leaderboard in several key defensive categories. They are No. 1 in team passing efficiency defense (85.3), No. 6 in yards per play allowed (4.2), No. 8 in yards allowed per game (256.0) and No. 10 in points allowed per game (13.2) out of 133 FBS teams.

College football analyst and former UW quarterback Brock Huard, who will be on the FOX broadcast of Saturday’s UW game at Iowa, gives a lot of credit to first-year defensive coordinator Steve Belichick.

Belichick, the son of six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick, had spent the entirety of his 12-year coaching career on his father’s New England Patriots staff – including the past four seasons as the team’s defensive play-caller.

He certainly seems to have made a smooth transition to the college level.

“Steve Belichick has jumped from the NFL game to the college game and assimilated incredibly well,” Huard said during his weekly episode of “Dawg Talk” for Seattle Sports. “And I don’t think that’s always easy.

“I have seen NFL guys throughout my 18 years of doing this job bounce down to the college level and think, ‘Well, I’m just smarter and I’ve got a Ph.D. in football. I’ve been in the NFL. I know schemes and matchups in ways these college guys don’t, and I’m gonna go with intellectual warfare and football knowledge and just go throttle opponents.’ And it’s not always happened.”

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Under Belichick, the Huskies (4-2) have held each of their first six opponents to 24 points or fewer and five of their six opponents to fewer than 300 total yards. That includes a strong performance on a primetime stage this past Saturday, when they held Michigan to just 287 total yards and came away with two pivotal fourth-quarter takeaways in a 27-17 win over the previously 10th-ranked Wolverines.

“Steve Belichick has done a masterful job of learning the college game and taking his principles of changing week to week to week of making it really difficult on an opponent (by) taking away their strength and making them beat you with their weakness,” Huard said.

As Huard explained, Belichick has excelled at disguising his defense and presenting the opposing offense with a shifting array of looks.

“He’s gonna line up in one thing (and then) change that picture like a kaleidoscope,” Huard said during Tuesday’s Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “… (As Belichick), I line up in one thing and you think it’s a bear front, and at the snap I’m slanting, I’m moving, I’m stunting to something else.”

The Huskies will have a much more difficult slate of opposing offenses – and opposing quarterbacks – in the second half of the season. That includes Heisman Trophy contender Dillon Gabriel of third-ranked Oregon, former five-star recruit Drew Allar of fourth-ranked Penn State and Miller Moss of USC.

“They’re gonna continue to see more and more talent in the second half of the season with Oregon and USC and Penn State,” Huard said. “More than likely, you’re not gonna end up No. 1 or No. 3 or No. 6 or No. 10 (in FBS defensive rankings) when the dust all settles. But what a foundation to build on.”

Catch each week’s edition of Dawg Talk with Brock Huard in podcast form or on the Seattle Sports YouTube channel. Listen to the full Blue 88 segment on Brock and Salk at this link or in the audio player near the bottom of this story.

More on UW Huskies football

• UW Huskies Notebook: Updates on Valdez, Durfee ahead of Iowa game
• Huard: Who are the UW Huskies after first Fisch signature win?
• Instant observations from UW Huskies’ win over No. 10 Michigan
• UW Huskies’ defense makes clutch plays late in win over Michigan
• UW Huskies set modern program record for consecutive home wins

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