On Thursday, we covered the Washington offense and what you needed to know about that side of the ball. Now it’s time for the defense.
You may have an image of Pac-12 football in your head consisting of explosive, high-flying passing attacks and swiss-cheese defenses.
This year’s Huskies defy that stereotype on both sides of the ball.
While the offense has struggled to consistently put up points, the defense has been lights-out all season.
They haven’t given up more than 24 points in regulation all year, so if you’re predicting the Buckeyes to hit 50+ on New Year’s Day, you may want to dial those expectations back a little.
Here’s what you need to know about the Washington defense.
They Play A Lot Of 3-Man Fronts
This is going to be a little bit of a different look for the Buckeyes’ offensive line to deal with. They run a lot of stunts and slants and move guys around a lot.
That could present a challenge, especially for redshirt freshman right guard Wyatt Davis, who will be making just his second career start. It would be an even bigger issue if starting left tackle Thayer Munford can’t play.
If they can get things figured out, there’s an opportunity for the Buckeyes to just pound the ball right at Washington and potentially wear them out.
Senior Greg Gaines lines up in the middle, and at 316 lbs., he can take up some space. Gaines was a first-team all-conference player this season, recording 53 tackles, including 6.5 for loss and 4.5 sacks. He’s pretty agile for a big guy.
Their biggest weakness is that they don’t get to the quarterback very often.
The defense ranks 111th in the nation in sack rate, at 4.7%. Just for comparison, the Buckeyes are 32nd at 7.8%.
Get Ready To Get Sick Of Hearing About Ben Burr-Kirven
The Huskies’ middle linebacker made 165 tackles this year. Yes, you read that correctly: he had 85 solo tackles and 80 assists.
He had 20 (TWENTY!) against Arizona State and 19 against Oregon. The Ducks aren’t a bad comp for the Ohio State offense this season, so expect to see a lot of Burr-Kirven on New Year’s Day.
He’s almost never in the backfield (only four of his tackles all season were for a loss), but he’s an extremely sure tackler and is a big reason the UW defense doesn’t give up many big plays.
The Defensive Backs Are Very Good And Very Sound
It takes a little while to appreciate the Huskies’ defensive backs. That’s because like the dog that didn’t bark in the Sherlock Holmes mystery, it’s what you don’t see that stands out.
It may take watching a handful of games and watching them play good, tight defense before it dawns on you: they pretty much don’t get called for pass interference.
CB Byron Murphy and Safety Taylor Rapp were first-team all-conference, and CB Myles Bryant was second-team.
Their corners are physical and like to press at the line, and they’re good tacklers, too. Pretty much all of the Huskies’ defense is.
It’s going to be important for the Buckeyes to go north-south while they’re on offense. You can’t rely on dancing around and making guys miss, because Washington’s defense doesn’t miss very much.
They Don’t Give Up Big Plays
A result of not missing many tackles is that the Huskies are No. 3 in the nation in Isolated Points Per Play. That’s a metric that measures how well a defense does in not allowing big plays.
The Buckeyes are 124th in that metric, and if you’ve watched them this year, you now know it is calibrated correctly.
As mentioned above, no one has scored more than 24 points on the Huskies in regulation this season. And if you want to even get into the mid-20s, you’re probably going to have to earn it with methodical, consistent drives.
This is what you remember Ohio State defenses looking like, back when Ohio State defenses looked like Ohio State defenses.
They’re Very Good In The Red Zone
It’s hard to hit the Huskies for big plays, but it’s also hard to punch it in against them once you’re in the red zone.
Opponents only scored touchdowns on 15 of 28 red zone possessions this season (53.6%), and they allowed just five touchdown passes in the red zone all season. That’s pretty remarkable.
For comparison, the Buckeyes allowed opponents to score on 23 of 40 red zone trips (57.5%), but 12 of those were passes.
It’s going to be extremely important for OSU to be able to run it close to the goal line. If they can’t, they may end up settling for a lot of field goals.
4th Down? Throw Another Shrimp On The Barbie
Speaking of things that may make you jealous, Washington has an Australian punter.
His name is Joel Whitford and he does all the fun stuff you remember Cameron Johnston doing.
This will be a lot less painful to watch since Drue Chrisman has been so good for the Buckeyes this season, but still.
If UW gets the ball out near midfield, don’t be surprised if OSU ends up starting drives inside its own 5.