The Day After: Final thoughts from Washington's 24-6 loss to No. 1 Ohio State

What I'm thinking about, a day later.

Some Mariners hanging out before the game.

SEATTLE — Any other South Sounders relish the two-hour drive home from Husky Stadium last night?

Lane closures cannot stop The Day After column. Here are 25 more thoughts on the Huskies’ 24-6 loss to Ohio State on Saturday.

1. I posted the following poll to Twitter last night. Here are the results, with 887 votes cast so far.

So plenty of folks believe Washington acquitted itself well enough against the defending national champions, even if the majority said the game only confirmed what they already knew, one way or the other. I’d be curious to hear more from the “worse” voters, if any are reading this.

Perhaps to that point: my own vote would lean toward “the same,” with some consideration for “better,” because I thought the first three games already told us Washington is a good bit better than it was last year, even if calibrating for strength of schedule. There was a time on Saturday when I felt the Huskies had a chance to make an unequivocal statement about the kind of team they can be this year, but that fizzled in the second half (and especially because they didn’t score a touchdown).

2. Good news, though: they have a whole eight games left to play, and I’m not sure any of them feel unwinnable based on Saturday’s result. No doubt, Oregon on Nov. 29 will be the most challenging, and the Ducks should be considered title contenders after last night’s overtime win at Penn State. UW obviously won’t be favored at Michigan, either, and Illinois presents its own challenges. But they should have at least a puncher’s chance against every team on their schedule, which isn’t something you could have said last year.

3. What happened with the sideline-interference penalty? “They said they ran into one of our coaches when he was backpedaling, but I didn’t see it,” coach Jedd Fisch said. The TV replay seemed to show that any contact occurred well after the play had ended. Though I question whether the penalty should have been called at all, the physical contact component explains why it was a yardage penalty rather than a warning, per the NCAA rulebook. A warning is assessed when players or coaches do not stay behind the coaching line, but any physical contact with an official can be penalized with a 15-yard foul.

4. That would have been a pretty slick move by Omari Evans, if his knee hadn’t touched the ground. He played 19 snaps in this game and caught both of his targets, including a 22-yard gain (on a great throw from Demond Williams Jr., layered between defenders). The Huskies need to get more out of their receivers, so Evans’ semi-emergence, along with Dezmen Roebuck, is encouraging.

5. Ohio State faced little resistance on its opening drive until it reached the red zone. Great play by Deven Bryant and Xe’ree Alexander to plug the gap on the fourth-down stop. Give UW’s defense credit for bowing up on a short field. I actually thought the Huskies’ run defense held up pretty well, especially without Buddah Al-Uqdah and Zach Durfee. Just as the Huskies lamented their own red-zone failures, though, I’m sure Ohio State would point to that play and bemoan their own inability to finish a drive near the goal line. One more yard, and they likely would have scored points on five of six (full) possessions in this game.

6. The fake field goal looks as bad today as it did in the moment. Fourteen yards is a long way to go in that situation. It sure looked like Decker DeGraaf was anticipating some action behind him, because he ran upfield to block and wasn’t looking for a throw. Even if he had been, Ohio State was all over it. A 45-yarder is no sure thing, but Grady Gross is plenty capable of making from that distance. If he does, you lead 6-0, and Ohio State’s subsequent two touchdowns leave you within one score instead of two. I can see the logic in opting for trickery: you’re the underdog, nothing is going to come easy against Ohio State’s defense and you need to manufacture a break or two at some point. That was such a longshot, though, and did seem to take some air out of the stadium.

7. Since we’re second-guessing things that didn’t work: I don’t quite understand the risk vs. reward calculation on UW’s all-out blitz, which led to Ohio State’s first touchdown. The ball was snapped at the 18-yard line. Say you get home for a sack. That’s, what, an 8-yard loss, maybe? Call it a 43- or 44-yard field goal, then? Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding was 7-for-8 from 40-to-49 yards last season. He’s a senior who makes kicks at an 80.5 percent clip for his career. Backing him up an extra seven or eight yards was worth the risk of giving up a touchdown on third-and-11 in the red zone? I don’t hate the aggression from Ryan Walters, but that blitz seemed out of alignment with a gameplan built around forcing shorter throws and keeping things in front of them.

