It was a frustrating loss for the Dawgs on the road against a now 3-6 Wisconsin team. Let’s get to what we learned, and maybe vent some frustration.
Same Old Song and Dance
There’s a pattern with losses in the Jedd Fisch era.
They’re usually marred by poor play calling when the Huskies are thrown off schedule, lethargic play to start out, and the execution of the scheme looking sloppy. Those boxes were all checked on Saturday. From the moment that the first drive of the game stalled out due to a turnover on downs, I had a feeling in my gut that it was going to be a slow start. But I never thought the slow start would extend to the whole game. Sure, Coach Fisch said that the injuries to Denzel Boston and Jonah Coleman were factors, and they no doubt were. But Jedd…
Dude.
It might be true that they’re a good defensive team, but they’re still 2-6 and the Huskies were coming off a bye. They should be able to beat this Wisconsin team. Sure, Jonah went out in the second half, and Adam did fine in his place, but you’d think we’d find a way to win even with backups, in spite of the weather.
Instead, it was the same old, same old. Bad play calling (deep balls by Demond, chucked up like angry threes by a basketball team behind 12 with 2 minutes left, trying to run Adam on the outside zone, and abandoning the run too early with the talent on the offensive line), too many penalties (8 for 53 yards), and some frankly baffling special teams mistakes (Grady’s 51 yarder, and the illegal fair catch) contributed to probably the worst Husky loss since the loss to Montana in 2021. It’s not enough to say “we have to prepare better”, and make the same mistakes! I can excuse last year’s road woes as the byproduct of a gutted roster, but a record of 2-8 on the road in 2 years is not indicative of a program on the upswing! And I’m a patient man, but it gets to a point where maybe the coach needs to look in the mirror! Actual tangible changes need to be made! As we all know, as I’ve written about many times, when you’re the guy who calls plays, all the blame falls on you!
It also isn’t like this team doesn’t have talent. Roebuck and RVB are good weapons, Adam’s a good back, our line was banged up, but we still had Mills and Willis! If anything, it shows where talent is needed in the portal for next year, but with Fisch being noncommittal about his future with the program, it’s no guarantee that he’ll be the head man next year. So, in the end, like most Husky losses in this era, coaching mistakes and poor road preparation doomed the Huskies again. And now it’s to the point where the games that we as fans thought were wins are now up in the air.
After a while it gets frustrating. When you make the same mistakes, with the talent that the program has around it, it becomes a pattern of behavior that becomes impossible to ignore and agonizing to watch!
The Triumvirate, and Special Forces Miscues
Wisconsin, beset by injury, was forced to rotate in three quarterbacks. They used these quarterbacks to gash the Huskies repeatedly on zone read plays, setting up the Badgers with good field position. They sometimes failed to capitalize on those opportunities, but they succeeded just often enough to where it felt like they were in control in the fourth quarter, even though they were only up three points! Repeatedly biting on the zone read, and getting gashed by the running back, missing tackles and generally playing sloppy is not a formula for success. The defense did better in the second half, but this is still not indicative of continuous improvement. Yes, we only gave up 13 points, but it felt like the defense was reacting to what they were doing offensively and not dictating what they could do on offense! And that is made all the more maddening when you take into account who was at quarterback! The mistakes on offense were magnified by the defense’s inability to take away what Wisconsin did well! The special teams’ issues also haven’t improved. Punter Luke Dunne continued to struggle, having a few punts be shanked. Grady Gross was put in an unenviable position of kicking a long field goal in the elements, which was blocked. And yeah, there was the penalty for an illegal fair catch! All this was to say that the execution on defense and special teams wasn’t up to par! And that is what made it so frustrating, because mistakes keep costing us in all our road losses.
Moving On
So, what do we have left? In the more immediate aftermath, a showdown with Purdue awaits, along with a road contest against UCLA and then home against Oregon for the finale. If something doesn’t change on both sides of the ball, the game against UCLA could be a loss. Taken altogether, with the state of this team, and how they play on the road, I wouldn’t be surprised if UCLA smells blood, considering how we played Saturday. Mistakes on the road have been the theme of the Fisch era, and I guess the one key takeaway from this is that the nagging mistakes of a coaching staff can absolutely destroy the chance of being competitive and getting to that upper echelon of a conference. It also remains to be seen whether Jonah or Denzel will be back this week or be out for extended periods. If they are, that would be a big blow to the Huskies’ confidence. It will also be interesting to see if Fisch schemes around their absence and who steps up as a result. But if the on field product is as bad as it was on Saturday, then I don’t have a lot of optimism for this team, or Fisch as a coach for that matter. That’s something that, as an eternal optimist, I hate to admit! But, we’re back home this week, short memory, we’re moving on!
The Huskies play Purdue in Husky Stadium on Saturday afternoon!
