The Washington Huskies came into their 25-21 Saturday night loss to the USC Trojans with the worst third-down offense in the Big Ten, converting on just 34 percent of their attempts. That number got worse against defensive coordinator Gary Patterson's unit, which came into the game ranking No. 15 in the conference, letting up close to a 41 percent conversion rate.
That lone conversion came on third-and-11 during the Huskies' final drive of the game, when quarterback Demond Williams Jr. connected with wide receiver Chris Lawson on a comeback route for an impressive contested catch. Early on, finding yards felt impossible, as the Huskies went three-and-out on four of their first five drives, totaling 13 yards between them.
Demond Williams Jr. delivered
a DIME to move the chains. 👀 📺 Big Ten Saturday Night: Washington at USC on NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/oebImC7mgq
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) October 4, 2026
The misses started early, as it looked like Williams had running back Brian Bonner Jr. open in the flat with plenty of room to operate and move the chains, but the third-year quarterback chose to try to push the ball past the sticks to tight end Decker DeGraaf, and it fell incomplete. They held true throughout the contest, as Williams double-clutched in the third quarter and instead of finding tight end Kade Eldridge wide open, he fumbled and defensive tackle Jahkeem Stewart took the turnover 48 yards the other way for a go-ahead touchdown.
On the ensuing drive, Williams also had freshman receiver Jordan Clay open on a whip route on third-and-2, but the ball sailed over the 6-foot-3 pass catcher's head.
As the Huskies search for answers, Jedd Fisch couldn't single out one specific problem on third down.
"Right now it's certainly challenging to get the sticks moving," Fisch said on Saturday. "It's like you just feel that you have a third down that you're looking to convert, and something happens; whatever that something is and when it does, when you get stopped, there's no tempo involved. There's no ability to get that energy that we like to play with when we can convert and then get on the ball and make some plays. So when we were able to do that, things looked good, but we just weren't able to get the rhythm; third-down conversions is a problem."
"If you're not converting on third down, it's become an issue of really getting into a rhythm. And then the other part of it is, our second downs have not been as good as you want them to be. You could have a plus-seven run on first-and-10, and then on second-and-3, we haven't been able to get that first down. That's when you need to get it going."
Washington converted on 3-of-4 fourth-down attempts, but missed out on the one that mattered most with under a minute to play, as Fisch's team is now 2-for-22 on third down in Big Ten play this season.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington football's third-down woes loom large in loss to USC
