Instant observations from UW Huskies’ loss to No. 13 Indiana
Oct 26, 2024, 12:37 PM
(Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
The UW Huskies’ first season in the Big Ten continues to have its challenges.
The Huskies got off to a rocky start and trailed for nearly the entire game in a 31-17 loss to the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. UW (4-4 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) has two straight and three of its past four in conference. Meanwhile, the upstart Hoosiers (8-0, 5-0) remained unbeaten.
Here’s five things that stood out from UW’s loss.
Starting on the wrong foot: Games aren’t won in the first quarter, but a fast start was key for the Huskies as a road underdog against an Indiana team that had outscored opponents 80-0 in the first quarter coming in. UW’s defense was solid in its limited action and came up with a big stop on fourth-and-inches with the Hoosiers threatening to score. But the offense had a dreadful quarter. The line struggled to protect Will Rogers. He was sacked on the first play from scrimmage and pressured into an intentional grounding two plays later on third down. Later in the quarter, Rogers’ arm was hit on a quick pass behind the line of scrimmage that resulted in a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 7-0 Indiana lead. UW also couldn’t pick up a fourth-and-short in Indiana territory that ended its first scoring threat. The offensive troubles gave all the momentum to the Hoosiers in front of a raucous home crowd, and it took the pressure off Indiana backup quarterback Tayven Jackson.
PICK-6 FOR @IndianaFootball ‼️#B1GFootball on BTN 📺 pic.twitter.com/WmhIAZisEF
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 26, 2024
Defense crumbles on key drive: The Huskies finally seized some momentum in the second half thanks in large part to the defense. They stuffed the Hoosiers on three straight plays inside the 1-yard line and held them to a field goal to close the first half, and came up with an interception on the first play of the second half to set up a touchdown drive that pulled the them within three points. But the defense couldn’t come away with the stop it needed afterwards. Indiana responded by converting three third downs on a 14-play, 75-yard TD drive to go up 10 points and swing the game back in its favor. This isn’t to say the defense was to blame for the loss. It was solid for most of the day.
Third- and fourth-down woes: UW outgained Indiana 318-315 (with the help of two late kneel downs) and has had more offensive yardage than its opponent in every game this season, but it has a 4-4 record to show for it. Turnovers and penalties have been the big difference for the Huskies in past losses. They were prevalent again against Indiana, but the struggles both offensively and defensively on third and fourth downs were the biggest difference-makers. UW converted just 3 of 11 third-down attempts and 1 of 3 fourth-down attempts, including the fourth-and-short failure in Indiana territory during the opening quarter. Meanwhile, the defense allowed the Hoosiers to go a combined 9 of 17 on third and fourth downs.
Time zone troubles: The Huskies are among the best examples of the struggles teams in the Big Ten are having when traveling across two time zones for conference games. They dropped 0-3 in those games with the loss and could very well go 0-4 on the season with a trip to Happy Valley to face No. 3 Penn State in two weeks.
Bowl game status in jeopardy: The first season of the Jedd Fisch era is flirting with being one without a bowl game appearance. The Huskies need to win two of their final four games to become bowl eligible. They’ll be heavy underdogs in at least two of those matchups with the aforementioned trip to Penn State and a rivalry game on the road against No. 1 Oregon in the season finale. UW’s other remaining games are next Saturday against 4-4 USC and Nov. 15 against 2-5 UCLA. Those look like must-wins at this point. The good news for the Huskies is they are both at home where they are 4-0.
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