Huskies' defense causes mixed reactions after performance in Apple Cup win

The Washington Huskies' offense looks like it's more than worthy of being in conversations for the best in the nation, but the defensive side of the ball has proven to be a bit more inconsistent. The Huskies beat the rival Washington State Cougars in the 117th Apple Cup by a final of 59-24, but that score isn't exactly indicative of a completely dominant performance.

At halftime, the score was 24-10 with the Cougars set to return the second half's opening kickoff. They proceeded to score two touchdowns on their first two possessions of the third quarter, cutting the Washington lead to seven on both occasions. In those possessions, quarterback Zevi Eckhaus diced the Huskies' pass defense, with receivers wide open with room to run on nearly every play.

Washington State ended with 305 yards of total offense, despite having no run game and looking utterly incompetent in its previous week's 59-10 loss to mid-major North Texas. New defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, who came to UW after being the head coach for a 1-11 Purdue team the year before, received much of the blame on social media. Fans believe Washington has the players, but not the system, to be a great defense.

Washington's defense also struggled with bad penalties in crucial moments against Washington State. Offsides and defensive pass interference penalties on the same play bailed the Cougars out of a 3rd-and-long, setting up their first touchdown of the game early in the second quarter. A holding penalty on the first play of the following drive set up Wazzu with great field position in a possession that ended in a field goal.

To make matters worse, the injuries are beginning to pile up on the Huskies' defense. Star cornerback Tacario Davis was one of eight defensive players to miss the Apple Cup due to injury. Linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah, Washington's leading tackler going into the game, had to come out with a leg injury that looks to be pretty serious.

"It didn't look good," coach Jedd Fisch said after the game. "We're going to pray it's not as bad as it could be, and we hope that we can get him back quickly."

On the bright side, Washington's defense did stop the Cougars from scoring for the rest of the game after the two early touchdowns in the third quarter. It also forced three turnovers, including two interceptions by Northern Arizona transfer Alex McLaughlin -- one of which he returned for a touchdown.

Still, there's a lot of room for improvement for the Huskies' defense going into Big Ten play. It will be crucial in alleviating some of the pressure on an offensive group that has scored pretty much every time it's touched the ball this season, especially with No. 1 Ohio State coming into town next week.