Sigh. I’ll try and make this quick.
Passing Offense – 3/10
Quarterback – 3/10
Offensive line – 4/10
Receivers – 4/10
This was Demond Williams’ worst game as a Husky. He threw for the fewest amount of yards and the lowest completion percentage of all his starts. His interception seemed born a out of a mix of frustration and wanting to play hero ball, which is rare for him. His fumble deep in Washington territory was a back breaker and lead to Wisconsin’s only touchdown. Denzel Boston was fine, but no other receiver distinguished themselves. The offensive line had a terrible game, with PFF noting 34(!) pressures from the Wisconsin defense. Nothing was working downfield for the Huskies and one 36 yard scramble from Williams wasn’t going to be enough.
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Rushing Offense – 2/10
Running backs – 4/10
Offensive line – 2/10
Jonah Coleman got injured early but was completely ineffective as he had more carries (5) than yards (2). Adam Mohammed filled in admirably with 12 carries for 54 yards. PFF also notes he had eight forced missed tackles and averaged more than four-and-a-half yards per carry after contact. He seemed to be really trying out there. But, like the offense as a whole, the run game wasn’t working.
Passing Defense – 7/10
Pass rush – 7/10
Secondary – 7/10
Hard to assign a grade here given just how poor and beat up Wisconsin is on offense. They played three quarterbacks and attempted 18 total passes for 48 yards. Not to mention the holder of their longest pass play of the day, and passing leader, is their punter Sean West. It would have been great if the secondary could have somehow managed a pick-6 to win the game, but that’s probably too much to ask.
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Rush Defense – 5/10
The raw numbers seem fine: 47 rushes for 157 yards and a single touchdown. That’s fewer than three-and-a-half yards per attempt. But, there was exactly one part of Wisconsin’s offense that had any chance of effectiveness and Washington was unable to completely shut it down. Or, at least do enough to keep them out of field goal position.
Special Teams – 1/10
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse. Where to even begin? Wisconsin absolutely dominated field position all game, and Washington couldn’t get out of it’s own way with an illegal fair catch call and a blocked field goal that probably shouldn’t have been attempted in the first place. Not to mention punting, which is somehow getting worse as the season goes on. Multiple punts were shanked and the Huskies were also caught on a fake, keeping a Wisconsin drive alive.
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Coaching – 1/10
There’s nothing I could write here you haven’t probably read, said or thought already. With Wisconsin’s offense being so comically bad, there were more enough paths to victory here, even with the Badgers playing pretty good defense. Jedd Fisch should have recognized early that he needed to adjust the game plan: play field position, avoid mistakes, and hit a few field goals. Of course, that requires toughness and discipline which are not the strengths of his coaching. And a functioning special teams unit, which we were assured was an off-season priority.
But, it was ultimately Washington’s own mentality – which the head coach is responsible for – that lost them this game. The team was entering the “easy part” of the conference schedule with three winnable games and a clear path to 9-2. Jedd Fisch needed to keep the team focused and avoid the trap of thinking they could just walk through the next three games, instead he coached the team to the worst loss in at least three seasons (2022 ASU, sorry to have to bring that up).
