Grading the Game: Eastern Washington

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Washington closed out non-conference play with a comfortable win over an FCS opponent, piling up 546 total yards and averaging 8.8 per play. Both the scoreboard and box score looked good, but with EWU sitting a tier below the Huskies in FCS, this was a game that should have been a comfortable victory. Yes, I know they are technically “ratings” since it’s a numerical score out of ten, but I’m keeping the title anyway.

Passing Offense: 7.5/10

Quarterback: 7/10

Offensive line: 7/10

Receivers/tight ends: 8/10

Demond Williams was the most in-control he’s looked this season, which you’d hope facing an FCS team. He showed anticipation, good touch on the back-shoulder throws, and no hesitation even after getting hit and briefly heading to the medical tent. The one real knock is how conservative his pass distribution was: his average depth of target was the lowest of his career as a starter. Though some of that was by design, as the coaches were trying to mimic the run game with short passes. He had the first turnover for the offense this season, an interception that wasn’t entirely his fault, as he got hit by a free rusher while throwing. The offensive line was solid, not spectacular, giving up one sack.

Receivers and tight ends were probably the best unit on the field. They were responsible for explosive plays, made contested catches, and freshman showed meaningful production (Jordan Clay and Trez Davis each with a touchdown, and Mason James with a 21 yard reception). Dezmen Roebuck caught all 9 of his passes for 121 yards. Rashid Williams showed how important he is to the success of the offense with his two touchdowns, and Baron Naone continued to be a factor in the pass game, with two receptions including a 75 yarder which nearly went for a touchdown.

Rushing Offense: 5/10

Running backs: 5/10

Offensive line: 4.5/10

Outside of one long Brian Bonner Jr. sprint up the sideline for 55 yards, the running backs combined for not much: 93 yards on 25 carries. Bonner was a top-100 recruit and has a lot of skill and athleticism. However, the player I’m seeing still looks he’s getting used to reading blocks at the speed of the college game. The offense leaned more on Demond scrambling and a diet of quick passes to simulate a run game. Against this level of competition, I want to see the line get consistent push, and it just wasn’t there. I did like the wrinkle with TE Kade Eldrige as a short yardage fullback. Not a disaster, but definitely not the level of production the coaches wanted against an FCS team.

Passing Defense: 7/10

Pass rush: 6/10

Secondary: 7/10

Despite Eastern Washington scoring a season-high 16 points, the defense never let them into the game. The pass rush got home enough, with seven tackles for loss and two sacks, but the bigger issue was discipline. An edge rusher was ejected for throwing a punch, and between that and a few other flags, this defense racked up eight penalties for 101 yards, three of them personal fouls. The silver lining is that chasing around a quarterback as slippery as Nate Bell for four quarters gave them and the coaches valuable intel on how their defense responds to mobile quarterbacks, which they will see more of as the season progresses.

In coverage, true freshman CB Jeron Jones stepped into the starting lineup (playing for Emmanuel Karnley) and played almost every defensive snap, and held up well for a first extended look, minus a PI foul against him. He had one of UW’s four passes defended. Bell was ultimately limited to 54% passing with just 152 yards and no scores. He is a pretty tough cover with his accuracy, athleticism, and ability to extend a play. There were moments where he made Washington’s defense look lost, including a few pass-interference calls going against the Huskies. But the unit largely kept the top on things and didn’t give up the kind of explosive plays that could have turned this into a game.

Rushing Defense: 6/10

The Huskies held the Eagles to 4.2 yards per play as a whole and never let their rushing attack (or Bell’s legs) turn into a real threat. The bigger issue was, again, discipline: a targeting ejection on LB Xe’ree Alexander was another example of sloppy play from this defense. However, Jacob Manu keeps being a bright spot with his physical intensity and nose for the ball. Other than Nate Bell’s 32 yard scamper, the Huskies didn’t allow Eastern Washington runners any consistent space, averaging just 3.1 yards per rush and scoring one touchdown on the ground.

Special Teams: 7/10

Hunter Green keeps rolling, booting another 60-plus-yard punt. It’s the third time this season a returner has had trouble fielding one of his kicks cleanly. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with him or his punting technique, but I’ll take it. Grady Gross made his season debut after winning his eligibility fight with the NCAA and handled kickoffs about as well as you could ask, sending almost all of them for touchbacks. However, Gross only took kick offs because the starter kicked his first two kick offs out of bounds, the only real blemish on the day.

Coaching: 7/10

I want to give the staff credit for a plan that got the ball to playmakers in space early and had this offense clicking for most of the game. But, it’s hard to ignore how much the quality of the opponent factors in to the result. The offensive line is still not the unit we thought it would be in the off season, and as great as the defense is generally playing, discipline is a concern, as is their ability to handle mobile quarterbacks.

Three games into the season, penalties are now a running theme, and two ejections in one game against an FCS opponent is the kind of thing that can’t happen in conference play, but I don’t think the defense will be a big reason the team loses a game this year. Even without the running back injuries, it’s hard to see this offense meeting off season expectations. But, I did like seeing the coaches make a concerted effort to develop the run game with short passes, which I think we’ll keep seeing until the backfield gets healthier. Overall, a decent job and more or less the result you would want from this Washington team against an FCS opponent.

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