The Husky Haul
Fansided

Washington football’s halftime shift

By Roman Tomashoff

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Chris Petersen of the Washington Huskies looks on from the sidelines against the Stanford Cardinal during the second quarter of an NCAA football game at Stanford Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Chris Petersen of the Washington Huskies looks on from the sidelines against the Stanford Cardinal during the second quarter of an NCAA football game at Stanford Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Stats be damned! Washington football’s second half powered them to a win over Arizona, what does it mean for the rest of the season?

He’s here! Washington football’s true freshman sensation, that has had Twitter in an uproar all week, spurning some to use “#FreePuka,” showed up and made some big plays when it mattered most in the desert. The Huskies, who were notably 1-10 when trailing at the half in the Chris Petersen era, looked like a completely different team after halftime, and a lot of that is thanks to the freshman wide receiver out of Provo, Utah.

One thing that has been appallingly clear this season is that the Husky receivers have had a tough time (to put it mildly) making guys miss, and getting separation. So what does Nacua do? Comes out of the locker room, makes a contested catch, mossing an Arizona defender, and then fights for 5-10 extra yards on another deep ball, dragging a defender with him and simply refusing to go down. While none of Nacua’s catches truly ended up being the “deciding factor” in the game, it represented a shift in strategy and mentality from the Husky offense that we’ll hopefully see carry out for the rest of the season and into the future.

One, senior Andre Baccellia has had a notably tough time this season separating against Pac-12 defensive backs, and when he couldn’t get the job done in a must win game, we didn’t see him in the second half. Instead, we saw Puka Nacua and Jordan Chin both step up and make plays when they were needed.

The biggest question is, will this reflect on the depth chart? The Huskies have Oregon and Utah coming up, and both teams have strong, physical defenses. If the upper class receivers aren’t getting the job done once again, will we see more Austin Osborne and Marquis Spiker? This is what I’ve been saying for a long time, just give the young receivers a shot. Nacua got his, and he took advantage of it. What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen if Osborne and Spiker get theirs? They’re young receivers with three more years of eligiblity after this year, they need reps, especially with the receiving corps having five graduating seniors.

Two, we didn’t see much of Hunter Bryant, who saw consistent double coverage from Arizona, after the first quarter, and instead of trying to force the ball to him in tight coverage much like what happened with Aaron Fuller and his 18 targets at Stanford, the Huskies adjusted. Sean McGrew had arguably the best game of his career, and Salvon Ahmed was outstanding once again.  Watching the Huskies spread the ball around, have success in the run game after Jaxson Kirkland came out, and most importantly not turn the ball over.

Oregon and Utah both have tough defenses, but the Huskies have what it takes to come out of both games with a win, especially after the adjustments were made on offense.

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