Run Game Opportunity for UW vs. Utah State, Preview & Prediction

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The running back room at Washington has been the area of focus during Utah State game week. Both Quaid Carr and Jayden Limar left Saturday’s game with injuries. Head coach Jedd Fisch indicated that Carr will need surgery for a hand injury, and that Limar is dealing with an elbow injury. Both players will be out for “a while” according to the head coach, which forces the group to turn to young tailbacks early in the year. The Aggies’ defense, however, appears to present an opportunity for the Husky runners to find their footing.

Run Game Opportunity for UW vs. Utah State

Washington vs. Utah State Preview

“I’m glad that we made a decision to bring in Trey Cooley because we thought that you always have to be aware of the running back room,” Fisch explained on Monday. “First time in six years that I’ve had these type of two pretty significant injuries in the same room.”

Along with Cooley, Fisch pointed to true freshmen Brian Bonner and Ansu Sanoe as the next three tailbacks the offense will need to rely on.

“Brian Bonner had certainly the most amount of carries all of spring, all of training camp,” Fisch said this week. “I’m really glad that Brian is here, and Brian has had a great Spring and Fall. I’m excited to see if Julian McMahan can continue to step up. Excited to see what Ansu [Sanoe] can do. Excited to see what Ryken [Moon] will do.”

Bonner and Sanoe have yet to take a college football snap. Cooley had four carries for just one yard a week ago, which included a dropped pitch in the red zone. Those four attempts were his first since the 2024 season when he was at Georgia Tech.

Inconsistent Rushing

The inconsistencies observed in the run game last week can be at least partially attributed to the lack of experience running in a zone scheme for these young backs. Fisch said that they shifted to a gap scheme later in the game against Washington State in an effort to simplify the decision-making responsibilities of the running backs.

“We didn’t run the ball like we want to run the ball,” Fisch said of the rushing performance in the Apple Cup. “We started getting it going a little bit with our gap schemes. I feel like we were probably cutting some things back a little bit too quick with our running backs in our zone scheme.”

Developing confidence as a running back in a zone scheme comes with experience. The ability to identify lanes and make a confident decision on where and when to cut is something that often takes a year or two in a system to figure out.

Utah State Run Defense

But when looking at Utah State’s defense, specifically its front seven, it’s a group that struggled against an FCS opponent last week in Idaho State. The Aggies’ 29-17 loss at home was one that allowed a 50.2% success rate against the run. Idaho State’s offensive line created 2.7 line yards per rush against the Utah State front, a metric that indicates how many rushing yards per rush attempt can be attributed to the offensive line. And on 27 rushing attempts, Idaho State was stuffed for gains of zero yards or less just twice (7%).

All that to say, Utah State was not able to efficiently defend against an FCS rushing offense in Idaho State. This is where Washington can try to get its young running backs comfortable. Washington’s offensive line averages 6’-6” and 322 pounds and, though it was pushed around against Washington State, presents a mismatch lined up against Utah State. Provided that group settles in on Saturday, Cooley, Bonner, and Sanoe have an opportunity to establish some rhythm. That was something that the Cougar defense did not allow the Huskies to find a week ago.

Pass Defense Matchup

Not only did Utah State struggle defending the run, but its offense also turned the football over four times. The Aggies played two quarterbacks who threw a combined four interceptions. Together, they attempted 44 passes, and six of them were turnover-worthy throws according to Pro Football Focus. That’s a 14% rate where the quarterbacks put the football in harm’s way.

To take it a step further, five of those six turnover-worthy attempts were thrown in a clean pocket. That’s indicative of poor decision-making and inaccurate reads at the quarterback position.

Washington’s defense had a pair of interceptions last week, and as a group, broke up five passes. Emmanuel Karnley was responsible for two of those breakups. The secondary gave up just two passing plays of 15-plus yards in the Apple Cup en route to holding Caden Pinnick to a mere 5.7 yards per attempt.

Defending the pass is a second area of this game where Washington appears to have an advantage. The Turnover Space Needle was introduced last week and Ryan Walters’ group stacked three footballs on the prop against Washington State. Fisch said he informed the equipment staff to have five footballs on hand every game to be used on the Needle.

“I tell them, ‘We better have five ready every week,’” Fisch said. “If we get to six, we’ll figure it out. But we got to have five ready to stick on top of there.”

Prediction

Washington – 38

Utah State – 10

Main Image: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images