8. Williams made a few really good throws in this game, including a couple to Roebuck, who caught three of UW’s six longest pass plays (16, 18 and 20 yards). Williams finished 18-for-22 for 173 yards, though Fisch would have liked him to have a couple more incompletions, if it meant avoiding one or more of the six sacks he took.

“I’ve got to help Demond understand that an incompletion is OK sometimes,” Fisch said. “He doesn’t throw many incompletions at all. Sometimes — sometimes — that leads to holding the ball a little bit longer, and unfortunately, at times, can turn into a sack. But Demond is exceptionally accurate. He’s really good with the ball. He makes extremely good decisions. He protects the ball at all costs.”

9. For the first time this season, John Mills played every snap at left guard. Despite the sack numbers, the o-line actually graded pretty well in pass protection — Williams was sacked on six of the 13 dropbacks on which he was pressured, per PFF, which assigned only two of Ohio State’s sacks to UW blockers, and only one to an offensive lineman — and I don’t recall them allowing any free runners that blew up a play before it could really get going. The difference was Ohio State’s speed and pursuit when Williams hung in the pocket too long, and the Buckeyes were generally tough against the run, too, as basically half of Jonah Coleman’s 70 rushing yards came on one play, and eight of his 13 carries went for three or fewer yards. Of course, limiting Coleman to 13 carries is a big key to limiting those explosive runs. I saw some criticism of Fisch for not leaning on Coleman more in this game, but I’m not sure that was going to be a winning plan against Ohio State’s front.

10. Defensively, Fisch said, “we kept them where we wanted to keep them. We kept the score down.” With Tacario Davis still sidelined by injury, freshman cornerback Dylan Robinson made his first career start and, I thought, played pretty well, finishing with three tackles. Pro Football Focus had Julian Sayin 3-for-3 for 42 yards when targeting him in coverage. Robinson played all but five defensive snaps.

11. Sayin might not have quarterbacked an explosive passing offense on Saturday, but he sure quarterbacked a successful one. The Buckeyes’ passing success rate was a whopping 66 percent, per GameOnPaper.com, a good indication that they more or less accomplished what they needed when dropping to pass. Ohio State’s overall success rate was 54 percent, which ranks in the 95th percentile, to a 40 percent, 47th-percentile success rate for the Huskies. Factor in Ohio State’s 5.8 to 4.4 yards per play advantage — and a 9 to 1 edge in tackles for loss — and I can’t quite get behind the idea that this game came down to red-zone miscues.

12. Much will be made of Washington’s 1-for-11 third-down conversion rate, as the Huskies led FBS in third-down success rate entering the game. The bigger story, though, is that UW faced an average distance of 8.1 yards to go on those third downs, including attempts with 18, 10, 17 and 15 yards separating them from a first down. They struggled in their few third-and-short opportunities, too.

13. With Rahshawn Clark also out — he appeared to be examined for a concussion late in the Apple Cup — Leroy Bryant was the Huskies’ only true nickel available, and he started and played 23 snaps. It appeared UW asked safety Makell Esteen to roll down and fill that spot at times, too, with true freshman Rylon Dillard-Allen playing a career-high 43 snaps at safety behind him. Esteen was one of four UW defenders who never came off the field, along with fellow safety Alex McLaughlin, cornerback Ephesians Prysock and linebacker Deven Bryant.

14. McLaughlin led the team with 13 tackles, seven of which were “stops,” or tackles on unsuccessful offensive plays. PFF had UW with three missed tackles, which is pretty darn good against an offense filled with four- and five-star recruits. There were a few instances of Bo Jackson finishing a run with a few extra yards on the tackle, but there weren’t many instances of Buckeyes players running unimpeded in space because a UW defender whiffed on them.

15. After Fisch hinted Monday that senior Arizona transfer Jacob Manu might debut sooner rather than later, he started at linebacker, which answers any questions about whether UW might plan to redshirt him. Buddah Al-Uqdah’s injury made that calculus a lot simpler, I’m sure. Manu played 29 snaps and made three tackles. I would expect his workload to increase as the season progresses. Alexander actually played a bit more than Manu, with 31 snaps. Bryant, Manu and Alexander will be asked to do a lot in the coming weeks.

