Wrapping up our non-conference schedule, the Huskies host the Eastern Washington Eagles on Montlake this weekend. Despite having a couple of memorable games over the years, this is just the fourth match up between these two in-state programs. The Eagles, a periodic contender at the FCS level, have played the Huskies close in the first two matchups back in 2011 (30-27 UW win) and 2014 (59-52 UW win), but the two programs have diverged paths over the last decade. 2019, our most recent game, was a substantially
more lopsided affair resulting in a 47-14 UW win at the tail end of the Chris Petersen era. Shifting landscapes in our respective conferences and divisions, including the rise of Montana and Montana State in the Big Sky, the advent of the Transfer Portal & NIL, and UW’s transition to the Big Ten, have all stacked the deck against EWU.
Nevertheless, with UW coming off of two disappointing low-score wins over relatively less-resourced programs, the pressure is on the UW offense to turn things around against EWU.
The Scheme & Personnel
EWU comes into this game with a 1-2 record despite playing competitive games against ranked FCS opponents. Their two losses, 27-34 at #24 NAU and 23-41 at #11 South Dakota, were against tougher FCS opponents, and those games largely turned out of their favor with streaky scoring against their defense. The Eagles tend to play pattern match zone coverages and have put a renewed effort in containing the explosive plays, but there may still be opportunities to take advantage of a defense that hasn’t sorted that out yet.
On the personnel front, EWU has some size up front, but their defense leans more on speed and team pursuit than that limited size. Starting Nickel Bryce Smith has been one of their top performers racking up 30 total tackles, 3 PBUs, and 1 INT through their three games. LB Myles Mayovsky and S McKel Broussard have also racked up big tackle volume in a defense that is designed to get second and third level defenders involved in run fits and action closer to the line of scrimmage.
Keys to the Game
All eyes will be on the OL and run game against EWU. If there’s ever a time to find a groove, it’s now. That being said, it may not be the easiest thing to do against an EWU defense that matches up surprisingly well against the portions of the run game that we’ve been struggling with.
With such a big OL, we’ve been able to block opposing DL and first level defenders at the line reasonably well when assignments are executed properly. The problem has been our inability to effectively open gaps AND neutralizing the second level defenders. These LBs and DBs have been knifing through our blocking fronts and meeting our RBs in the hole on a far too regular basis. Effective first level blocking can set the floor for a rushing attack, but second level blocking sets the ceiling. If we’re too inconsistent to regularly gain 4 yards a run, then we need those explosive runs to balance out the rushing efficiency. If not, we’re just slowly suffocating our offense when we run the ball.
EWU, with their active LBs and DBs in aggressive run fits, could pose the challenge of “if you can’t reach them, you can’t block them”. I’d keep an eye out for if our OL and TEs can match up blocking their LBs and DBs in space. If they can’t, and if the offense starts to get desperate with the vertical passing game, it’ll be a roll of the dice if our young WRs can get open against a defense that is intentionally focusing on conservative, sound deep coverages to take away the explosive plays that have bitten them thus far.
