Washington Huskies vs. Iowa Hawkeyes: 3 thoughts on UW trailing 20-10 in the 1st half
By Ethan Lee
Jedd Fisch and the Washington Huskies are in a pretty tough spot right now. On the road against the Iowa Hawkeyes, Fisch and the Huskies are currently down 20-10 at halftime. While Washington is far from being out of it, they’re facing a tough test to be able to get back into this game.
There’s a whole half of football yet to be played. That could be good, that could be bad. But if things play out like they did in the first half, then it won’t end well for the Huskies. Washington’s offense, which has proven to be pretty good at generating yards but sometimes struggles to produce points, is certainly struggling to produce points right now.
Will Rogers and Jonah Coleman (and the rest of the UW offense) will be tasked with playing considerably better football in the second half. We’ll see how that plays out.
I’ve got some thoughts. You’ve got some thoughts. Let’s go over a few first half thoughts on this game.
Washington Huskies trail due to sloppy, sluggish start in first half
Washington has had a hard time finding explosive plays on offense. While the Huskies have been able to sustain a couple of drives, they're going to need some more life in the second half to really be able to keep up with Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson.
Iowa’s offense isn’t the most overly productive force ever, but the Hawkeyes are more than capable of taking advantage of the mistakes Washington is capable of making. Washington scoring just 10 points in the first half could prove to be a problem if the offense doesn’t get going in the second half.
The Huskies can’t have penalties in the red zone if they want to come out on top in this game. The Huskies can’t fumble away the ball deep in their own territory. They can’t miss field goals. These problems need to be addressed.
Will Rogers is getting pressured pretty consistently and I’m not a fan of that
While the offense has been able to move at times and Rogers hasn’t really made many mistakes, the Huskies’ quarterback hasn’t exactly been able to just sit back in the pocket comfortably for most of the game.
Through the first half, Rogers completed 16 of his 25 pass attempts, but he threw for just 134 yards and one touchdown. He’s been sacked and pressured and Washington is having a hard time keeping Iowa’s really impressive defense from making things complicated for the Huskies’ starting quarterback.
Special teams are a disaster so far
We’ve talked about this already, but special teams has proven to be an issue throughout the season up to this point and Jedd Fisch probably can’t fix that any time soon. Unfortunately, this might be something the Huskies have to address in the offseason. Because it’s just so dang bad right now. Iowa has a clear advantage here.
And I’m not just talking about the field goal kicking problems that Washington is experiencing!
The Hawkeyes were able to return a punt for 37 yards and they’re definitely not having problems punting vs. Washington.
The Huskies have shown plenty of issues in the first half. They look like a team that was put together in a hurry this past offseason. And, well, that’s probably because that’s exactly what this Washington Huskies team actually is. Hopefully things improve in the second half.
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