Here come the Huskies
In between Indiana and a perfect 8-0 (5-0) start to its season is a 4-3 (2-2) Washington Huskies team that played in last year’s National Championship game.
Like Indiana though, Washington has a new coach and a roster full of new players, including a star transfer quarterback in Will Rogers, who played four seasons at Mississippi State before transferring to the Big Ten (lol).
Unlike Indiana, Washington has dealt with some of the inconsistency you might expect with all of the new pieces and a new coaching staff. The Huskies dropped a week three matchup to Washington State, and has gone on to lose to Rutgers and get blown out by Iowa.
The Huskies do have some good wins though, including an upset over then no. 10 Michigan in a rematch of last year’s title game. Washington also handled Northwestern with a little more ease than Indiana did, coasting to a 24-5 win over the Wildcats.
Before getting a little more into this Washington team beyond it’s record, it’s worth noting that Indiana will be without Kurtis Rourke, who reportedly underwent thumb surgery earlier this week. He could be back as early as next week, but Tayven Jackson will start on Saturday.
Also College Gameday will be there, for the first time on a Saturday in Indiana history. Kyle Schwarber will be the guest picker.
Back to the Huskies: Washington’s quarterback Will Rogers is one of the best in the conference, completing 71.2% of his passes for 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions, placing him in the top six in the conference for all three categories.
Rogers’ favorite target this year has been sophomore standout Denzel Boston, who leads the entire conference with nine receiving touchdowns this year. He and Giles Jackson are each top five in the conference in targets and receiving yards.
Indiana will have to pressure Rogers to slow this offense down, though teams have had success doing that this season. Rogers was sacked four times in the 40-16 loss to the Hawkeyes and twice in the loss to Washington State.
Defensively, Washington has the highest PFF coverage grade of any team that Indiana has seen this season, which could be a challenge for Tayven Jackson. They have a pair of good corners in Elijah Jackson and Jordan Shaw, who are each top four in passes broken up this year.
On the other hand, teams have had success running against Washington so far. The Huskies have allowed the fourth most rushing yards per game in the Big Ten so far this year, even when factoring in that they only allowed 59 rushing yards against Northwestern.
If Indiana can run the ball like it has lately, it may not need to test Jackson much, though he did look sharp in the second half against Nebraska. Similarly, if the Hoosiers can get to Rogers like they did Raiola, they can alleviate pressure on the secondary.
Washington is a tougher team on paper than Nebraska though with a more impressive resume, so Indiana would have to find another level to beat them as badly as they did the Cornhuskers.
I’m going to continue to like Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers against anyone until given a reason to think otherwise, but without Rourke and against a more formidable opponent, Indiana has another test ahead of it this week.