The defense found some life in a Big Ten game and the potential for an aggressive front seven is exciting
Washington’s defense is improving, I think. Maybe this doesn’t count as a “we learned this” sort of thing, but it feels like we almost learned something, if that makes any sort of sense.
Look, we don’t technically know if Washington’s defensive issues have all been resolved. We don’t know that because we haven’t seen it play out over an extended period of time. We also haven’t seen the Huskies play great defense somewhere other than Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium in recent weeks.
So, we don’t *know* this for certain. But it does certainly feel like Washington’s defense figured a few things out against UCLA. And that’s especially true up front in the front seven, where the Huskies were able to put pressure on UCLA’s rushing game by disrupting things at the line of scrimmage and also record six sacks.
As the Huskies get set to take on the Oregon Ducks, who have (at times, though not necessarily too much recently) experienced issues on the offensive front, it’s encouraging to see that Washington might have some answers on the defensive line and at linebacker now.
Alphonzo Tuputala and Carson Bruener had a total of 18 tackles and a sack between the two of them. Deuce Davis had three sacks on UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers.
Oh, and UCLA’s offense gained just 52 rushing yards on 33 carries. That feels good. It remains to be seen if the Huskies can sustain that, but it’s a start and that’s encouraging to see.