16. Tough break for Carver Willis, who got hit from behind and had his legs taken out from under him late in the first half, and didn’t return. I saw him on the field after the game, out of uniform, but walking freely without any brace or crutches, which is maybe a good sign. Fisch didn’t know much about his prognosis but said it was a knee injury. That’s a potentially huge loss, if he can’t go. Maximus McCree replaced Willis in the lineup and presumably would become UW’s starting left tackle if Willis is out.

17. Durfee’s availability is in question, too, after he left with a first-half elbow injury. He seemed pretty upset on the sideline as team chaplain Hunter Bryant offered words of support. Deshawn Lynch was the next guy up at edge rusher; he played 41 snaps, second-most of his UW career.

18. Fisch said cornerback Tacario Davis practiced Thursday and worked out before Saturday’s game, “but we didn’t feel comfortable that he could protect himself completely — tackling, etcetera.”

He added: “I am optimistic about next week, based upon how he progressed this past week. But the doctors will make that final call.”

19. If Davis doesn’t make it back for Maryland, the Huskies’ defense will take the field without its top cornerback, two of its top edge rushers (Durfee and Russell Davis II, who is out for the season) and its top linebacker (though Manu might hold that distinction once he’s back in a playing rhythm). And the offense could be missing its starting left tackle and No. 2 receiver. Not great, four games in, but that’s football.

20. Opinions will differ on this, I know, but I thought Fisch’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was a major error on his part. It took the Huskies from a manageable third-and-5 to a third-and-14 inside their own 10-yard line (which became third-and-18 after an illegal snap penalty). I get it: the sideline-interference penalty appeared to be bogus, and an Ohio State defender had slammed Williams into the turf at the end of the second-down play, which is seemingly what prompted Fisch to run onto the field and yell at the official. I know some consideration has to be given to standing up for your guy and/or sending a message when you feel like things aren’t being administered fairly. And it sort of wound up a moot point, anyway, because Ohio State fumbled on the subsequent punt return. But to torpedo a drive like that, so deep in your own territory, against one of the nation’s top defenses? It felt like an own goal in the moment. I’m not sure it helped tilt the officiating scales, either.

21. The roughing call was brutal. Not much more to say about it. Wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but quite likely gifted the Buckeyes at least four points, and perhaps all seven.

22. Lots of talk about the amount of scarlet in the stadium. The press box sits above the visiting sideline, so I didn’t have a great sense for how many Ohio State fans were down there until watching some of the broadcast, but I did get a pretty good feel for it as I walked around the pregame tailgate scene. One note I’d throw in is that fans of blueblood programs — not tens of thousands, but at least some — actually purchase full season-ticket packages at road venues in order to secure seats, and then sell the rest of the games.

I totally understand the frustration of seeing that much opposing-team color in your home stadium (and in the seats of likely season ticket-holders, in particular), but also … this is just sort of what Ohio State does. It’s a national program, and the machinery around it is immense. Plus, Husky Stadium is something of a bucket-list trip for college football diehards, especially legacy Big Ten programs that don’t often come out here (it had been 18 years since the Buckeyes’ last trip, for reference).

It’s also the kind of thing that stings more after a loss. Ask Ohio State fans how they feel about the 20,000 or so Tennessee supporters who invaded their stadium for a CFP game last year. The Buckeyes won the game 42-17, and all the orange became a footnote (and an easily-mocked one, at that, considering how all that bluster preceded a blowout).

23. No new votes for Washington in this week’s AP Top-25 poll, in case you were wondering.

24. In future UW opponent news:

• Rutgers lost 31-28 at Minnesota.

• Illinois claimed a wild, 34-32 victory over USC, an important bounceback after last week’s blowout at Indiana.

• UCLA lost 17-14 at Northwestern, meaning the Bruins now will have to pull off an upset somewhere to avoid going 0-12.

• Oregon moved up to No. 2 in the rankings after its 30-24 overtime win at Penn State.

• Maryland, Michigan, Wisconsin and Purdue were idle.

25. In past UW coach news, Kalen DeBoer and Alabama won 24-21 at Georgia on Saturday, perhaps quieting speculation about his future there (for a week, anyway). DeBoer is now 7-1 against AP top-10 opponents as a head coach, and a combined 7-0 against Dan Lanning, Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian. (He’s 0-1, though, against Clark Lea and the unbeaten Vanderbilt Commodores, who visit the Tide next week.)

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— Christian Caple, On Montlake