Colorado’s unforgiving final month of the season continues Saturday, when the Buffs travel up to the Pacific Northwest to face off against Washington.
The Huskies are coming off their biggest, most emphatic win of the season, a 37-34 victory last Saturday on the road against rival Oregon, a game that almost certainly eliminates the Ducks from College Football Playoff contention.
Washington has improved significantly under first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer, who was hired in the offseason after a successful two-year run at Fresno State. Under his guidance, and with the arrival of transfer Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback, what was an impotent Huskies offense last season is now one of the most dynamic teams in the sport, averaging just shy of 40 points per game. DeBoer coached Penix for one season as the offensive coordinator at Indiana.
Following the win against Oregon, and with an 8-2 record, Washington jumped nine spots to No. 15 in the Associated Press poll.
Before things kick off Saturday, let’s take a closer look at the Huskies.
Game details
Who | Colorado (1-9, 1-6 Pac-12) vs. USC (8-2, 5-2)
Where | Husky Stadium
When | 7 p.m. MT Saturday
TV | Pac-12 Network
Washington Huskies (8-2)
Location: Seattle
Conference: Pac-12
Coach: Kalen DeBoer (1st season at Washington, 20-8 career record)
2021 record: 4-8
Scoring offense rank (of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams): 13th (38.4 PPG)
Scoring defense rank: 79th (27.6 PPG)
Total offense rank: 8th (498.2 YPG)
Total defense rank: 70th (379.5 YPG)
Five players to know
1. QB Michael Penix Jr. (No. 9): November has been a trying month for the Buffs when it comes to the quality of opposing quarterbacks and with Penix, the man with a last name that scares any journalist using a device with autocorrect, things won’t be getting any easier. Washington’s offense has improved dramatically from last season, having nearly doubled its 2021 scoring average, and the Indiana transfer has been the biggest reason for that. He leads all FBS players in passing yards per game, with 364, while completing 67.1% of his passes for 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He has thrown for at least 300 yards in all but one of the Huskies’ games this season and in the one he didn’t surpass that mark – a Nov. 4 win against Oregon State – he had 298.
2. WR Rome Odunze (No. 1): A four-star recruit coming out of national power Bishop Gorman in Nevada, Odunze has lived up to the hype that greeted him in Seattle. After a relatively quiet first two years with the program, the 6-foot-3 sophomore has a team-high 914 receiving yards and six touchdowns this season. His receiving total ranks him 14th among all FBS players and second in the Pac-12.
3. WR Jalen McMillan (No. 11): It wouldn’t be fair to bring up one of Washington’s star wide receivers without at least mentioning the other. McMillan trails closely behind Odunze with 792 rushing yards and is tied with him for the team lead in touchdown catches, with six.
4. OL Jaxson Kirkland (No. 51): One of the people that has allowed Penix, Odunze and McMillan to put up the numbers they have is Kirkland. A first-team all-Pac-12 selection last season, the 6-foot-7, 340-pound Kirkland missed the first three games of this season before returning for a Sept. 24 win against Stanford at left tackle. He has appeared at left guard in each of the Huskies’ games since.
5. DL Jeremiah Martin (No. 3): The senior edge rusher has been enjoying a breakthrough 2022 season. In Washington’s first 10 games, the 6-foot-4, 267-pound Martin has 6.5 sacks after recording just one sack in his first four college seasons combined. The Texas A&M transfer also has one pass defended and a forced fumble.
What Washington does well
DeBoer directed one of the best passing attacks in the sport last season at Fresno State, which averaged 326.7 yards per game through the air in 2021, and has translated that success to Washington this season.
The Huskies not only have the sport’s No. 1 passing offense, at 374 yards per game, but they do by a wide margin, as the next-closest team, Tennessee, is nearly 30 yards per game behind them. That potency was on display most recently in last Saturday’s upset of Oregon, when Penix threw for 408 yards, completed 74.3% of his passes and averaged 11.7 yards per attempt.
That work is made possible by an excellent offensive line, which is tied for third nationally in sacks allowed per game (0.7) and all alone in first in tackles for loss allowed per game (three). Washington doesn’t make many mistakes, either, with just seven turnovers this season, tied for the fourth-fewest in the FBS.
Where Washington is vulnerable
In a similar vein to USC last week, Washington is a phenomenal passing team that isn’t nearly as good at defending it. The Huskies are 87th in passing yards allowed per game, with 241.9, and are allowing opponents to average 8.2 yards per attempt, the 16th-worst mark in the FBS (for the sake of comparison, Colorado is giving up 8.6 yards per attempt). Additionally, Washington is 120th in pass efficiency defense, having allowed 22 touchdowns to just six interceptions this season while those same opponents are completing 64.5% of their passes.
The Huskies also aren’t particularly good at getting opponents off the field in critical situations, ranking 125th in third-down conversion percentage defense (47.4%).
Key stat
Husky Stadium is widely regarded as one of the tougher road venues in the Pac-12, if not all of college football. Colorado hasn’t won a game there since a 45-28 victory on Sept. 30, 1989. To provide proper context on how long ago that was, it was the Buffs’ first game following the death of quarterback Sal Aunese.
Key matchup
Kaylin Moore and Nikko Reed against Odunze and McMillan. Unlike USC last week, Washington, for all of its overall offensive excellence, has been held in relative check at times this season. In two of their past three games, the Huskies have been held below 30 points, scoring 28 in an Oct. 22 win against Cal and 24 in the aforementioned victory against Oregon State. The most effective way to do that would be to target Penix’s two primary options, particularly since the quarterback, aside from his second season at Indiana, hasn’t been much of a running threat over the course of his career. It’s unrealistic to expect this secondary to shut down arguably the sport’s top receiving duo, but preventing them from getting out into space and breaking off big plays could make the game less of a runaway and at least keep Colorado competitive before halftime.
